Wales U20 15 England U20 28 (From South Wales Argus)

Wales U20 15 England U20 28

9:20pm Friday 15th March 2013 in Sport By Chris Kirwan

WALES Under-20s were denied a Grand Slam by powerful England, who retained the Six Nations title with a 28-15 success in Colwyn Bay this evening.

Danny Wilson’s young guns headed into the game with confidence after excellent wins against Ireland, France, Italy and Scotland.

However, England proved to be tough opponents with a dangerous combination of some lively backs and hulking forwards.

They crossed for the only three tries of the game in slippery conditions to keep the trophy at Twickenham.

Wales started superbly and put the visitors under plenty of pressure inside their 22.

However, they had to be content with a 10th-minute penalty by Sam Davies and the English struck back almost immediately, Exeter wing Jack Nowell finishing expertly in the left corner.

Wales regained their composure and stretched their lead thanks to a brace of penalties by Ospreys fly-half Davies but they spent most of the half in desperate defence.

Fly-half Henry Slade reduced the deficit with another penalty and the visitors led 15-9 at the break thanks to their well-drilled driving lineout.

With Dragons number eight Ieuan Jones in the bin after previous charges were pulled down, Leicester blindside Harry Wells was driven over the whitewash with the last play of the half, Slade making it a seven-pointer.

Wales made light of their one-man disadvantage from the restart but the three points earned by pressing on the English line was immediately cancelled out, Slade responding to Davies’ penalty.

Slade nudged the visitors into a 21-12 lead with a drop goal only for Davies to respond with his fifth penalty to get back within a score with 15 minutes left.

The England number 10 had a chance to seal the win when presented with a penalty shot with five minutes left but he hooked it to give Wales a lifeline.

But they didn’t get the chance to put the visitors under pressure and it was an English title when Wells scored a carbon copy of his first-half try.