IRB Video: England U20 v Canada U20 highlights
England showed ambition from the start but individual errors prevented them from gaining much continuity in the opening stages. However, once England started to do the hard work up front, maintain possession and work the phases, the Canadian defence began to wilt in the heat.
The English went into half-time with a 48-3 advantage, having scored seven tries – four of them in the 10 minutes before the interval – through Jon Fisher, Matthew Cox, Mark Odejobi, Rob Miller, Ben Youngs, Luke Eves and Hugo Ellis to a solitary penalty from Canada captain Nathan Hirayama.
The pick of England’s first half tries came from captain Ellis, who finished a move started by fullback Noah Cato when he gathered a high ball in his own 22 before offloading to centre Alex Tait who split the defence before giving the scoring pass.
Seemingly refreshed by the half-time break, Canada dug deep at the start of the second period as England, just as they had done in their opening match against Fiji, struggled to get going again – something they know they will have to rectify when they face Australia on Saturday with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
In fact England were again outscored in the second half by their opponents as they were only able to manage two more tries – through Youngs and Cato – against Hirayama’s penalty and conversion in addition to tries from replacement Sean White and flanker Thyssen de Goede for Canada.
England scrum half and Man of the Match Youngs was a constant threat with his sniping runs around the fringes and was rewarded with two tries, including a fine solo try from distance, while fly half Rob Miller contributed 15 points with the boot in addition to his try.
