Poor discipline costly as England lose U20 Rugby World Championship

France ripped England’s scrum to shreds in Beziers on their way to securing a first ever World Rugby U20 Championship title, capping off a miserable weekend for English rugby.

Seven penalties from fly-half Louis Carbonel and tries from the tournament’s star player, flanker Cameron Woki, and Adrien Seguret sealed a deserved 33-25 victory.

Discipline issues have plagued the senior England side this year and it appeared on Sunday as though the disease had spread to the U20s, who gave up an alarming 16 penalties.

France’s power denied England the platform Marcus Smith required at fly-half to take charge of a contest in which England always trailed on the scoreboard.

Woki muscled his way over into the corner to score France’s first try after 26 minutes for an 8-3 advantage, despite a powerful covering tackle from England lock Joel Kpoku.

Three penalties by Carbonel then left France with a sizeable 14-3 advantage heading into the break. Yet it was England who had the final say of the first half, creating an overlap on the right for Jordan Olowofela to finish in the corner and cut the deficit to 14-8.

Carbonel however extended France’s lead after the interval with four more penalties as France once again squeezed England’s scrum into submission, rounding things off with a try by Seguret as England scored consolation tries through Joe Heyes and Olowofela. 

Match details

England U20: T Parton; G Ibitoye, F Dingwall, T Hardwick (rep W Butler 57), J Olowofela; M Smith (rep J Grayson 69), B White (rep R Brand 63); A Seville (rep C Knight 54), H Walker (rep B Cutting 61), E Painter (rep J Heyes 49), J Kpoku (rep A Hinkley 72), J Scott, T Hill, B Curry, J Basham (rep T Willis 63).
France U20: C Laporte; L Tauzin, P-L Barassi, R Ntamack (rep A Seguret 40), M Marty (rep A Vincent 78); L Carbonel, A Coville (rep J Gimbert 68); J-B Gros (rep U Boniface 56), G Marchand (rep M Lamothe 60), D Bamba (rep D Brennan 63), T Lavault, K Geraci (rep P-H Azagoh 72), A Berruyer, C Woki, J Joseph (rep C Francoz 74).