Match Report
australia schools v england academies
Lifted from Australia schools website
plus a report from the RFU Press Office
IRELAND-UK TOUR MATCH 4 - RESULT Wednesday, 9 December 2009 SCHOOLBOYS FALL TO REGIONAL ACADEMIES The Australian Schoolboys have suffered a 27-12 loss against a physical Under 19 Regional Academies side in their midweek tour match at Lymm Rugby Football Club in Cheshire, England on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT). Australia fought back from a 14-5 halftime deficit through flanker Jack De Guingand to be within a converted try at 19-12 with just over a quarter of the match remaining, but the Regional Academy proved too strong for coach Rob Nowlan’s side.
Regional Academy winger Marcus Watson showcased his speed and elusive step on his way to a double while fellow backs, Earl Collins and Jake Sharp also picked up five-pointers to hand Australia a four-tries-to-two loss. Schoolboys winger Chris Feauai scored Australia’s first points in the 28th minute when he sliced through the opposition’s defence to touch down in the corner. Australia will look to regroup ahead of their next tour match on Sunday against England Under 18 before the final match of their UK and Ireland tour, a “capped international” against Under 19 England Academies side, which will feature the best 22 young players from England.
Schoolboys assistant coach Tim Wallace said the intensity of tour matches are in line with what the players have been experiencing during ‘Tests’. “There are no real midweek games over here, they’ve got so many quality players at this level and all the teams we are playing are extremely strong,” Wallace said. “Maybe in tours gone by there were genuine mid-week games but it’s like we’re playing Tests every few days. “Regional Academies were very consistent with what they did, they just had us under pressure constantly.
We got behind and we never recovered. “We were playing catch-up a little bit but at 19-12 we certainly were in a position to get back in the game but we weren’t able to make the most of our opportunities.”
It has been a mixed tour for the Australian Schoolboys who have a 50 per cent success rate after four matches. They opened the tour with a comprehensive 31-14 victory against Irish schools before suffering a 15-0 loss to Irish Under 19 in a ‘capped international’.
The Schoolboys bounced back in their next ‘Test’ just three days later against Wales Under 19 and came out on top 10-6 last Saturday.
REGIONAL ACADEMIES 27 (Marcus Watson 2, Earl Collins, Jake Sharp tries; Sharp 2 cons, pen) def AUSTRALIA 12 (Chris Feauai, Jack De Guingand tries, Matt Lucas con).
_______________________________________________________________________________________
England Under-19 Regional Academies beat Australia Schools Wednesday December 9, 2009 Issued by Tony Simpson ENGLAND'S Under 19 Regional Academy opened a four-match touring programme by the Australian Schools by scoring four tries to two to claim a 27-12 victory at Lymm RFC this afternoon.
Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment full-back Jonathan Joseph (London Irish) crossed for the opening try and fly-half Jake Sharp (Saracens) converted. Sharp claimed the second after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead and while Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th minute try to raise the visitors' morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5. However, a third try from wingman Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors) on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although once again the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a try by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.
Sharp then steadied the home team's nerves with a penalty before leaving the field as a precaution ahead of an outing on the Saracens bench against Castres on Friday, but Joseph had the last word when he crossed for the final try after 68 minutes. A cameo moment for the hosts came when 16-year-old replacement centre Mark Jennings from Lymm High School and Sale Sharks took the field when the management elected to use all their replacements.
The tourists now stay in the North West to prepare for their next game, an international against England Under 18s at Sale FC's Heywood Road headquarters on Sunday (2pm), when coach Fletcher will once again be in charge. "The game was very tough, physical battle," said Fletcher: "We lacked precision at times and it was a bit scrappy but for us to score four tries against opposition of that calibre after only half a day's preparation was a pretty good effort," said Fletcher. "So far as the tourists are concerned, they compete well for the ball and they are very dangerous in broken play situations, as you would expect."
England U19 Regional Academies 27 (Tries: Joseph 2, Sharp, Collins. Con: Sharp 2. Pen: Sharp) Australia Schools 12 (Tries: Garland, De Guingand. Con: Lucas)
England Academies squad: forwards: Harry Allen (Saracens), Pete Austin (London Irish), Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers), Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers), Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby), Tom Hicks (Northampton Saints), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jethro Rawling (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Steadman (Leeds Carnegie), Henry Thomas (Sales Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby).
Backs: Tommy Bell (Sales Sharks), Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ryan Glynn (Sales Sharks), Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Jake Sharp (Saracens), Andy Short (Worcester), Sam Stuart (Harlequins), Marcus Watson (London Irish).