England Under-18s were beaten 32-30 by Italy in their second match of the Six Nations Festival at Cardiff Arms Park, while Wales enjoyed a 36-28 victory over Ireland Schools and Scotland defeated France 24-21.

Italy led England 14-3 at the break, with three penalties from Paolo Garbisi and a try for Matteo Drudi, while George Barton kicked England's only points. 

England, who included Leicester Tigers forward Henri Lavin in the back row and club colleague George Martin among the replacements,  scored second half tries through Alfie Barbeary (2) and Ollie Sleightholme plus a penalty try but scores for Matteo Moscardi and Albert Batista helped seal victory for Italy. 

England, who were beaten 32-27 by Scotland in the tournament opener on Saturday, face France at Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday in their final fixture.

Head coach John Fletcher said: “We scored some good tries, but left a few out there through poor decision-making. However, these are young players and they will learn a lot from the experience and we’ll support them when we analyse the game.

“They will be bitterly disappointed when they watch it back, but credit to Italy, they are improving each year. We didn’t underestimate them, however had we played as well in the first half as we did in the second half then we could have seen a different result.”

Sam Costelow shared in a first victory for Wales Under-18s as they scored six tries against Ireland Schools on Wednesday.

Leicester Tigers fly-half Costelow, who kicked two conversions in the opening 14-22 defeat by France last weekend, added another kick as he came off the bench during the second half of the win over Ireland.

Wales face Italy in their final fixture at Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Tigers front-rower Alex Maxwell came off the bench for Scotland in their three-point defeat of France at Cardiff Arms Park.

They meet Ireland on Sunday, April 8.