Leicester Tigers prop Joe Heyes was among the tryscorers as England beat Wales 45-26 in the fifth-placed play-off at the World Under-20s Championships.
Heyes, in his second successive summer at the Championships, started at tighthead for England who got off to a lightning start in Rosario with tries from Josh Hodge and Will Capon to lead 14-0 and were then awarded a penalty try following a deliberate knock-on which also brought a yellow card for the Welsh defender.
Then, with just seconds remaining in the first half, Heyes picked up at close range to dive over the line for his team’s fourth score. Hodge’s conversion stretched the lead to 28 points at the break.
Wales, with Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell in the back row for all five of their games in Argentina, forced their way back into the game with two scores following lineout drives in the opening 10 minutes of the second period.
That cut the gap to 14 points but England captain Fraser Dingwall then dotted down after blocking a clearing kick before Wales drove over for their third score.
Hodge’s penalty pushed England 38-21 in front entering the last 10 minutes.
Reffell, who captained Wales in last year’s tournament, assumed the leadership again when hooker Dewi Lake left the field, and it was Wales who had the last word as Rio Dyer scored in the last seconds of the game after Exeter forward Ted Hill had scored for England wide on the left and Hodge added the conversion to take his total to 63 points for the Championship.
A third Leicester Tigers player, fly-half Sam Costelow, had to watch the game after suffering a facial injury in his side’s win over New Zealand in the last round.
Former Tigers academy scrum-half Christophe Ridley has been named as an assistant referee for the World Under-20s Final between France and Australia on Saturday evening.
England Under-20s: 15 Tom de Glanville (Bath Rugby), 14 Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints), 13 Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)(c), 12 Luke James (Sale Sharks), 11 Josh Hodge (Newcastle Falcons), 10 Manu Vunipola (Saracens), 9 Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs); 1 James Kenny (Exeter Chiefs), 2 Will Capon (Bristol Bears), 3 Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), 4 Joel Kpoku (Saracens), 5 Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), 6 Ted Hill (Worcester Warriors), 7 Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester Rugby), 8 Tom Willis (Wasps Rugby)
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly (Sale Sharks), 17 Olly Adkins (Gloucester Rugby), 18 Alfie Petch (Exeter Chiefs), 19 Kai Owen (Worcester Warriors), 20 Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs), 21 Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs), 22 Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Carnegie), 23 Tom Seabrook (Gloucester Rugby), 24 Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish), 25 Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks)
Wales Under-20s: 15 Ioan Davies (Cardiff Blues), 14 Tomi Lewis (Scarlets), 13 Deon Smith (Dragons), 12 Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler (Ospreys), 11 Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets), 10 Cai Evans (Ospreys), 9 Harri Morgan (Ospreys); 1 Rhys Davies (Ospreys), 2 Dewi Lake (Ospreys)(c), 3 Nick English (Bristol Bears), 4 Ed Scragg (Dragons), 5 Jac Price (Scarlets), 6 Iestyn Rees (Scarlets), 7 Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers), 8 Jac Morgan (Aberavon/Scarlets)
Replacements: Garin Lloyd (Ospreys), Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets), Ben Warren (Cardiff Blues), Morgan Jones (Scarlets), Lennon Greggains (Dragons), Dafydd Buckland (Dragons), Rio Dyer (Dragons), Tom Hoppe (Dragons), Teddy Williams (Cardiff Blues), Tom Devine (Dragons), Ioan R Davies (Cardiff Blues), Will Griffiths (Dragons)
