Leicester Tigers wing Charlie Walker touched down for England Under-18s as they beat France Under-18s 33-16 at Newbury on Sunday to extend their winning run to 14 games.
Walker’s late try added to earlier scores by wing Marland Yarde (London Irish), lock Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie) and centre Elliot Daly (London Wasps).
Tigers teammate George Ford landed four conversions. He also set up Yarde’s first try with a break through the middle and created his second with a well-placed chip for the corner.
France scored two tries of their own through wing Yohan Artru (Montpelier).
Ford, who captained England from fly-half, said: “Our philosophy is always to have a go and while we made some mistakes in the first half we were clinical enough to go and score three tries in the second half.
“The physicality was right up there and we worked massively hard in the forwards and at the rucks and that gave us the platform to play.
“We defended quite well too – they scored from a couple of turnovers but we wanted to keep them out and did that for the rest of the game.”
England coach John Fletcher said: “To score five tries against a physical French side is pretty good and we left another two or three out there. I'm delighted - but we can play better.”
England U18:
15 Ben Ransom (Tonbridge & Saracens)
14 Marland Yarde (Whitgift & London Irish)
13 Elliot Daly (Whitgift & London Wasps)
12 Ryan Mills (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester)
11 Charlie Walker (Oakham & Leicester Tigers)
10 George Ford (Rishworth & Leicester Tigers, captain)
9 Joel Hodgson (RGS Newcastle & Newcastle Falcons)
1 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
2 Koree Britton (Ivybridge Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
3 Anthony Brennan (Twyford CofE & London Wasps)
4 George Merrick (Whitgift & Harlequins)
5 Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry's GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
6 Will Skuse (Bryanston & Bath Rugby)
7 Chris Walker (Prince Henry's GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
8 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Sixth Form Coll & Worcester Warriors)
Replacements:
16 Nick Auterac (Oaklands Coll & Saracens)
17 Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & Newcastle Falcons)
18 Kyle Sinckler (Epsom Coll & Harlequins)
19 Will Spencer (St Paul's Catholic Coll & London Irish)
20 Sam Northcote-Green (Dulwich Coll & London Wasps)
21 Charlie Gordon (Wellington Coll & London Wasps)
22 Jamie Elliott (Bedford & Northampton Saints)
23 Mark Jennings (Lymm HS & Sale Sharks)
Walker’s late try added to earlier scores by wing Marland Yarde (London Irish), lock Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie) and centre Elliot Daly (London Wasps).
Tigers teammate George Ford landed four conversions. He also set up Yarde’s first try with a break through the middle and created his second with a well-placed chip for the corner.
France scored two tries of their own through wing Yohan Artru (Montpelier).
Ford, who captained England from fly-half, said: “Our philosophy is always to have a go and while we made some mistakes in the first half we were clinical enough to go and score three tries in the second half.
“The physicality was right up there and we worked massively hard in the forwards and at the rucks and that gave us the platform to play.
“We defended quite well too – they scored from a couple of turnovers but we wanted to keep them out and did that for the rest of the game.”
England coach John Fletcher said: “To score five tries against a physical French side is pretty good and we left another two or three out there. I'm delighted - but we can play better.”
England U18:
15 Ben Ransom (Tonbridge & Saracens)
14 Marland Yarde (Whitgift & London Irish)
13 Elliot Daly (Whitgift & London Wasps)
12 Ryan Mills (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester)
11 Charlie Walker (Oakham & Leicester Tigers)
10 George Ford (Rishworth & Leicester Tigers, captain)
9 Joel Hodgson (RGS Newcastle & Newcastle Falcons)
1 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Truro Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
2 Koree Britton (Ivybridge Coll & Exeter Chiefs)
3 Anthony Brennan (Twyford CofE & London Wasps)
4 George Merrick (Whitgift & Harlequins)
5 Dominic Barrow (Prince Henry's GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
6 Will Skuse (Bryanston & Bath Rugby)
7 Chris Walker (Prince Henry's GS Otley & Leeds Carnegie)
8 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Sixth Form Coll & Worcester Warriors)
Replacements:
16 Nick Auterac (Oaklands Coll & Saracens)
17 Nathan Morris (Sedbergh & Newcastle Falcons)
18 Kyle Sinckler (Epsom Coll & Harlequins)
19 Will Spencer (St Paul's Catholic Coll & London Irish)
20 Sam Northcote-Green (Dulwich Coll & London Wasps)
21 Charlie Gordon (Wellington Coll & London Wasps)
22 Jamie Elliott (Bedford & Northampton Saints)
23 Mark Jennings (Lymm HS & Sale Sharks)
