Kingsholm once again provided the home venue for the England U20s this season but the Gloucester crowd would have been forgiven for fearing the worst as England spluttered to a 6-8 half time scoreline.
Wales looked dangerous early on. Fly half Matthew Jarvis kicked an early penalty but missed two others including an audacious effort from 57 metres!
The visitors also looked dangerous with ball in hand and wing James Loxton backed himself to scream down the touchline and slide in for the only try of the half.
Gloucester's Freddie Burns kept his side in touch with two well struck penalties and the fly half did his best to test the Welsh defence with ball in hand.
Overall, however, England made simply too many errors which was frustrating given that they seemed to enjoy a superiority up front.
However, it was all change in the second half as England moved the ball around more and the gaps started to appear.
The impressive prop Joe Marler romped home for England's first try before a Burns break opened up Wales leading to Rory Clegg's chip finding Jamie George for the second score. Burns converted both.
Jarvis struck back for Wales but Gloucester prop Shaun Knight's smart inside pass put skipper Jacob Rowan in for the third try.
England overcame the loss of Alex Gray to a red card and were able to add further tries from Marler and Gloucester's Jonny May to wrap up the 41-14 win.
England U20:
Tom Catterick (Newcastle Falcons; Jonathan Joseph, London Irish 52); Will Hurrell (Leicester Tigers), Tom Homer (London Irish), Rory Clegg (Harlequins), Sam Smith (Harlequins); Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby; Jonny May, Gloucester Rugby 56), Sam Harrison (Leicester Tigers; Sam Stuart, Harlequins 76); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Jamie George (Saracens; Rob Buchanan, Harlequins 75), Shaun Knight (Gloucester Rugby; Lee Imiolek, Sale Sharks 57), Calum Green (Leicester Tigers; Charlie Matthews, Harlequins 71), James Gaskell (Sale Sharks), Will Welch (Newcastle Falcons; Jackson Wray, Saracens 67), Jacob Rowan (Leeds Carnegie, captain), Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons)
Scorers: Tries: Marler 2, George, Rowan, May. Conversions: Burns 3, Homer 2. Penalties: Burns 2
Wales U20:
Dan Fish (Blues); James Loxton (Blues), Owen Williams (Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Kristian Phillips (Ospreys); Matthew Jarvis (Ospreys), Rhys Downes (Blues); Dan Watchurst (capt, Dragons), Rhys Williams (Blues), Simon Gardiner (Scarlets), Macauley Cook (Blues), James King (Ospreys), James Thomas (Dragons), Josh Navidi (Blues), Morgan Allen (Pontypool).
Replacements: Ieuan Davies (Glamorgan Wanderers), Trystan Davies (Scarlets), Lloyd Peers (Ospreys), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lee Rees (Scarlets), Matthew Pewtner (Dragons).
Scorers: Try: Loxton. Penalties: Jarvis 3.
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