England U20s sweep aside Italian counterparts

Ford was also in fine form with the boot, with 19 of England's points coming from his right foot, eight converted tries and one penalty.

England had numbers over on the Italians in as early as the fourth minute after a swift move across field, but Worcester Warriors flanker Matt Kvesic's pass fell just short of Northampton Saints wing Jamie Elliott.

The missed opportunity was a warning for Italy and in the seventh minute Daly showed a quick turn of pace to cut behind the Italian defence and touch-down.

Both sides then exchanged successful penalties shortly after to take the score to 10-3 with 11 minutes on the clock.

Daly then once again proved too hot to handle for the Italian defence after he turned on the gas to shoot through and put the ball down between the posts.

With 20 minutes gone England had their third try of the evening. Good work from captain Gray put Short through to dive over the in the corner.

Minutes later and England added a fourth, Daly completed his hat-trick in not dissimilar fashion to his first two, displaying pace and precision.

Before the half hour mark Daly had his fourth try of the evening. England showing good initiative to collect a loose punt up-field and the Wasps man reacted quickest to touch down.

Into the second half and England wasted no time in picking up where they left off. Short grabbed his second try of the night, again heading over in the corner after a great pass from Northampton Saints hooker Mike Haywood.

George Ford then broke up the Daly, Short try-scoring show by adding a score of his own, touching down between the posts and converting the additional two points to make the score 48-3 with 50 minutes on the clock.

England's pack was dominant throughout and Gray made it two tries in as many games picking up from the back of the scrum and running over to score.

Andy Short completed his hat-trick with 14 minutes left, a fluid passing move freed him up out wide and the Worcester man made no mistake.

Not to be outdone by Daly's four tries, Short went over for his fourth with five minutes remaining, showing good acceleration to outwit his Italian counterpart.

England were then awarded a penalty try in the dying seconds after the scrum once again proved dominant on the Italy try line. Ford converted and brought the game to a close.

England starting XV:

15 Ben Ransom (Saracens)

14 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors)

13 Elliot Daly (London Wasps)

12 Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)

11 Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)

10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers)

9 Chris Cook (Bath Rugby)

1 Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby)

2 Mike Haywood (Northampton Saints)

3 Will Collier (Harlequins)

4 Addison Lockley (Exeter Chiefs)

5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)

6 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)

7 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers)

8 Alex Gray (Capt) (Newcastle Falcons)

Replacements

16 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins) on for Mike Haywood 50

17 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs) on for Mako Vunipola 65

18 Joe Launchbury (London Wasps) on for Addison Lockley 47

19 Ollie Stedman (Leeds Carnegie) on for Matt Everard 50

20 Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby) on for Chris Cook 62

21 Guy Armitage (London Irish) on for Elliot Daly 44

22 Christian Wade (London Wasps) on for Ben Ransom 44

Content courtesy of RFU.