England, France and Wales made impressive starts to the U19s European Championship in the first round of matches held at the CREPS Font Romeu high performance facility in the French Pyrenees yesterday (Sunday).

Full back Eligh Wilkinson scored a first half hat trick and landed seven goals as holders England defeated Ukraine 70-8, Rio Walker and Zac Bennett each with two of their total of 14 tries. England head coach, Gary Hewer, commented: “The boys have responded really well to the hot conditions and given a thorough performance against a very resilient Ukraine side who never stopped for the full 80 minutes.

“From a coaching point of view, it’s disappointing to concede a try but the effort and determination that the Ukrainians put in, and with the friendship and bonds we’ve created over the last four or five years, they deserved it.”

Hewer added: “We’ll utilise the whole squad over our group games but some of them put their hands up today showing what they can offer.”

Hooker Nikita Korolchuk claimed Ukraine’s late try, head coach Artur Martyrisian, noted: “It was a good experience for our team. We have not had a lot of time to train together and set aside our domestic championship because so many players are in the army.

“Great thanks to our heritage players because, without them, we might not have been able to participate.”

Leny Stacul was the French star with four tries as they beat Scotland 96-6. The host nation crossed 16 times in all, back rower Adrian De La Rose with a try treble, Thibault Guttierez kicking a perfect 15 conversions.

Scotland were reduced to 12 men in the 36th minute following a sending off.

In the third match, Wales held on to deny Serbia 52-30, Regan Preece with three tries and Kevan Phillips claiming 24 points from two tries and eight out of nine goals. Wales head coach, Gary Dunn said of the victory: “I was pleased with the result more than the performance, there are loads of aspects to improve on. 

“There were some good individual tries, and I can’t fault any of the effort, but we need to analyse this before we face England on Wednesday, Serbia were a little unknown to us.”

Serbia had three players sinbinned, scrum half Tyson Walker with two of their tries and a total of 18 points. “I’m proud of the boys, both domestic and heritage players,” noted head coach Vladislav Dedic. “We had to rally dig deep against a good side. The sinbins harmed us but when it was 13 on 13, we were the better side. We need to work on our discipline.”

The next fixtures on Wednesday 15 July will see:

Scotland v Ukraine (2pm kick off, local time)
France v Serbia (4pm)
England v Wales (6pm)  
 

England 70
Eligh Wilkinson, Jason Frankling, Rio Walker, Rhomen Alick, Austen Coates, Jaiden Tallentire, Billy Joe Towers, Jack Barker, Bailey Worthington, Jake Lerigo, Kier Starkie, Zac Bennett, Connor Hall
Interchanges: Joshua Smith, Louey Pinkerton, Ryan Templeton, Dylan Morris

Tries: Wilkinson (1, 16, 32), Starkie (6), Worthington (9), Walker (11, 41), Frankling (25), Bennett (28, 35), Coates (32), Tallentire (50), Lerigo (60), Alick (66)
Goals: Wilkinson 7/14

Ukraine 8
Anton Lukaschuck, Cruz Death, David Winter, Dmytro Cherneha, Dmytro Shevchuk, Hryhorii Ahulov, Kostiantyn Prydatko, Liam Gallagher, Nikita Korolchuk, Nikita Naurynskyi, Oleksandr Vilinchuk, Oleksii Harkusha, Pavlo Pistoliuk
Interchanges: Roman Lomonos, Ruslan Lipisii, Vladyslav Biletskyi, Yaromyr Yaremus

Try: Korolchuk (78)
Goals: Lukaschuck 2/2

Referee: Cody Kuxmann (USA)

Half Time: 36-0

France 96
Leny Stacul, Stevy Richmond, Thibault Guttierez, Louis Tranier, Clément Colin, 6 Ilan Boualem, Mathis Dumont, Leo Ricard, Mahault Beauvilliers, Lorik Lejeune, Adrian De La Rose, Steven Jocelyn, Joris Martignoles
Interchanges: Charly Martinez, Luka Clottes, Sione Pasikla Lamelangi, Yanis Ballet

Tries : Richmond (2), Stacul (12, 41, 56, 73), Martignoles (15), Guttierez (23), De La Rose (26, 51, 58), Clottes (32), Colin (39, 67), Martinez (43), Boualem (70), Beauvilliers (75)
Goals: Guttierez 15/15, Beauvilliers 1/1

Sin Bin: Adrian De La Rose (35 – dangerous tackle)

Scotland 6
Connor Mcguinness, Shaun Callan, Max Erasmus, Harry Woodard, Finlay Davies, Oscar Ellicott-Mcculloch, Zack Emerson, Lucas Anderson Moore, Isaac Maclean, Arran Jamieson, Charlie Jackson, Ethan Frary, Seth Clapham
Interchanges: Jarrod Jones, Jacob Walker, Cullin Stoddart-Shannly, Ben Milnes

Try: Maclean (7)
Goal: Callan 1/1

Sent Off: Charlie Jackson (36 punching)

Referee: Lucas Seal (England)

Half Time: 42-6

Serbia 30
Kai Saric, Filip Punos, Archie Wheeler, Aleksa Radojkovic, Strahinja Milankovic, Danilo Gavrilovic, Tyson Walker, Branko Nedeljkovic, Danilo Todorovic, Mateja Stojkovic, Jakov Dojcinovic, Nikola Savic, Zaric Saban
Interchanges: Uros Polic, Uros Rusimovic, Milan Milovanovic, Mihajlo Malesevic

Tries: Saric (28), Walker (35, 74), Wheeler (65), Saban (68)
Goals: Walker 5/5

Sin Bin: N. Savic (6 – professional foul), K. Saric (8 – professional foul), K. Saric (38 – unprofessional conduct) 

Wales 52
Ioan Herbert, Alex Richardson, Evan Rowlands, Ethan Williams, Regan Preece, Joshua Gabrielsen, Kavan Phillips, Cae Jones, Oliver Rees, Oliver Bellavia-Walker, James Tucker, Oscar Jones, Will Mathers
Interchanges: Kyson Rees, Jacob Morris, Rhys Hughes, Evan Williams

Tries: Ethan Williams (11), Preece (15, 23, 57), Phillips (18, 71), Morris (39), Bellavia-Walker (53), Herbert (62)
Goals: Phillips 8/9

Sin Bin: Morris (50 – unprofessional conduct)
Sent Off: Morris (67 – punching)

Referee: Mateo Roca (France)

Half Time: 12-30