Plymouth College and Exeter Chiefs fly half, Henry Slade, 17, scored a try, a penalty and made four conversions in a spirited England U18 encounter with an Italian U19 side at Heywood Road, Sale.
Slade's first conversion came after 21 minutes when prop Luke Cowan-Dickie scored a try from close range. Another eight minutes into the game saw Mark Jennings claim a try on his home ground. Missing the conversion, Slade redeemed himself a short while later by slotting a penalty from just outside the 22 and then added another to give seven points for the half when he converted Tom Jubb's try. England went into half time 22-0 ahead.
Italy began the second half pressuring England into a kickable penalty, which they missed. England's response was immediate with Slade skipping inside from the right wing and stepping on the gas to score an impressive try, which he duly converted to give his side a 29-0 lead. Captain, Dominic Barrow, went on to score the first of two tries, converted again by Slade, taking England's lead to 36-0.
With nine named substitutes a piece, both sides began to make changes across the board. England scored two more tries and conversions from Will Hooley, on for Slade, made the score 50-0. In the last five minutes Jubb and Barrow doubled their try tallies, with easy conversions for Hooley to make the final score 64-0.
"I was really pleased with how I played in the match against Italy but it was particularly good to see how well we played as a team", said Slade. "Hopefully my performance has put me in with a good chance of being selected for the next match against Scotland at the end of March."
"I was very proud to see Henry make such a big contribution on the international rugby stage", said Plymouth College Head of Rugby Richard Edwards. "His outstanding performance was a reflection of his hard work and commitment to the sport. However, his school rugby is still very important to him and he hopes to finish his Plymouth College rugby career on a high at the National Schools Sevens Tournament at Rosslyn Park later this month."
