England U18s fight back for epic win

South Africa U18s ‘A’…………34, England U18s…………36

Rory Taylor’s last minute penalty gave England U18s a thrilling victory against South Africa U18s ‘A‘, after super-subs Billy Sela and Henry Pollock inspired an astonishing recovery.

England trailed by 15 points on three separate occasions, barely firing a shot in the first twenty minutes and going in at the break 20-5 down, before two South African interception tries each cancelled out scores that had looked to bring the visitors back into the contest.

But the impact of Sela, who scored a crucial brace, along with the brilliant Pollock, who captained the team last Friday and is likely to again this coming Saturday, took England within a point.

And Taylor’s penalty in the final minute put England in front for the first time in the match, and gave them a memorable victory.

South Africa A dominated the early stages, with Bradley Giddy notching two penalties before a water break on 17 minutes due to much warmer conditions compared to England’s first match on tour last week.

Just a few minutes after that break, the hosts crossed for their first try as Zukisani Tom powered over from close range, but England hit back as Will Glister rounded off a fine move moments later with what was their first threatening attack of the game.

The conversion drifted wide, still leaving England more than two scores behind, and although they had a good period on the front foot following the score, the South Africans went in with a healthy buffer through Sesethu Mpaka for a 20-5 lead at half-time.

Any momentum from that looked to be gone however, as Will Owen went over just 21 seconds into the second half and Raff Weston converted, but the dial continued to swing as South Africa’s Gino Cupido crossed for an interception try less than a minute later.

Cupido’s next interception would not prove as fruitful as he was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on, and although England would also lose a player to the bin as George Perkins saw yellow for an illegal clearout, Sela crossed after a relentless spell of attacking flair to once again cut the gap to eight.

Another interception looked to have cost England for good, as Mpaka went over again for the hosts, but Sela also managed to complete his brace soon after to give them hope of a last gasp recovery.

That hope seemed to be agonisingly extinguished as Tom Burton saw the ball dislodged by South African cover tackling just a metre away from the try line, having been brilliantly teed up by a Pollock break down the right.

But the latter produced more magic on that touchline a matter of minutes later as he chipped through for Ben Renshaw to cross, before Taylor converted to bring England back within one.

South Africa’s own knock on one yard out kept the Boys in White clinging on, and after battling their way back up the field, Taylor slotted the last minute penalty to complete a stunning revival.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed rugby news you need, subscribe to The Rugby Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.