England U18s 76-15 Western Province XV U18s
Jack Bracken’s second-half hat-trick England continued their free-scoring tour of South Africa as they hammered a Western Province XV 76-15.
Finlay Wiseman opened the scoring inside three minutes after an impressive misspass from Louie Platt, before Wiseman put in a superb tackle in defence to deny Rami Moatshe from hitting back almost immediately.
England doubled their tally as Charlie Griffin broke up the left and offloaded to Platt, and then Griffin set up another half-back as he fed inside to Dom Hanson for a third.
Western Province fly-half Marno Pretorious knocked over a penalty to cut the gap, but England opened it up 30 as Hanson fed prop Sam Graham from close range and before Hanson was set-up by Nick Lilley for his second.
Western Province’s attacking efforts were finally rewarded in the last five minutes of the first half, as hooker HB Odendaal finished off a sharp lineout move before inside centre Frank Hitimane cut a sharp line to leave the score 33-15 to England at half-time.
But the contest was settled inside 8 second-half minutes. Toby Baker crossed in similar fashion to his opposite number Hitimane, a beautiful backs move preceding a one-two between Bracken and Finn Newton saw the former go over, and then Charlie West scored shortly after Bracken broke through again.
Bracken’s brilliance continued with a close-range turnover and finish in the left corner before he chased down a kick for his hat-trick, and Angus Hall scored his third of the tour and then set up Newton for the last of the 12 tries.
ENGLAND: Newton, Wiseman, Lilley, Baker, Griffin, Platt, Hanson; Miller, Longstaff, Graham, Adegbemile, Sodeke, Shand, Treacey (c), Lightbrown
Replacements: Tuipulotu, Conduit, Sela, Kpoku, Daniell, West, Friday, Davies, Wilson, Hall, Bracken
WESTERN PROVINCE XV: Moerat, De Kock, VD Merwe, Hitimane, Moatshe, Pretorius, Loots; Groenewald, Odendaal, Lubbe, Botha, Vosloo, Dames, Ferreira, Nyashanu
Replacements: Mynhardt, Keizer, Holm, Hansen, Wedgeworth, Kotze, Cox, Bam, Swart, Boncama, Knoetze, Matross
