England had never lost to Wales at Under 20 level before, but a try by Blues wing James Loxton’s raised the distinct possibility of a landmark triumph for the visitors and was the only try in a first-half largely dominated by Wales.
Ospreys outside half Matthew Jarvis added a penalty to the Loxton try and could have made the lead even greater had he been on target with two more penalties and his conversion attempt.
England, who reached the final of the IRB World Junior Championships in the past two years, were restricted to two penalties from the boot of outside half Freddy Burns ion those opening 40 minutes and found it difficult to contain the Welsh attackers.
But as creative as Wales were in the first-half they couldn’t turn their pressure into enough points and suffered a major backlash in the second half. England increased the tempo and intensity of their game after the break and notched five unanswered tries.
Significantly, four of the tries came from their forwards with Esher prop Joe Marler racing clear for two of them. His front row colleague Jamie George got another and skipper Jacob Rowan grabbed one for the back row.
The only response from Wales came in the shape of two more penalties from the boot of Jarvis, but they were on the back foot throughout and found themselves starved of possession in the second half.
Wales coach Phil Davies, who had 11 players with previous experience at this level in their side, would have been pleased with his side’s skill, character and determination in the first half, but concerned about the drop off in the second half as the pace increased.
James Thomas, Morgan Allen, Macauley Cook and Rhys Williams all worked hard up front for Wales, while Dan Fish had a fine debut at full back and Scott Williams was strong at centre.
But by the time replacement centre Jonny May rounded off the scoring with the home side’s fifth try, England had notched two tries while down to 14 men following the 63rd dismissal of No 8 Alex May for an alleged stamp on the head of a Welsh forward at a ruck.
Wales Under 20: Dan Fish (Blues); James Loxton (Blues), Owen Williams (Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Kristian Phillips (Ospreys); Matthew Jarvis (Ospreys), Rhys Downes (Blues); Dan Watchurst (capt, Dragons), Rhys Williams (Blues), Simon Gardiner (Scarlets), Macauley Cook (Blues), James King (Ospreys), James Thomas (Dragons), Josh Navidi (Blues), Morgan Allen (Pontypool)
Replacements: Trystan Davies (Scarlets), Ieuan Davies (Glamorgan Wanderers), Lloyd Peers (Ospreys), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lee Rees (Scarlets), Matthew Pewtner (Dragons)
