England took the spoils in the first of two Student Rugby League internationals against Wales this year with a 10-40 win away in Port Talbot.
Leon Stewart opened England’s account as Harry Gray burst down field - Stewart jinking his way to finish the move. Jake Dickinson added the extras.
Wales got themselves off the mark ten minutes later as Ollie Further burrowed his way through on the end of an attacking set, but Llewelyn Hawkes couldn’t add the extras.
Sean Baker’s scoot out of dummy-half to crash over to the left of the posts, with Dickinson again on target with the boot, but he couldn’t make the distance for the next attempt after Leon Stewart’s pass had put him away for a try in the corner.
Wales were in again at Lloyd Evans stored through for an excellent individual try, with Hawkes this time finding his mark with the goal.
Firth found himself on the bench for ten minutes after being shown yellow for a high tackle and England capitalised on the overlap with Dickinson adding his second try to make it 10-20 at the break.
The visitors extended their lead in the second half as Euan Parke picked up Wales’ fumbled ball to score in the corner with his first touch of the ball although Dickinson failing to convert.
Fin Hay’s bounded off two defenders in the centre of the field and crashed through under the sticks, giving Dickinson an easy shot on goal, shortly before Freddie Ziegler finished a passing move in the corner with the kick too much for Dickinson.
Wales found themselves down to 12 men again for the remainder of the game as Jac McGuffie was sin-binned for an off the ball challenge and it wasn’t long before Ziegler was in space thanks to Stewart’s long right pass to conclude the scoring, Dickinson on target with the boot!
The two sides meet next weekend when England welcome Wales to the Arthur Miller Stadium at Stanningley in Leeds for a 2.30pm (K.O).
Wales Students: Lloyd Evans, Dylan Morgan, Jac McGuffie, Ben Luxford, Jack Hunter, Euan Owen, Llewelyn Hawkes, Oscar Fisher, Alfie Valasco, Ed Weston, Jamie Jenkins, Jacob Purcell, Joe Coope Franklin. Interchanges: Olly Moody, Garin Nicholls, Joe Caldwell, Lewis Ingram, ?Thomas Moore, Scott Simons, Ollie Firth.
Tries: Ollie Firth (14), Lloyd Evans (31)
Goals: Llewelyn Hawkes (1/2)
Sin Bin: Ollie Firth - High Tackle (35), Jac McGuffie - Off The Ball Challenge (73)
England Universities: Ben Price, Freddie Ziegler, Tom Oldroyd, Leon Stewart, Jake Dickinson, Charlie Gay, Elliot Shaw, Ben O’Donnell, Sean Baker, Aaron Powell, Tom Wilkins, Isaac Coleman, Harry Gray. Interchanges: Henry Davies, Fin Hay, Luciano Bejanidze, Euan Parke, Aaron Harlow-Stephenson.
Tries: Leon Stewart (3), Jake Dickinson (28, 39), Sean Baker (19), Euan Parke (42), Fin Hay (48), Freddie Ziegler (54, 74)
Goals: Jake Dickinson 4/8
Referee: James Jones (Wales)
Half-time: 10-20
Full-time: 10-40
