Richard Whiffin’s Wales U20 side could not repeat their shock Six Nations victory over England when the teams met again on Friday night.
The Wales age group head coach watched as his team let slip a half time advantage and failed to score in the second half as England cut loose to race away for a comfortable 47-14 victory in a warm-up match for the World Rugby U20 Championship at Pontypool Park.
A sizeable crowd saw Evan Minto’s side lead 14-7 at the break thanks to converted tries by Elijah Evans and Caio James.
But in the second half, England cut loose and ran over for six unanswered tries in a dominant display.
Whiffin said: "Our kicking game was strong. We won some aerial battles and our set-piece was good. It gave us the opportunity to be right in the hunt.
"Then that last 25 minutes, we lacked a bit of energy. The boys looked tired and we coughed up some soft tries, some intercepts, that blew the scoreboard out.
"Disappointed with our energy in that back 20 minutes but pleased with what we put on the field in the first 50 minutes.
"We controlled the game and probably left a few tries out there. But I was pleased with our half-backs. They put us in the right areas of the field.
"Our set-piece dominated really well. It gave us those opportunities to get scores. There's always the other side of the half and we didn't bring the energy we needed in that second-half.
"We've seen the first-half group execute the plan really and we've seen guys put their hand up in that space. We've also seen guys struggle at the level. It gives you a good picture of where guys are at and helps with selection."
The Six Nations champions responded to Wales ' strong opening with a dominant second-half showing, scoring tries through blindside George Timmins, a penalty try, a second for Reggie Hammick who went over in the first half, Tyler Offiah, Jonny Weimann and Nic Allision.
The game went from 14-14 shortly after the re-start to a landslide rapidly, as the English took full advantage of poor discipline by the home side who had Luke Evans and Jac Pritchard sent to the sin bin.
The two teams were considerably different from when the sides last met, in the final round of the Six Nations, with five starters retained in the home XV and three for the Red Rose brigade.
Wales opened the scoring in the eighth minute when scrum-half Sion Davies hacked the ball on and Evans won the foot race, to the ball for Harri Ford to convert.
Wales dominated territory with England struggling to get inside Wales’ half and it wasn’t long before the home side doubled their lead through a converted try by Gloucester flanker Caio James.
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England finally got onto the scoreboard when Hammick stormed home from 30 metres, with Bellamy adding the extras.
Virtually from the start of the second half, Luke Evans was shown a yellow card.
England turned the screw and it looked like Wales had weathered the storm but just as the big second row was about to return to action, Timmins powered over from close range. Bellamy’s conversion levelled the scores with a simple conversion.
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Wales were still giving a good account of themselves, but they began to chase the game and as a result, they gifted England opportunities and they were in no mood to squander them. Hammick cantered away from a weary defence before Tyler Offiah raced 70m after an interception.
Weimann’s try soon followed before Allison sealed the deal with another breakaway try.
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Wales scorers: tries – E Evans, C James; conversions – H Ford (2).
England scorers: tries – R Hammick (2), G Timmins, penalty, T Offiah, J Weimann, N Allison; conversions – J Bellamy (2), B Coen (3).
Wales U20 : Lewis Edwards (Ospreys); Ioan Duggan (Dragons), Elijah Evans (Cardiff Rugby), Elis Price (Scarlets), Aidan Boshoff (Bristol Bears); Harri Ford (Dragons), Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); Cam Tyler-Grocott (Cardiff Rugby), Saul Hurley (Aberavon), Owain James (Dragons), Dan Gemine (Ospreys), Kenzie Jenkins (Bristol Bears), Ryan Jones (Dragons), Caio James (Gloucester), Evan Minto (Dragons, captain).
Replacements: Evan Wood (Pontypool/Cardiff Met), Louie Trevett (Bristol Bears), Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), Tom Cottle (RGC), Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), Deain Gwynne (Gloucester), Harry Beddall (Dragons), Logan Franklin (Dragons), Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby), Dylan Scott (Cardiff Met), Steffan Emanuel (Cardiff Rugby), Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), Jack Woods (Bath Rugby), Dylan Alford (Scarlets)
