Henry Pollock’s hat-trick inspired England U20 to an impressive 36-11 victory over Italy U20 on the opening night of the U20 Six Nations.
The flanker scored twice in the first half which also featured a Finn Carnduff try as the visitors went in 22-6 in front at the break.
Pollock set up Josh Bellamy to seal England’s bonus point and though Valerio Siciliano responded for Italy, the Northampton Saints prospect completed the scoring by sealing his treble late on.
The two sides exchanged penalties early on in Treviso, Sean Kerr punishing early Italian indiscipline in front of their own posts before Martino Pucciarello levelled when his opposite number Rory Taylor was penalised for offside.
Pucciarello put Italy 6-3 in front following a scrum infringement from the visitors but England hit back instantly through Pollock, who ran in unchallenged after full-back Ben Redshaw found a gap in the home defence.
An excellent clearance kick from Lorenzo Casilio took Italy from one 22 to the other as they sought a response but the visiting defence held firm and soon added to their lead, Pollock this time with a fine individual effort which Kerr again added the extras to.
A neat move on the stroke of half time saw England stretch their lead, Toby Cousins releasing captain Finn Carnduff to cross in the corner on the left.
Italy started the second half on top but were unable to turn their pressure into points, which England capitalised on shortly after the hour mark.
Pollock was again instrumental, taking a quick tap penalty and releasing replacement Bellamy to go over from close range and seal England’s bonus point.
Italy scored the try their second-half performance deserved when Siciliano profited from a dominant lineout as the home pack showed their muscle.
But it was from a similar method that England rounded off the evening in style, Pollock the man to benefit from the set piece as he powered through for a third time to conclude an emphatic statement of intent from Mark Mapletoft's side.
Scorers:
Italy U20: Try: Valerio Siciliano. Penalties: Martino Pucciarello (2).
England U20: Tries: Henry Pollock (3), Finn Carnduff, Josh Bellamy. Conversions: Sean Kerr (2), Rory Taylor (2). Penalty: Sean Kerr.
Teams:
Italy U20: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Marco Scalabrin, 13 Federico Zanandrea, 12 Nicola Bozzo, 11 Lorenzo Elettri, 10 Martino Pucciarello, 9 Lorenzo Casilio (c), 1 Federico Pisani, 2 Nicholas Gasperini, 3 Marcos Gallorini, 4 Tommaso Redondi, 5 Giacomo Milano, 6 Piero Gritti, 7 Luca Bellucci, 8 Jacopo Botturi (c). Replacements: 16 Valerio Siciliano, 17 Sergio Pelliccioli, 18 Davide Ascari, 19 Samuele Mirenzi, 20 Cesare Zucconi, 21 Mattia Jimenez, 22 Francesco Imberti, 23 Patrick De Villiers.
England U20: 15 Ben Redshaw, 14 Toby Cousins, 13 Ben Waghorn, 12 Sean Kerr, 11 Alex Wills, 10 Rory Taylor, 9 Archie McParland, 1 Asher Opoku- Fordjour, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Billy Sela, 4 Olamide Sodeke, 5 Junior Kpoku, 6 Finn Carnduff (c), 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Zach Carr. Replacements: 16 Jacob Oliver, 17 Scott Kirk, 18 James Halliwell, 19 Joe Bailey, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ben Douglas, 22 Josh Bellamy, 23 Ollie Spencer.