Taylor Prell (Giggleswick School), who has already made his first-team debut for Wharfedale, and fellow Leeds Carnegie academy player Josh Bainbridge (Prince Henry’s Grammar School) were among the try-scorers as England Under-18s started their FIRA-AER European Championship with A 62-5 victory over Portugal in Poznan, Poland.

Prell got himself on the end of a lovely move for England's eighth try, while Bainbridge got the first from a rolling maul.

England's head coach John Fletcher said: “We’re pleased to get the win, and to score ten tries is always pleasing. There are areas to work on – but we worked the guys in training and it was a good blow out for them. Huge credit to Portugal though, they more than played their part and I thought that they deserved their try.”

Captain Harry Mallinder - son of Northampton coach Jim - added: “We’re just pleased to kick this competition off with a win. The aim is to get better in each game we play, we know that there are things to work on, which we will do over the next few days.”

On Tuesday, England meet Wales, who beat Scotland 23-21 in their opening match, at 2pm in Pobiedziska.