FORMER Dorchester players Orlando Bailey and John Stewart were among the tries as England Under-18s beat Wales Under-18s with a comfortable 38-20 margin in their Six Nations Festival opener at Hartpury.

The Bath duo impressed as Bailey scored two tries and replacement Stewart scored the final try of the match, while Sam O’Connor, another Dorchester graduate, was on the losing side for Wales.

England led 24-10 at the break through Bailey’s brace and a Joe Browning score, as well as three penalties from Tom Curtis, while Wales’ scored through Ioan Lloyd’s try and five points from Ed Dunford.

Raffi Quirke and Stewart secured the win with Curtis converting, although Wales did cross via Dylan Davies and Mason Grady.

England performance pathway coach Jim Mallinder told the England RFU website: “It was a good positive start for us.

“We played some really good rugby in that first half and scored some good tries. Possession dried up a little in the second half and credit to Wales who came back into the game but I thought our defence was outstanding.

“It’s a good start to the tournament, the players will learn a lot from the experience and it gives us a good platform from which to build on.

“We need to sort out our set piece and that is understandable as this is a relatively new group who have only come together recently and we need to have a look at our attacking structure as we left a few tries out there.

“In defence we need one or two little tweaks but overall we are really happy with that performance.”