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England Under-20s vs Ireland Under-20s

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Jockstap

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26 February 2010, 10:16 pm
Match report by Editor
Recent Leinster debutant Andrew Conway struck for two tries as the Ireland Under-20s got the better of their English counterparts in a ***anic RBS U-20 6 Nations tussle at Kingsholm on Friday night.
RBS UNDER-20 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Friday, February 26
ENGLAND U-20s 10 IRELAND U-20s 25, Kingsholm, Gloucester RFC

Scorers: England U-20s: Try: Penalty try; Con: Freddie Burns; Pen: Freddie Burns
Ireland U-20s: Tries: Andrew Conway 2, Darren Hudson; Cons: James McKinney 2; Pens: James McKinney, Brian Kingston

England's Under-20s, the RBS U-20 6 Nations leaders after the opening two rounds, were sent crashing back to earth as a trio of first half tries set Allen Clarke's Ireland side on their way to a deserved away win.

In the build-up to this game, Clarke had talked about his players learning from the mistakes they made in failing to overcome a French outfit, last time out, that looked to be there for the taking.

The Irish management kept faith will the side that fell to a 20-15 defeat in Mazamet and they produced the goods at Kingsholm, the home of Gloucester Rugby, to record one of the best wins in Irish age grade rugby history.

This year's ***le race took two fascinating twists tonight as both table toppers England and second-placed France lost for the first time in 2010. The French fell 43-8 to a rampant Wales at Cardiff Arms Park.

That result, coupled with events in Kingsholm, means Ireland are the new leaders of the U-20 Championship, on points difference, followed closely by England and Wales, who are the next opponents for Clarke's youngsters in Athlone on Friday, March 12 (kick-off 7.35pm).

England enjoyed the better of territory at Kingsholm but Rhys Ruddock and his forward colleagues dominated the breakdown, snaffling a number of crucial turnovers and putting in some telling tackles as they continually frustrated the highly-rated hosts.

Out wide, the Irish put their fast-finishing backs to good use as they showed a clinical touch that was unfortunately missing in their most recent outing against France.

The visitors fell behind in the 15th minute as England opened well and out-half Freddie Burns, a Gloucester favourite, kicked his only penalty of the tie.

But Ireland hit back, five minutes later, when Burns lost the ball in contact and Ireland full-back Andrew Conway took his chance to counter with aplomb, exposing an out-of-position English rearguard to race over and score his first try from distance. Out-half James McKinney added the extras.

Ireland lost Conway's Leinster colleague Dominic Ryan to the sin-bin for killing the ball, soon afterwards.

However, the visitors kept the scoreboard ticking through the boot of McKinney, who landed a 29th minute penalty from 40 metres, and an opportunist try from winger Darren Hudson.

The try came as winger Jonny May tried to pull off an unlikely chip and chase out of the English 22, big centre Brendan Macken gathered the ball and offloaed to Hudson who duly ran in his fourth try of the Championship, with McKinney kicking the conversion.

England landed their first real blow of the contest when their forwards cranked up some serious pressure at set piece time and they carved out a penalty try when they went for a pushover close to the Irish line.

Burns added the simple conversion but again Ireland showed great resolve and adventure, just a minute before half-time, when England were caught out of position and a blindside snipe led to Conway's second try which moved the score out to 22-10 at the break.

Off a scrum just inside their own half, Ireland worked a three-on-one overlap. Hudson took the ball on at speed and broke into the 22 before chipping ahead and the onrushing Conway won the race to the ball, gleefully grounding the ball in the corner.

England could not turn pressure into points in the third quarter and Nevin Spence got Ireland on the move again, slashing his way through midfield before a high tackle from full-back Jack Wallace reduced England to 14 players.

The Irish management emptied the replacements bench as tired bodies gave way but the high level of effort and intensity was maintained and demanded by the likes of Ruddock, Macken, David O'Callaghan and replacements Brian Kingston and Brian Hayes.

In a nervy finish, the Irish youngsters were able to hold the hosts at arm's length, intelligently kicking for position and soaking up the pressure before Kingston crowned the win with a penalty, five minutes from time.

Winger Simon Zebo saw yellow in the last minute but there was no way back for England as Ireland claimed their third victory over the 'auld enemy' at U-20 level in the space of four years.
 
The English perspective:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
England U20 10 Ireland U20 25

England's bid for the Under 20 RBS 6 Nations ***le suffered a major setback when their unforced errors handed Ireland a famous victory at Kingsholm.

They dominated territory and had the opposing forwards on the rack for long spells but Ireland hung on gamely, stole the ball on the floor and in contact, and finished their chances with flair.

Two tries came from full back Andrew Conway with one for wing Darren Hudson. Fly half James McKinney added a penalty and two conversions and his replacement Brian Kingston made a decisive three-point contribution in the closing stages.

England were awarded a penalty try before the break with Freddie Burns adding the conversion to go with his early penalty.

Full back Jack Wallace (London Wasps), prop Lee Imiolek and number eight Alex Gray all come into the England starting line-up with Wallace winning his first cap, Imiolek (Sale Sharks) making his first start and Gray (Newcastle Falcons) returning after suspension.

England had gone into the game on top of the table after opening wins over Wales (41-14) and Italy (16-10) but suffered a 19-18 setback against Ireland last season and were wary of a side that hammered Italy 39-0 on the opening day of the campaign.

Any nerves were settled early on as they bossed the opening quarter and strung together some decent passages with May and Hurrell threatening down both flanks before Burns put them 3-0 up in the 15th minute.

But Ireland clung on and made the home side pay for errors with tries from full back Conway and wing Hudson.

Burns lost the ball in contact darting for the line and there was no-one at home as Ireland cleared with Conway outstripping the cover to touch down in the 20th minute.

Ireland were reduced to 14 men when Leinster flanker Dominic Ryan was sin-binned for killing the ball but added 10 more points through McKinney's penalty and Hudson's try after Jonny May's chip from inside his own 22 was picked off.

England rediscovered some composure and cranked up the momentum opting for lineouts and scrums rather than kick at goal, rewarded five minutes before the interval with a penalty try as they went for the pushover.

Ireland struck again a minute before the break, though, catching England short of numbers down the blind side with Conway's second try opening up a 22-10 lead.

Again, England dominated the opening stages of the second half without taking away any points and Nevin Spence beat tackles to get Ireland in the right half of the field before Wallace was yellow carded for a high tackle.

The score didn't change while he was off the field as Ireland were largely content to kick for territory and England nervously snatched at the half-chances that came their way before conceding a penalty five minutes from time that Kingston kicked to close out the win.

England U20: Jack Wallace (London Wasps); Will Hurrell (Leicester Tigers), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Tom Casson (Saracens), Jonny May (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester Rugby); Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby), Sam Harrison (Leicester Tigers); Lee Imiolek (Sale Sharks), Jamie George (Saracens), Shaun Knight (Gloucester Rugby), Danny Wright (Gloucester Rugby), Charlie Matthews (Loughborough Univ & Harlequins), Jackson Wray (Univ of Hertfordshire & Saracens), Jacob ^ (Leeds Univ & Leeds Carnegie, captain), Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons)
Replacements: Arthur Ellis (Royal Holloway & London Wasps) for George 73, Joe Marler (Harlequins) for Imiolek 50, Kieran Brookes (Northumbria Univ & Newcastle Falcons) for Knight 50, George Kruis (Saracens) for Wright 64, Jordi Pasqualin (Hartpury Coll & Gloucester Rugby) for Harrison 68, Jake Sharp (Saracens) for Burns 53, Christian Wade (St Mary's College & London Wasps) for May 58.
Yellow card: Wallace 59-69

Ireland U20: Andrew Conway (Blackrock Coll & Leinster); Darren Hudson (St Mary's Coll & Leinster), Brendan Macken (Blackrock Coll & Leinster), Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch & Ulster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution); James McKinney (Queen's Univ & Ulster), John Cooney (UCD & Leinster); Bryan Cagney (UCC & Muster), Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins & Ulster), Jack O'Connell (Lansdowne & Leinster), David O'Callaghan (UCC & Munster), Ben Marshall (UCD & Leinster), Rhys Ruddock (UCD & Leinster, captain), Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne & Leinster), Patrick Butler (Shannon & Munster).
Replacements: Duncan Casey (Shannon & Munster) for Annett 68, Stewart Maguire (Old Belvedere & Leinster) for O'Connell 63, Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution & Munster) for Marshall 63, Robin O'Sullivan (Bective Rangers & Leinster), Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins & Ulster) for Cooney 67, Brian Kingston (Blackrock & Leinster) for McKinney 50, Eoin Griffin (Corinthians & Connacht) for Macken 79.
Yellow cards: Ryan 22-32, Zebo 79
Referee: Stefano Penne (FIR).[/b]
That Ireland team is loaded with outside backs and backrows who can make a huge impact over the next 10 years. Three of that backline are back next year - next season's u20 back division promises to be something special.

Good result. Shame it wasn't televised.
 
Booo! :p
Sounds a like a good game (for the Irish at least ;) ) and i'm gutted it wasn't televised as well. We've got some exciting players coming through (most forwards)

[fanboy]You wouldn't have won if Gaskell wasn't injured![/fanboy] :p

Hopefully this won't reflect todays score (against Wales we beat them by a fair few, against ireland not very many, bost reflecting on the full team...)
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Olyy @ Feb 27 2010, 12:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
[fanboy]You wouldn't have won if Gaskell wasn't injured![/fanboy] :p[/b]
I see your Gaskell and I raise you a Noel Reid, David McSharry, Tiernan O'Halloran, Luke Marshall and Brian O'Hara!

In the greater scheme of things, winning this game isn't important. What matters is that some individuals shine and show they're good enough to make it in the game. Same goes for England.
 

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