Match Report | England U20 v Ireland U20

England and Ireland drew 22-22 in their last encounter during the U20 Six Nations and met again in the U20 World Championship Semi-Final.

Ireland had a strong start to the match and were rewarded with early points.

The first try came from a fake maul after the line out and Gavin Hughes ran a perfect line into the vacuum channel making the break and providing Oliver Coffey with a spectacular offload to set up the first try of the match

Despite going down early in the first half, England slowly started building momentum with set piece dominance at the scrums and enterprising general play attack.

They displayed silky hands to spread the ball wide to Ben Redshaw allowing the winger to make a line break down the right before passing to Craig Wright to dot the ball over the line to even the scores at 7-7.

Ireland regained the lead with a penalty kick directly infront of the poles. Minutes later, Angus Hall ran a superb line to slice through the Irish defence and play the inside pass to Ollie Allan to give England a 14-10 lead.

Ireland’s forwards make up for the early scrum infringements with Bryn Ward picking up from the ruck with no defenders in sight after multiple carries by the Irish forwards to batter the defence.

England strike back while the clock is in red with Sean Kerr diving over in the corner to give England a two point lead heading into the break.

Halftime: England 22-20 Ireland

After a back and fourth first half, English talisman Sean Kerr was only able to kick over 6 points in the first 20 minutes after the break in a tightly contested affair.

England get an oppoutunity to kick at poles but opt for touch before giving the ball away a few phases later. After England win another penalty in kickable range, Kerr decides to step up this time but scews the kick wide for the scores to remain at 28-20.

In the last minute of the match, Junior Kpoku wins a penalty for England on the 22m to allow Sean Kerr to finish the match with another 3 points to his tally.

Full Time: England 31-20 Ireland

Here are some match stats from this epic clash:

Metres

England | 288

Ireland | 284

Defenders Beaten

England | 15

Ireland | 14

Clean Breaks

England | 8

Ireland | 8

Gain line carries

England | 47

Ireland | 33

Here are some Top Performers:

Finn Treacy

Metres: 82

Defenders Beaten: 1

Breaks: 3

Carries: 5

Craig Wright

Metres: 53

Defenders Beaten: 1

Breaks: 1

Carries: 8

Brian Gleeson

Metres: 18

Defenders Beaten: 1

Tackles: 17

Carries: 8