UNDER 20 SIX NATIONS/England 10 Ireland 25:ENGLANDS pursuit of a second Under-20s Six Nations Grand Slam in three years was derailed by Ireland at Kingsholm last night.
Together with a tremendous defensive display against a highly rated English pack, this victory has certainly more than made up for the narrow defeat by Ireland in France two weeks ago.
Freddie Burns opened the scoring for England with a fifteen the minute penalty but the first of a first-half brace of tries from Conway after twenty minutes set Ireland on the road to victory.
Burns kicked the first points of the match from the 22 on 16 minutes but against the run of play Ireland snatched momentum.
England camped on Irelands try-line two minutes later but the defending team won possession and scrambled clear.
With England committed to attacking no one was home to return the kick and Ireland full-back Andrew Conway gathered and cantered home.
Fly-half James McKinney converted but Ireland openside Dominic Ryan was yellow carded for offside on 22 minutes.
McKinney kicked a great 40-metre penalty on 29 minutes and Ireland then got their second try almost directly from kick-off.
England winger Jonny May attempted to chip over the defence from his 22 but it did not have enough on it and Ireland centre Brendan Macken gathered and offloaded to Darren Hudson to score.
McKinney improved it with a great right touchline conversion.
Burns then turned down three points 37 minutes with a scrum chosen and the decision was vindicated as England pushed Ireland over their line and the referee gave a penalty try.
Burns converted to pull within seven but Ireland scored again in injury-time.
A scrum inside their own half saw a three on one blindside overlap with Hudson breaking into Englands 22 and chipping ahead.
Conway got there first and touched down for his second but McKinney missed the kick, making it 22-10 at half-time.
The second half was a much tighter affair with Ireland controlling the pace of the game and a host of errors and substitutions from both teams killing the contest off. The game did come to life in the dying minutes though with England pushing for the win.
Ireland replacement kicker Brian Kingston kicked a 75th minutes penalty for the only score of the half.
ENGLAND UNDER-20S: J Wallace; W Hurrell, J Joseph, T Casson, J May; F Burns, S Harrison; L Imiolek, J George, S Knight; D Wright, C Matthews; J Wray, J Rowan (capt), A Gray. Replacements: A Ellis, J Marler, K Brookes, G Kruis, J Pasqualin, J Sharp, C Wade.
IRELAND UNDER-20S: A Conway; D Hudson, B Macken, N Spence, S Zebo; J McKinney, J Cooney; B Cagney, N Annett, J OConnell; D OCallaghan, B Marshall; R Ruddock (capt), D Ryan, P Butler. Replacements: D Casey, S Maguire, B Hayes, R OSullivan, M Heaney, B Kingston, E Griffin.
