Ireland U20s complete Grand Slam by beating England at Musgrave Park

Ireland 36 England 24 

TWO tries each from Munster’s Brian Gleeson and Connacht’s Hugh Gavin helped secure the U20 Six Nations Grand Slam for a brilliant young Irish side against a game England at Musgrave Park on Sunday evening.

Ireland controlled the football straight from the kick-off, with the pack going through the phases before putting the ball through the hands to put the livewire left-wing Hugh Gavin over in the left corner in the 4th minute.

England then scored an excellent set-piece try off their own scrum in the 17th minute when out-half Marcus Bradbury put winger Tobias Elliott under the posts from first-phase possession.

Four minutes later Ireland regained the lead, and it was one for the pack, as the Irish rolling maul completely destroyed their English counterparts, with the impressive Tipperary number eight Gleeson grounding the ball over the try-line, much to the delight of the Musgrave Park faithful, as they went in at half time leading 12-7.

Try scorer Elliott was given a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on in the 48th minute, which denied Ireland a clear try-scoring opportunity, but loosehead George Hadden burrowed over from close range soon after to put Ireland ten points up.

Things went from bad to worse from an English perspective when their out-half Marcus Bradbury was issued a straight red card in the 53rd minute after a reckless tackle on Irish full-back Henry McErlean and with a two-man advantage, Ireland went for the throat with that man Gleeson again scoring, as he pirouetted over for a 64th-minute try.

Harris slotted a 58th-minute penalty for England to stop the rot, but Ireland were in again within a minute when Gavin touched down again in the corner after gathering a superbly weighted Sam Prendergast cross-field kick.

Joe Jenkins and Elliott scored tries for England in the 71st and 77th minutes to make it a one-score game, but Fintan Gunne made sure with a 79th-minute snipe.

Scorers for Ireland: S Prendergast (3 cons), B Gleeson, H Gavin (2 tries each), G Hadden, F Gunne (1 try each).

England: S Harris (1 pen, 1 con), S Worsley (2 cons), T Elliott (2 tries), J Jenkins (1 try).

IRELAND: H McErlean (Terenure/Leinster); J Nicholson (UCD/Leinster), H Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster), J Devine (Corinthians/Connacht), H Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht); S Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), F Gunne (Terenure/Leinster); G Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster), G McCarthy (UCD/Leinster, c), P McCarthy (DUFC/Leinster); D Mangan (UCD/Leinster), C O’Tighearnaigh (UCD/Leinster); J McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster), R Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster), B Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster).

Subs: A Osborne (Naas/Leinster) for H McErlean (53), H McErlean for J Nicholson (60), L Molony (Dublin University/Leinster) for R Quinn (63), G Morris (Lansdowne/Leinster), F Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht) and H West (Buccaneers/Connacht) for G Hadden, P McCarthy and H Cooney (68), J Hopes (Queens University/Ulster) for D Mangan (71), D Sheahan (UCC/Munster) and O Cawley (Naas/Leinster) for G McCarthy and F Gunne (79).

ENGLAND: S Harris; C Cleaves, R Ma’asi White, J Woodward, T Elliott; M Bradbury, C Bracken; A MacArthur, F Theobold-Thomas, A Fasogbon; D Eite, L Chessum; F Carnsuff, F Isilau, C Cunningham-South.  

Subs: A Opoku-Fordjour and T Hoyt for A MacArthur and A Fasogbon (55), J Jenkins for R Ma’asi White (57), T Woodman for F Isilau (61), N Jibulu, R Carmichael, N Thomas and S Worsley for F Theobold-Thomas, D Eite, C Bracken and S Harris (68).

Referee: Adriaan Jacobs (SARU)