U20: England are champions
By beating Ireland 20-9 at Adams Park England ensured that they had retained the Under-20 Six Nations trophy.
It had all been going smoothly for the powerful English side till they went to France and were beaten.
That left them needing to beat Ireland to win the championship, thus denying the Irish the title.
Results Round Five:
England vs Ireland, 20-9`
France vs Wales, 36-6
Scotland vs Italy, 20-17
Previous results:
Round One
England vs Scotland, 59-3
Ireland vs Wales, 11-6
France vs Italy, 19-5
Round Two
England vs Italy, 42-7
Wales vs Scotland, 28-15
Ireland vs France, 13-12
Round Three
France vs Scotland, 31-20
Ireland vs Italy, 27-8
England vs Wales, 40-9
Round Four
France vs England, 12-8
Ireland vs Scotland, 26-0
Wales vs Italy, 33-23
The results meant that England not only denied Ireland a Grand Slam but took the title on a vastly superior points’ difference – 169 vs Ireland’s 40 and France’s 58.
Final log:
1. England – 8 points
2. France – 8 points
3. Ireland – 8 points
4. Wales – 4 points
5. Scotland – 2 points
6. Italy – 0 points
It took England just a minute to get their first try when Anthony Watson went over under the posts. Paddy Jackson kicked a penalty but Dan Robson got a second try for the home side.
At half-time England led 15-6.
The only scoring in the second half was a try in the corner by Marland Yarde and a penalty by Jackson.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Watson, Robson, Yarde
Con: Heathcote
Pen: Heathcote
For Ireland:
Pens: Jackson 3
The teams:
England: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Will Addison, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Jack Clifford, 7 Chris Walker (captain), 6 Matt Kvesic, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Tom Price, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Koree Britton, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 George Merrick, 20 David Sisi, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Sam Hill, 23 Ben Ransom.
Ireland: 15 Shane Layden, 14 Conor Finn, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 JJ Hanrahan, 11 Foster Horan, 10 Paddy Jackson (captain), 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Aaron Conneely, 6 Conor Gilsenan, 5 Daniel Qualter, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Kyle McCall, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Des Merrey.
Replacements: 16 James Rael, 17 Peter Reilly, 18 Jake Cawley, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Jordan Coghlan, 21 Kieron Marmion, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Stuart Olding.
Referee: Claudio Blessano (Italy)
Assistant referees: Stefano Marrama (Italy), Simone Boaretto (Italy)
TMO: Alan Falzone (Italy)
