Head coach Andrew Browne, who insisted after their win over Italy last weekend that they had underperformed, got it right in all departments and an English side expected to complete a Triple Crown left their own backyard empty-handed.<\/p>\n
Ireland, with their backrow of Josh Neill, Bill Hayes and Diarmaid O\u2019Connell superb in defence and centres James O\u2019Leary and Rob Carney probing with some good breaks, were full value for their 7-0 lead by the end of the opening quarter.<\/p>\n
But England got a foothold and found the cracks to lead 14-7 at the break after a quality opening half where both sides did the basics well and pounded away looking for breaks.<\/p>\n
Head coach Browne knew the value of laying down early markers on English soil and they got stuck in and took the game to a side who had won both of their opening games against Wales and Scotland.<\/p>\n
Ireland deservedly hit the front after 11 minutes when a penalty to the right corner yielded a try for Lee Fitzpatrick after the centres joined the maul and a few drives later the hooker, who went off injured in the opening half, got the ball down for Tom Wood to convert.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LHONJVPM6AU4DYKVGTAHZ5JTRM.jpg\")
Ireland’s Tom Wood kicks a conversion. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n
England, despite just 46 per cent possession, led at the interval after getting on top and making the most of what they created, with a superb high take from fullback James Pater setting up a counter which was finished down the left by winger George Pearson after 24 minutes.<\/p>\n
Ireland defended well as England pushed forward but the pressure eventually told eight minutes from the break when captain and number eight Connor Treacey squeezed over under the posts with Finn Keylock\u2019s second conversion making it 14-7.<\/p>\n
Ireland had a chance to level before the break after going to the right corner with a penalty but while they got the initial drive, Neill knocked on as he tried to lay the ball back close to the line and the opportunity was lost.<\/p>\n
But Ireland deservedly got back on level terms after 53 minutes after dominating after the restart and a 50:22 executed by O\u2019Leary after a kick from scrumhalf Lucas Friday was blocked inside the Irish half, they got the drive from the lineout and Neill got over to score for the third game in a row, with Wood adding the conversion.<\/p>\n
Ireland, boosted by that score, took charge and were rewarded for their ambition and accuracy and they hit the front five minutes later with the superb Neill and Wood combining before Carney and fullback Noah Byrne produced the magic out wide to send Daniel Ryan over in the corner.<\/p>\n
Wood added the difficult conversion and then produced a pinpoint crosskick which was knocked back by Ryan and Byrne slid home to secure the bonus point 11 minutes from time with Wood converting from the left touchline to make it 28-14.<\/p>\n
England hit back with a converted try from centre Nick Lilley to cut the gap to seven with nine minutes from the end but replacement outhalf Charlie O\u2019Shea made the game safe with a penalty from 40 metres before England were denied two bonus points with the clock in the end when Will Knight\u2019s try was scratched for a forward pass in the build-up, a final phase that summed up the fortunes of the two sides on the night.<\/p>\n
SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 11 mins: Fitzpatrick try, Wood con, 0-7; 24: Pearson try, Keylock con, 7-7; 32: Treacey try, Kelylock con, 14-7; Half-time: 14-7; 52: Neill try, Wood con, 14-14; 58: Ryan try, Wood con, 14-21; 69: Byrne try, Wood con, 14-28; 71: Lilley try, Knight con, 21-28; 76: O\u2019Shea pen, 21-31; Full-time: 21-31.<\/p>\n
England: J Pater; T Offiah, N Lilley, V Worsnip, G Pearson; F Keylock, L Friday; O Scola, J Staples, O Streeter; E Williams, P Hogg; A Ainsworth-Cave, S Kelly, C TeaceTreaceyt). Replacements: W Knight for Keylock, T WillaWilliamsHogg, (both 52 mins); S Tonga\u2019uiha for Streeter, G Marsh for Kelly (both 57 mins), O Davies for Worsnip (63 mins); J Gorleku for Staples, O Spencer for Scola (both 70 mins), G Newman for Friday (77 mins).<\/p>\n
Ireland: N Byrne; D Moloney, R Carney, J O\u2019Leary, D Ryan; T Wood, C Barrett; M Doyle, L Fitzpatrick, S Bishti (capt); J Finn, D McGuire; J Neill, B Hayes, D O\u2019Connell. Replacements: R Handley for Fitzpatrick (29 mins), J O\u2019Sullivan for Moloney, S Walsh for McGuire (both 57 mins), B Blaney for Hayes (62 mins), J O\u2019Dwyer for Barrett (63 mins), C Foley for Doyle, B McClean for Bishti (both 70 mins), C O\u2019Shea for Wood (74 mins).<\/p>\n
Referee: Morgan White (Hong Kong)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under-20 Six Nations: England 21 Ireland 31 Let\u2019s hope this is a foretaste of things to come this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,39220,43,15551,127019,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-308904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-ireland-rugby-u20s","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-six-nations","12":"tag-six-nations-under-20s-championship","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}