Ireland get an English lesson

Ireland U21’s 6 England U21 28

Indeed if Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan came to be wowed by the next generation of internationals, he left with his notebook empty.

Apart from the occasional thrust from Tommy Bowe, and centre Andrew Trimble, and brave defence from scrum-half David O'Leary, No 8 Stephen Ferris and flanker Brent McNamee, Ireland didn't have much to offer.

Notwithstanding the gulf in class, referee Tim Hayes from Wales did his best to destroy this game with a nonsensical attitude to the exchanges on a heavy pitch. They struggled out of touch and conceded penalty after penalty in scrums. Captain McNamee asked a lot of questions of Mr. Hayes but his protests inevitably led to punishment rather than explanation.

That irked Irish coach Mark McDermott who observed: "We had one line-out cut to six players and England matched us with nine. We questioned that on the pitch before the throw and were penalised for doing so. I found some of the decisions quite worrying."

But McDermott accepted: "We really couldn't say we were hard done by. England scored three tries early in the game and that was partially our own fault. We had a couple of one on ones and missed the tackles. There can be no excuses for that.

"We went in at half-time in a lot better situation than we deserved, just nine points down, but we failed to take advantage of a good spell early in the second half. We just didn't create the chances. We were beaten up front and it was a hard grind from there to try to stay in the contest."

Ireland's performance in the opening quarter was nothing short of disaster. If not for the goal kicking lapses from English out half Toby Flood, England would have been home and hosed. As it was, England still led 15-3 after scoring three tries with Ireland's defensive formation in tatters.

First up tackles were missed and England strolled over for the tries. The first came from prop Michael Cusack after three minutes, the second six minutes later from winger, Tom Varndall, and Olly Morgan got in for the third. Ireland's only consolation was a penalty from Barry Keeshan and the fact that Flood missed all three conversions and a penalty.

Keeshan brought Ireland back to within nine points when he kicked a penalty after England illegally broke up a promising movement started by centre Andrew Trimble the first threat posed by the home side.

It stayed that way despite the fact the Irish prop Michael Diffley was sin-binned for coming in at the side of a ruck. They were shown mercy by the wayward kicking of yet another English place-kicker, the errant Toby Flood, nine minutes from the break.

But while Ireland started the second half brightly, they failed to put numbers on the board. Keeshan missed an early penalty and after Stephen Ferris was yellow carded, Varndell was sent in for his second try. To England's great delight, Flood finally kicked a penalty 13 minutes from the end to stretch the lead to 23-6.

In injury time, full back Morgan added the final insult when he snapped up a loose ball knocked forward by an otherwise impressive Trimble to scoot in at the corner. Almost inevitably, however, Flood missed the conversion.

One successful kick from eight is scarcely a bountiful return but it hardly mattered. If anything, most of the home crowd were appreciative of his profligacy. Otherwise, it could have been a rout.

IRELAND: M. Kettyle (Belfast Harlequins), T. Bowe (Belfast Harlequins), A. Trimble (Ballymena), G. Stafford (Lansdowne), P. McKenzie (Belfast Harlequins), B. Keeshan (Cork Constitution), D. O'Leary (UCC); M. Diffley (Buccaneers), S. Philpott (Saracens), J. Andress (Belfast Harlequins), L. Stevenson (Belfast Harlequins), R. Caldwell (Dungannon), B. McNamee (Northampton) captain; S. Ferris (Dungannon), O. Hennessy (Dungannon).

Replacements: K. Geraghty (London Irish) for Kettyle (54), J. Merrigan (Corinthians) for Philpott (61), C. Henry (Malone) for Hennessy (69). Temporary replacement, E. Bracken (Buccaneers) for Ferris (30-40).

ENGLAND: O. Morgan (Gloucester), T. Biggs (Leeds Tykes), M. Cornwell (Leicester), R. Davis (Bath) captain; T. Varndell (Leicester), T. Flood (Newcastle), B. Foden (Sale); M. Cusack (Leeds Tykes), N. Briggs (Rotherham), A. Croall (Saracens), R. Blaze (Worcester), T. Ryder (Leicester), J. Haskell (Wasps), M. Hopley (Worcester), D. Seymour (Saracens).

Replacements: M. Hampson (Leicester) for Cusack (49), T. Ojo (London Irish) for Varndell (65). S. Cox (Sale) for Ryder (72), S. Mackie (Newcastle) for Briggs, L. Dickson (Newcastle) for Foden (both 73), R. Thorpe (London Irish) for Davis, S. Whatling (Worcester) for Hopley (both 77).

Referee: T. Hayes (Wales).