Ireland have no answer to England’s power show
It’s to be hoped that this is not a foretaste of what might happen at the Aviva Stadium but there was no doubt about the outcome as England outscored their hosts by six tries to two.
Ireland, without several players due to injuries and Magners Leaguecommitments, were always going to face an uphill battle against an English side who have been in devastating form throughout this campaign.
These two sides will meet again when they clash in the pool stages of the Junior World Cup in June in Italy but by then Ireland should have a stronger squad to choose from.
The game turned before the interval after Ireland had hauled themselves back into contention after slipping 11-3 behind early in the secondquarter.
But a try from skipper ShaneBuckley hauled Ireland back intocontention with JJ Hanrahan, who had earlier hit a penalty, adding theconversion.
However, while England had a try disallowed, Ireland suffered a grievous blow just before the break when Ryan Mills skipped through for a try which saw them lead 21-10.
Ireland never looked like coming back with man-of-the-match Ford extending England’s lead with his fourth penalty just after the restart. England turned on the style after that to run in four tries in a devastating performance with Mark Kvesic, Mike Haywood, Andy Short and Alex Gray crossing.
Things could have been worse had Ireland not performed some heroics on their own line. And they staged a series of counters during an enjoyable fixture which will give coach Mike Ruddock plenty of food for thought.
There was a glimmer of hope for Ireland when hooker David Doyle scored in the left corner. However, England finished strongly with Gray getting their sixth try right at the death when he dived over in the right corner for an unconverted try.
Scorers for Ireland: Buckley, Doyle try each; Hanrahan con, pen.
Scorers for England:Matthews, Mills, Kvesic, Haywood, Short, Gray try each; Ford 2 cons, 4 pens.
IRELAND: M Sherlock (Clontarf); T O'Halloran (Galwegians), A Kelly (UCD), JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohs), A Boyle (UCD); C Marsh (Dublin University), B McIlroy (Ballymena); J Tracy (UCD), D Doyle (UCD), M Moore (Lansdowne); M Kearney (Clontarf), D Qualter (Buccaneers); S Buckley (Garryowen), A Conneely (Corinthians), J Murphy (Lansdowne).
Replacements: T Furlong (Clontarf) for Moore, 44; G Quinn McDonagh (Shannon) for Sherlock, 45; M Dolan (Corinthians) for McIroy, 46; C O’Flaherty (Cork Con) for Qualter, 48; C O’Shea (Clontarf) for O’Halloran, 53; S Leckey (Glasgow Hawks) for Boyle, 70.
ENGLAND: B Ransom (Saracens), A Short (Worcester), E Daly (Wasps), R Mills (Gloucester), J Joseph (London Irish), G Ford (Leicester), C Cook (Bath); M Vunipola (Bristol), M Haywood (Northampton), H Thomas (Sale), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Matthews (Harlequins), M Kvesic (Worcester), M Everard (Leicester), A Gray (Capt, Newcastle).
Replacements: J Elliott (Northampton Saints) for Joseph, 33; O Farrell (Saracens) for Mills, 44; R Buchanan (Harlequins) for Haywood, 49; S Jones (London Wasps) for Everard, 66; W Collier (Harlequins) for Vunipola, 68; A Lockery (Exeter) for Launchbury, 74).
Referee: M Raybal (FFR).
