England justify favourites tag against Ireland

England 36 Ireland 12

England justified being labelled favourites today with a comfortable victory in the European Nations Cup final over a limited Ireland team containing just three Super League players.

Ireland trailed England’s Super League youngsters 24-0 after 24 minutes but rallied bravely to make a game of it in front of a 3,582 crowd at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Man of the match Paul Reilly gave England a dream start with two tries in the first 17 minutes thanks to some superb support play and strong finishing by the Huddersfield full-back.

When hooker Rob Burrow raced 50 metres to finish off a break by scrum-half Luke Robinson and centre Ben Westwood created a try for winger Mark Calderwood, England looked set for a runaway win.

But the Irish got their defence together to stem the onslaught and fashioned a couple of tries of their own in the second half to make the final score respectable.

Former Great Britain prop Barrie McDermott fended off a weak challenge from Andy Coley to crash over six minutes after the break and fellow front rower David Bates took Pat Weisner’s short pass to score a second on 67 minutes.

Weisner improved both tries while Burrow converted England’s second-half tries by skipper Rob Parker and substitute prop Nick Scruton to finish with a personal 16-point haul.

Scruton was one of England’s most impressive performers while Ireland fellow front rower Martin McLoughlin caught the eye with some powerful runs playing out of position at centre.