England Saxons 31-13 Ireland A

Tom Varndell reminded Brian Ashton of his lethal finishing skills with two second-half tries as England Saxons overpowered Ireland A on a bitterly cold night at Welford Road.

In the 54th minute, Leicester wing Varndell collected a sumptuous crossfield kick from London Irish centre Shane Geraghty and grounded in the corner to delight his home crowd.

Eighteen minutes later he took a neat offload from Dylan Hartley and scampered over to seal victory for a Saxons side with an average age of 23 and with only five fully-capped players in their starting XV.

It was a pointed reminder to Ashton of Varndell's predatory skills as the RBS Six Nations get under way tomorrow and ultimately accounted for a vastly more experienced Ireland outfit boasting around 150 senior caps.

Delon Armitage, who for long periods was little more than a frozen spectator on the opposite flank, popped up in the last minute to claim England's fourth and final try and seal a powerful second-half Saxons display.

Gloucester fly-half Ryan Lamb was forced off midway through a bitterly disappointing first half which saw David Paice cross the line but Ireland led 10-8 at the break.

Ireland, skippered by the influential Shane Horgan, edged ahead with a third-minute penalty from fly-half Andrew Dunne but the Saxons' response was initially impressive.

A penalty from Lamb drew Saxons level shortly after but Ireland showed a craft and poise in midfield which at times threatened to tear England apart.

They orchestrated a move which saw the ball pass through five pairs of hands and very nearly breached England's rearguard down the left wing.

The danger cleared and a brief purple patch from the Saxons culminated in London Irish's Paice finding a hole to plough over the line from point-blank range.

Lamb, having taken a knock, was unlucky to see his conversion drift narrowly wide of an upright and with the Gloucester playmaker having departed, Ireland forged ahead.

Isaac Boss, from a scrum, produced a rapier-like offload to Tommy Bowe and he showed blistering speed to scamper over in the right corner despite the best efforts of Saxons full-back Nick Abendanon.

England steadily improved after the break and Varndell's clinical brace edged them ahead before Armitage went over in the left corner in the dying stages.