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Ireland U20's Six Nations winning run ends as England power to win

Updated / Tuesday, 6 Jul 2021 12:17
Alex Soroka scored Ireland's first try early in the second half
Alex Soroka scored Ireland's first try early in the second half

Ireland 15-24 England

The Ireland Under-20s' ten-game winning run came to an end as England secured a 24-15 victory in their Six Nations clash at Cardiff Arms Park.

Ireland had won two from two in this season's U20 Six Nations before the clash with England but despite tries from Alex Soroka and Eoin de Buitléar, it was their opponents who came away with a bonus point win after four tries of their own.

The result means England go top of the Six Nations table on 15 points, five clear of Ireland who are a further point clear of third-placed France.

Ireland U20s v England U20s: As it happened

Richie Murphy's side made a promising start at the Cardiff venue which is hosting all of the U20 tournament fixtures.

But England's power began to have an effect as the opening half wore on and they took a 7-0 lead on 17 minutes.

After a maul in the right corner, prop Phil Brantingham powered over with Fin Smith adding the extras.

Ireland suffered a further blow when wing Chris Cosgrave was sin-binned as they tried to repel English pressure three minutes before half-time.

Four minutes after the break, and despite still being down a player, Ireland reduced the gap to four points as they earned a penalty, with Nathan Doak converting to leave the scores at 7-3.

But England responded three minutes later with another try as their power told again, with Ewan Richards on hand to touch down to make it 12-3.

Richards made another telling contribution on 54 minutes as he capitalised on a handling error by Donnacha Byrne for his second and England's third try as the lead stretched to 17-3.

English number eight Nahum Merigan was sin-binned just before the hour mark after a high tackle that made contact with the head of Ireland captain Alex Kendellen.

And just one minute later, the first Irish try arrived as second row Alex Soroka finished off a line-out maul.

The momentum was with Ireland but that soon changed as another English maul highlighted their physical dominance and Sam Riley scored their fourth try in the 64th minute to seal a bonus point.

Ireland continued to battle and there was a brief glimmer of hope for Murphy's side as De Buitléar touched down with six minutes to go for a second Irish try.

But there were no further tries and Ireland's Daniel Okeke was yellow-carded after the 80 minutes had elapsed after tempers frayed between the two teams.

On 7 July, Ireland will face Italy, who beat Scotland 43-3 earlier on Thursday, before finishing off the U20 Six Nations campaign against France six days later.

Follow Ireland v Japan (1pm, Saturday) via our live blog on RTE.ie and the RTÉ News app or watch live on RTÉ1 or RTÉ Player, listen live on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and RTÉ Radio 1.

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