McCann And Ahern Lead Ireland Under-20s To Six-Try Victory

Captain David McCann delivered a man-of-the-match performance and Thomas Ahern touched down twice in the Ireland Under-20s’ outstanding 39-21 bonus point win over England at Franklin’s Gardens.

England came into this top-of-the-table encounter with a formidable record, having won 23 of their last 26 U-20 Six Nations home games, but Noel McNamara’s young guns played some of their best rugby of the season so far in a stylish six-try victory.

With the leg-pumping Ireland forwards in dominant form, tries from Alex Soroka, on his full debut, Hayden Hyde, Ahern and Ethan McIlroy saw the defending champions surge into a rousing 29-7 half-time.

That flood of scores overshadowed England lock George Hammond’s initial ninth-minute try, and it was an evenly-contested closing 40 minutes during which pacy replacement O’Reilly and Ahern cancelled out converted scores from Hugh Tizard and Theo Dan.

Ticking off the Triple Crown tonight, the Ireland U-20s have now won seven of their last ten away matches in the Championship. They sit six points clear of second-placed England, with France a further two points behind, ahead of their penultimate round clash Italy in Cork in two weeks’ time.

Andrew Smith and returning centre Hyde both threatened out wide as Ireland were quick to exploit space on the edges. The forwards rumbled up close from a penalty advantage before Jack Crowley clipped over a straightforward place-kick for a fifth minute lead.

Ireland’s advantage in windy Northampton was short-lived, though, as England hit back with seven points from their first serious attack. They went to the corner from a penalty, a peel move seeing Rusiate Tuima batter through before second row Hammond burrowed over from the ruck.

A slight knock-on from talismanic number 8 McCann denied him a try at the end of a promising set of attacking phases, Ireland remaining on the front foot as ever-present tighthead Thomas Clarkson forced a maul turnover to make up for his earlier concession of a scrum penalty.

Maintaining a high tempo off Lewis Finlay’s inviting passes, the dynamic and athletic Irish pack carried strongly again to set up the 18-year-old Soroka to drive low and ground the ball past two defenders. Crowley could not convert but soon popped up with a crucial turnover penalty to thwart the home side.

Continuing to get over the gain-line with McCann leading the carry statistics, Ireland swept out to the right in the 27th minute when a couple of brilliant offloads from Sean O’Brien and McIlroy – the Ulster winger outfoxed two defenders with a behind-the-back pass – sent the supporting Hyde over for Crowley to crisply convert.

John McKee tore forward almost straight from the restart, with England being forced through some energy-sapping phases. Armed with a penalty advantage, lovely hands from the fast-breaking Oran McNulty and Hyde saw McIlroy had a cut at the try-line before a powerful finish from Ahern, who was well-supported by McKee.

Crowley added the extras with aplomb to make it 22-7, the influential Cork native immediately departing for a HIA but Ireland squeezed in a late bonus point score just before the interval. Crowley’s replacement Tim Corkery converted confidently after Hyde’s slick one-handed offload had played in McIlroy close to the right corner.

England gained early momentum in the second half, aided by their front row replacements. Centre Charlie Watson’s incisive run took him close before lock Tizard wrestled his way over from close range. George Barton converted to cut the gap back to 15 points.

England came in search of another quick-fire try, but Ireland earned turnover ball from a choke tackle and then a McCann breakdown win. They soon rampaged forward for try number five, McNulty bouncing off Tom Roebuck’s tackle to feed O’Reilly who darted past halfway and then took Smith’s return pass to scramble over past Barton’s last-ditch tackle.

Crowley was annoyed to send the conversion wide, and England fired back swiftly with a well-finished 56th-minute maul try from hooker Dan, converted by Barton. With the scoreboard showing 34-21, the pace slackened on the hour mark, the home crowd raising the decibel level as McNamara’s youngsters found it more difficult to gain ground.

Crowley and Brian Deeny stepped up with some important plays, the Cork Constitution out-half launching an excellent clearance kick downfield and the tireless Clontarf second row frustrating England with a hard-earned turnover penalty.

Showing their alertness to another turnover, replacement Tom Stewart scooped up a 73rd minute pass dropped by Tuima, and although Doherty managed to bring down McNulty a few metres short, Ireland made sure the counter attack ended with the clinching try – Ahern muscled over the whitewash with two men on the latch.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Ireland U-20 head coach McNamara said: “You have to be pleased with some of the tries we scored. The boys’ ability to keep the ball alive and back each other up, I think, was a huge positive for us.

“There were parts of that game when we attacked really, really well and caused England an awful lot of problems. But, arguably, the highlight of the game was keeping England out at the end. Another try for England gives them a bonus point and you don’t know how that is going to come to bear at the end of the Championship.

“I thought that defensive set at the end was a massive positive for us. There’s still areas for us to be a little bit better in, and particularly how we navigated the game when England came back into it. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit with how they came back out in that second half.”

TIME LINE: 5 minutes – Ireland penalty: Jack Crowley – 0-3; 9 mins – England try: George Hammond – 5-3; conversion: George Barton – 7-3; 19 mins – Ireland try: Alex Soroka – 7-8; conversion: missed by Jack Crowley – 7-8; 27 mins – Ireland try: Hayden Hyde – 7-13; conversion: Jack Crowley – 7-15; 35 mins – Ireland try: Thomas Ahern – 7-20; conversion: Jack Crowley – 7-22; 40+3 mins – Ireland try: Ethan McIlroy – 7-27; conversion: Tim Corkery – 7-29; Half-time – England 7 Ireland 29; 46 mins – England try: Hugh Tizard – 12-29; conversion: George Barton – 14-29; 52 mins – Ireland try: Max O’Reilly – 14-34; conversion: missed by Jack Crowley – 14-34; 56 mins – England try: Theo Dan – 19-34; conversion: George Barton – 21-34; 73 mins – Ireland try: Thomas Ahern – 21-39; conversion: missed by Jack Crowley – 21-39; Full-time – England 21 Ireland 39

ENGLAND U-20: Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers); Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Bath), Connor Doherty (Sale Sharks), Charlie Watson (Saracens), Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks); George Barton (Gloucester), Sam Maunder (Exeter Chiefs) (capt); Sam Crean (Saracens), Theo Dan (Saracens), Luke Green (London Irish), Hugh Tizard (Harlequins), George Hammond (Harlequins), Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs), Josh Gray (Gloucester), Rusiate Tuima (Exeter Chiefs).

Replacements used: Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints) for Crean, Harvey Beaton (Saracens) for Green (both half-time), Chunya Munga (London Irish) for Tizard, Rob Farrar (Newcastle Falcons) for Gray (both 53 mins), Ben Atkins (London Irish) for Dan (68), Will Haydon-Wood (Newcastle Falcons) for Barton, Blake Boyland (Bristol Bears) for Maunder, Max Ojomoh (Bath) for Doherty (all 74).

IRELAND U-20: Oran McNulty (Millfield School/Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht), Ethan McIlroy (Methody College/Queen’s University RFC/Ulster), Dan Kelly (Kirkham Grammar/Loughborough University/IQ Rugby), Hayden Hyde (Cranleigh School/Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Andrew Smith (St. Michael’s College/Clontarf FC/Leinster); Jack Crowley (Bandon RFC/Cork Constitution FC/Munster), Lewis Finlay (Down High School/Malone RFC/Ulster); Marcus Hanan (Clane RFC/Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), John McKee (Campbell College/Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Thomas Clarkson (Blackrock College/Dublin University FC/Leinster), Thomas Ahern (Waterpark RFC/Shannon RFC/Munster), Brian Deeny (Wexford Wanderers RFC/Clontarf FC/Leinster), Alex Soroka (Belvedere College/Dublin University FC/Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Blackrock College/UCD RFC/Leinster), David McCann (RBAI/Banbridge RFC/Ulster) (capt).

Replacements used: Tim Corkery (Kilkenny RFC/Lansdowne FC/Leinster) for Crowley (36 mins-half-time; 78), Max O’Reilly (St. Gerard’s School/Dublin University FC/Leinster) for Hyde (50), Tom Stewart (Belfast Royal Academy/Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster) for McKee, Charlie Ward (Tullow RFC/Clontarf FC/Leinster) for Hanan (both 56), Cian Prendergast (Newbridge College/UCD RFC/Leinster) for Soroka (63), Joe McCarthy (Blackrock College/Dublin University FC/Leinster) for Ahern, Ben Murphy (Presentation College Bray/Clontarf FC/Leinster) for Finlay (both 74), Harry Noonan (Greystones RFC/Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) for McCann (78).

Referee: Ben Blain (Scotland)