England U 20 v Ireland U20 - Title Decider !

First topic message reminder :

As a Precursor to the main event the following day -


Venue Adams Park

KO. 2005 16th March 2012

Ireland travel to England knowing that if they avoid defeat at Adams Park on Friday they will be crowned RBS Under 20 Six Nations champions and secure a confidence boost ahead of the side’s meeting at the IRB Junior World Championship 2012 in June.
The Irish are the only side with a perfect record in the Six Nations going into the final weekend after England suffered their first Championship defeat under head coach Rob Hunter, 12-8 to France in Vannes on Sunday to end their hopes of back-to-back Grand Slams.

England, who edged Ireland 33-25 in the pool stages of JWC 2011, will successfully defend their Six Nations title if they bounce back from their French disappointment and beat Ireland as they have a far superior point difference, more than double that of their rivals.

Things had started well enough for England at the Stade de la Rabine with a third-minute penalty by Ryan Mills opening the scoring, but Tom Ecochard edged France ahead with two kicks of his own and the hosts were unlucky not to add to these with the Television Match Official twice ruling no try as the French piled on the pressure in the English 22.

France continued on the front foot after the restart but were unable to increase their 6-3 advantage and actually feel behind when England made the  breakthrough with 10 minutes remaining, David Sisi touching down on his Under 20 debut.

Mills missed the conversion and France hit back with two more penalties from the boot of scrum half Ecochard, holding on for victory to lie third in the standings, behind England point differential and looking at best for second place in the Championship.
“We’re absolutely gutted, there was a lot of emotion at the end of the game and we’re really disappointed about the loss. We play the game to win and ultimately we weren’t able to do that against a good, strong French side,” said England captain Chris Walker.

“They dominated the set piece and that cost us, but we’ve got a massive game against Ireland to look forward to – we’re disappointed, but this will make us stronger.”

I thought England were a bit disappointing. If you dominate possession and territory like that in good conditions then you should be stuffing sides. I thought there were some really naive decisions by the captain (Chris Walker) early in the game and that England were too intent on sending a message rather than winning the game in the first half.

Still, the combination of the France and Ireland games will hopefully have taught the England players a lot.