England U20 vs Ireland U20

First topic message reminder :

England squad has been announced:

http://www.rfu.com/News/2012/June/NewsArticles/070612_20s_teamire.aspx

15 Tommy Bell (London Wasps)
14 Marland Yarde (London Irish)
13 Will Addison (Sale Sharks)
12 Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby) (C)
11 Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
10 Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby)
9 Ben Spencer (Saracens)

1 Alec Hepburn (London Wasps)
2 Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)
3 Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
4 Dominic Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
5 George Merrick (Harlequins)
6 David Sisi (London Irish)
7 Ben Nutley (Northampton Saints)
8 Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Replacements
16 Max Crumpton (Saracens)
17 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)
18 Ross Harrison (Sale Sharks)
19 Sam Twomey (Harlequins)
20 Chris Walker (Leeds Carnegie)
21 Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
22 Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
23 Ben Ransom (Saracens)


Ireland are unchanged from the side that beat S.A


15. Peter Nelson (Dungannon/Ulster)
14. Barry Daly (UCD/Leinster)
13. Chris Farrell (Dungannon/Ulster)
12. Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11. Sam Coghlan Murray (UCD/Leinster)
10. JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster)
9. Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht)

1. Des Merrey (Clontarf/Leinster)
2. Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) (capt)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Leinster)
5. Iain Henderson (Queen's University/Ulster)
6. Jordan Coghlan (UCD/Leinster)
7. Conor Gilsenan (UCD/Mullingar/Leinster)
8. Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

Replacements:

16. James Rael (Garryowen/Munster)
17. Peter Reilly (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18. Jake Cawley (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
19. Alan O'Connor (UCD/Leinster)
20. Shane Buckley (Garryowen/Munster)
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster)
22. Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht)
23. Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

From an Ulster perspective, Henderson was exceptional in this game and shouldn't have been carded. He challenged opposition throw in the lineout and the English lads dropped their man but Hendo was blamed for bringing him down.
Farrell had his best game of the tournament with some very telling runs and solid defence.
Olding started 13 and had a pretty good game showing some good decisions.
Nelson again showed up well especially a fantastic try saving tackle, but his kicking was more pressured tonight. Still he makes great decisions and looks to be far older than he is.

Scannell looks a real prospect with solid carries and tackles but most of all calm leadership. By comparison the English captain Walker(?) looked to have totally lost it with the referee and despite being told about penalties at the breakdown seconds before, he still lay on the wrong side and was carded - brainless.

Marmion justified his start over McGrath again with a great piece of opportunism to make a break for the second try.
JJ Hanrahan had a mediocre game missing a couple of penalty touch finds but put in a great cross field kick to send Coghlan over for the decisive score.

Timhen - England didn't look up for this game at all falling off tackles and whinging either to or about the referee at every opportunity. They had more power in the scrum and the lineout was good but they had very few ideas in the backs. Yarde looks like a hard guy to stop at this level but that's down to his athleticism rather than any guile. His petulance in getting a card punching Farrell was just ill-disciplined when England were on the attack in the Irish 22 - again brainless.

Cheers for the gen Aukster. Congratulations on the win, you guys have definitely upped your ante since the 6N and fully deserve going up the seedings.

I said before the competition that this England side was lacking compared to previous years and it seems that they need a real shake up in terms of attitude as well.

Thought Ireland looked really comfortable for the whole game. We went 14-0 up from a Daly intercept and a Henderson crash over which came after a retreating midfeild scrum, an excellent off the cuff break from Marmion and offloads in the tackle from both locks.

For the last try England were just camped in our 22, we won a turnover and JJ kicked crossfield to land the ball right in front of Coughlan who just strolled in with it. We showed good discipline throughout (Henderson yellow card was harsh, he challenged the ball and the English lifters dropped thier very gobby captain).

The scrum looked good again, line out was a little shaky though. France up next. Hope TG4 are showing it.