England too strong in second half as Ireland undone in U-20 World Cup semi-final

Coach Willie Faloon’s squad battled hard with Brian Gleeson a standout performer though they were under the pump throughout against England’s vastly superior scrum.

Despite scoring first half tries from scrum-half Oliver Coffey and flanker Bryn Ward, with Ulster-bound Jack Murphy converting both and slotting two penalties, Ireland trailed 22-20 at the break and failed to add any further points in the second half.

England centre Sean Kerr made a sizeable contribution to the win, scoring 21 points from a try, two conversions and four penalties.

The Irish made an ideal start, Coffey scoring off an inside offload thrown by Hugh Gavin after the centre’s barrelling run and five became seven through Murphy’s conversion.

Though England’s scrum bared its teeth early on, Ireland survived the early pressure and came close to scoring on 12 minutes when Danny Sheahan nearly made the corner.

For all their superiority in the tight, England were unable to make it count on the scoreboard, centre Kerr hitting a 20th-minute penalty wide after Ireland were offside from a kick chase.

They finally got off the mark on 24 minutes when, from an inevitable scrum penalty put to the corner, England put the ball through multiple phases with hooker Craig Wright hitting space to score. This time Kerr was successful from the tee, though the ball came in off the upright to tie it up at 7-7.

Murphy put Ireland back in front on the half hour from the tee but only briefly as a break from the sharp Ioan Jones put the full back in behind the green defence and scrum-half Ollie Allan got in at the sticks.

Kerr’s conversion made it 14-10 to England.

Again, the lead was short-lived as Ulster’s Ward dived over from a series of pick and jams on England’s line, following an Irish penalty which had been put to the corner, with Murphy adding the extra two points.

The pattern continued as from the restart, Kerr slotted a long-range penalty, this time tying the scores again at 17-17, which from the restart became 20-17 to the Irish via Murphy from a penalty.

But the half ended with a 12-phase attack from England resulting in another change in the lead when Kerr dived over in the corner to put his team 22-20 in front at the break, Ben Cohen failing to convert from a difficult angle.

It took 11 minutes before the first score of the new half, Kerr landing a penalty to put England five in front and when the Irish won their own breakdown penalty, Murphy went for goal from just inside his own half but was wide from that range.

Another scrum penalty ensued for those in white, Kerr opting for goal and stretching their lead to 28-20 on 57 minutes.

They then had a number of chances to further their lead only for a combination of ill-discipline, poor judgment and dogged Irish defence to deny them, with then Kerr adding his fourth penalty with the clock in red to seal the win.

IRELAND U20s: B O’Connor; F Treacy, W de Klerk, H Gavin, H McLaughlin; J Murphy, O Coffey; B Howard, D Sheahan, J Boyd; A Spicer, J McKillop; S Edogbo, B Ward, B Gleeson (capt)

Replacements: S Smyth for Sheahan 49 mins, E Calvey for B Howard 58 mins, A Sparrow for Sheahan 49 mins, L Murphy for Spicer 54mins, T Brophy for Coffey 69 mins, S Naughton for Murphy 69 mins, S Berman for Gavin 69mins. Unused B Corrigan