U20 Six Nations: England 21-31 Ireland - Keith Wood's son stars for win in Bath

The son of Ireland legend Keith Wood had a starring role, as Tom Wood pulled the strings at fly half for the Ireland U20s,

At the start, both sides were heavily pushing to score the first try of the game, a brilliant one-phase Ireland move off a lineout in their own half just dropped five metres away from England’s line, but it wouldn’t be till the 11^th minute when Ireland struck gold, a routine lineout followed up by Hooker Lee Fitzpatrick carving off and finding a bit of space, Ireland’s 72% of possession in the first 10 minutes had payed off.

That was Ireland U20’s first try against England in over two years, with the most recent outing between these two sides ending 19-3 for England. England seem to enjoy playing at The Rec too, winning five of the last six games played there. England had been sloppy inside the first 15 minutes, with four turnovers conceded and three penalties going against them, gaining only 27 metres to Ireland’s 104.

And as time kept ticking on in the first half, nothing was going England’s way. There were multiple times when they were in the Irish 22, but they just couldn’t convert; the away team’s defence making the attack weak, leading to more penalties.

But the home crowd finally had something to cheer about in the 23^rd minute, when a Christopher Barrett box kick was taken in well by James Pater, offloading to George Pearson, who then bounced off two players to score the Red Roses’ first points of the game, converted to seven via Fly-Half Finn Keylock.

What came next was a hard, heavy eight minutes of English Rugby. Since their try, it was only in England’s hands, with multiple phases of crash ball, ultimately leading to the captain and Bath’s very own Connor Treacey touching down right under the goalposts.

England had grown into this game very well since their first try, and you could see the confidence that had been created both offensively and defensively, as a few monster Treacey tackles disrupted Ireland’s attacking flow, allowing England to go into the break 14-7 up.

It was Ireland to kick off the second half, and they were looking for revenge after possibly feeling unlucky to be seven down at half-time. And they got it after an evenly matched first 12 minutes of the second half, flanker Josh Neill equalling the score and silencing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” that had been echoing around The Rec.

Ireland’s heads had started to lift due to that try as a relentless barrage of Green shirts were constantly smashing into White, eventually getting their third as a nice passage of play was finished off by winger Daniel Ryan in the corner.

And as the 60^th minute passed, it was anything but Ireland, with England having to change something quickly if they were to maintain this unbeaten record.

Whilst England had to change something, Ireland just kept going as they were, with an almost identical try as the one prior, but Ryan added a bit of magic, two grubbers seeing him touch down in the same corner and the visitors’ lead stretched to 14.

The atmosphere had started to liven after that try, and it was ignited with more fuel as centre Nick Lilley punched his way through to score with nine minutes on the clock and seven points separating the sides. Will England make a comeback?

Recently brought on Charlie O’Shea had something to say about that. A 50-metre penalty, which just squeezed over the posts, took it to more than a one-possession game.

England thought they had a consolation try through Will Knight, adding the losing bonus point and 4-try bonus point, but it was chalked off after an earlier forward pass. Ireland had finally beaten England at the U-20 level after four years.

After that win Ireland move above England into 2^nd place, with England made to feel annoyed with themselves and dropping to 3^rd.

Speaking after the game, England Head Coach Andy Titterrell said: “If you’re involved in elite sport, you hate losing, but it’s part of the game.”

Andy also commented on what England look to do with the U20’s team: “A lot of this (the squad) is for the lads to develop, understand and recognise so when they do leave the pathway, they’re fully equipped to understand the ebbs and flows of the game.”

The coach also admitted there were some areas where England lost: “Ireland played very well in the second half, but we went into that game trying to piece together what we’d seen from Wales and Scotland.

“Elite Rugby is about possession and winning the game line, and I felt we (England) didn’t win the game line in the second half, as well as Ireland capitalising on our misfortune.

“There are a lot of things that change throughout the game over the years, parts of the game that haven’t changed are winning the gameline, physicality and intent. They’ve been stable for years and years, so if you can’t do these things, it’s very hard to come away victorious.”

Titterrell and his team will be looking to overturn these things when they face Italy on Friday 6^th March.

15. James Pater 14. Tyler Offiah 13. Nick Lilley 12. Victor Worsnip 11. George Pearson 10. Finn Keylock 9. Lucas Friday 1. Oliver Scola 2. Jimmy Staples 3. Ollie Streeter 4. Elliot Williams 5. Patrick Hogg 6. Aiden Ainsworth-Cave 7. Seb Kelly 8. Connor Treacey (Captain)

16. Jerold Gorleku 17. Oliver Spencer 18. Sonny Tonga’uiha 19. Tate Williams 20. George Marsh 21. George Newman 22. Ollie Davies 23. Will Knight

IRELAND: 31

15. Noah Byrne 14. Derry Moloney 13. Robert Carney 12. James O’Leary 11. Daniel Ryan 10. Tom Wood 9. Christopher Barrett 1. Max Doyle 2. Lee Fitzpatrick 3. Sam Bishti (Captain) 4. Joe Finn 5. Donnacha McGuire 6. Josh Neill 7. Bill Hayes 8. Diarmaid O’Connell

16. Rian Handley 17. Christian Foley 18. Blake McClean 19. Sean Walsh 20. Ben Blaney 21. James O’Dwyer 22. Charlie O’Shea 23. Johnny O’Sullivan

In the first half, lineouts were where the tries were created and inevitably lost. The first three were all created via a lineout, gaining an extra 5-10 metres from where it originally was. It’s showing that Ireland were more dominant throughout the game at the lineout, and they were the team that ended up winning.

Whilst England will be feeling down with the result, captain Connor Treacey was the shining light in that team, scoring a try and making two huge tackles that took the wind out of Ireland’s sails for those possessions. He performed well in front of his home crowd, and is he one to look at both for The Prem and maybe a future England squad?

Leading into this game, everyone had England winning this one. However, Ireland showed up with a bit of grit and determination, something which Head Coach Titterrell said England didn’t bring today.

Flanker Fin Neill won Motm and it was rightfully deserved. He was all over the pitch, getting stuck in in both rucks and tackling, and even topped it off with a try. A future star in the making for Ireland.

That loss will certainly be tough to take for many England players on that pitch, as their chances of winning the Six Nations are pretty much done, but they need to remember the good pieces of play from today’s game, which can be included when they want a bounce-back win via Italy.