England scrum their way to U20 final with deserved win over Ireland

England have qualified for their first World Rugby U20 Championship final since 2018 with a deserved 31-20 win over Ireland. Two points up at the break, Mark Mapletoft’s side took a firm grip on the previously frenetic exchanges.

The second period was to become a slow death for the Irish who were held scoreless and left to watch in frustration as the English, the current Six Nations champions, landed three penalty kicks to take the victory and book a spot in next Friday's decider versus France, who hammered New Zealand 55-31. 

With the two most recent Anglo-Irish matches ending in draws, 32-all 18 weeks ago in the Six Nations and 34-all a year ago in a Championship pool match, this was expected to be another hotly contested affair with numerous end-to-end play.

So it proved in a helter-skelter first half with Ireland ahead on four occasions, England ahead twice and the scores were also level on two occasions before the interval whistle sounded with the English 22-20 up following a crucial clock-in-the-red try in the corner from the impressive Sean Kerr.

With Ireland the fresher team having had their match with Australia last Tuesday cancelled compared to England needing an 86th minute try to defeat South Africa, it was the Irish who struck first, requiring only a minute to cross the line.

A lovely, deceptive run from midfielder Hugh Gavin ended with him throwing an out-the-back, one-handed off-load that found the try-scoring Ollie Coffey in support. Jack Murphy converted.

Plenty of nip and tuck followed but England, who missed a penalty kick from Kerr, were made to wait until the 25th minute to pull level after their scrum penalty win was kicked into the 22.

A multi-phase play from the lineout followed, going across and back the pitch before ending with Ben Redshaw drawing the last defender and ushering in Craig Wright, the hooker whose throw started all that piece of action.

England sadly lost Nathan Michelow to an injury sustained when carrying into contact on halfway, and they fell behind on the half-hour when Murphy punished an offside from Benjamin Coen. But that was the cue for the Cape Town spectators to buckle up as the exchanges now zipped into overdrive.

Ollie Allan was soon racing in under the posts from an Ioan Jones break, Kerr adding the extras for a 14-10 lead that didn’t last as Bryn Ward struck back with a converted try under the posts on 35 minutes to put Ireland 17-14 up.

A Kerr penalty levelled it, one in reply from Murphy following a Danny Sheahan poach put the Irish back in front and then came the final act, Kerr getting in at the corner for an unconverted try off a lengthy Allan pass.

The interval was definitely needed, such was the frantic, exhausting nature of that closing 10 minutes, and the opening section of the second half heralded a scoring lull in which a Jones interception to stop an Ireland attack and a fourth scrum penalty to England were the highlights.

A 52nd-minute Kerr penalty kick finally got the scoreboard moving again, England now 25-20 ahead. A Junior Kpoku no-release allowed Murphy a shot from distance some moments later but he was wide to the right and then came the first time in the match that someone was more than seven points ahead, Kerr punishing a fifth Irish scrum offence to make it 28-20 on 58 minutes.

That two-score margin was no guarantee that the winning and losing of this match had just been decided as Ireland reminded the type of gutsy team that could suddenly strike from nothing.

The concession of a sixth scrum penalty had them in bother but they diligently defended their line after England kicked to the corner, winning a penalty to exit. However, they botched the resulting lineout, fell offside in the panic and needed to strike it lucky with Kerr’s shot at the target hitting the left-hand upright to avoid falling further behind.

From here, the quality of play from both teams lessened the nearer the game got to the final whistle, but Kerr managed a final say in the final minute, landing another kick to make it an 11-point margin of victory.