England U19’s v Ireland U19’s Saturday 14th April, London Irish RFC
The Ireland U19 team overcame the disappointment of their narrow defeat at the hands of the France U19 team on Thursday 5th April when they travelled to Sunbury to play the England U19 team on Saturday 14th April.
The squad met in Dublin on Wednesday 11th April to prepare for the game against England. Coaches, Collie McEntee and Nigel Carolan, reviewed the team performance against the French by looking at the many positive aspects of that game. Situations were identified that required some work on the training field and three rugby sessions were held over the next two days in preparation for the game against England.
The squad flew out on Thursday afternoon and the seamless travel and transfer arrangements saw them arrive safely at their base in Shepperton on Thursday evening. The players settled into their hotel and rested up after their travel.
Friday saw the squad travel to the home of London Irish RFC at Sunbury for the Captain’s run and some kicking practice. Returning to the hotel, the squad had their evening meal and took the opportunity to watch the Leinster v Edinburgh PRO 12 game in which a number of former Ireland U19 players participated.
Saturday saw the squad have an early breakfast before they walked through some game scenarios. The pre-match meal was at 10-00am before rooms were vacated, the bus loaded and the pre-match meeting took place. The squad departed the hotel and arrived at Sunbury at midday to prepare for the game at which was to kick off at 1-00pm.
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The Ireland U19 team started the game impressively taking the opportunity to put the experienced England team under pressure. Encouraged by the vocal support of a large group of parents and friends the Ireland team took play deep into England territory and displayed great patience close to the England line. Retaining possession effectively it was only a matter of time before the Ireland team scored. It was fitting that the first try of the game came through the impressive Ireland captain, Conor Joyce, when he blasted past a hesitant England defence to touch down under the posts after twelve minutes of play. Tom Daly added the conversion to give the Ireland team a well- deserved 7-0 lead.
The Ireland team lost two players to injury a short time later with Rory Scholes being replaced on the left wing by Eoghain Quinn and Bryan Byrne being replaced at hooker by John Andrew. Eoghain Quinn had an immediate impact when he took advantage of good work from his colleagues to run in for a try with his first touch of the ball after twenty one minutes. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful but the Ireland team now had a 12-0 lead.
Five minutes later Eoghain scored his second try of the game when he gathered a clever pass from John Andrew to scamper in to score an unconverted try in the corner and give his team a 17-0 lead.
The shell shocked England team made a couple of rare incursions into Ireland territory and had a couple of penalty opportunities to reduce the arrears but could not get any points on the board.
Ireland finished the first half in the ascendancy with Eoghain Quinn completing his hat trick of tries when he finished off an opportunity created for him by the good work of Robbie Henshaw and Tom Daly to score an unconverted try in the corner and give his team a 22-0 halftime lead.
The second half saw the England team make a number of changes by bringing on some of their successful U20 Six Nations player. The England team stepped their performance up and asked questions of the Ireland defence. However, they found the defence well organised and in no mood to let anyone through.
Despite having to defend for long periods of time in the third quarter of the game, the Ireland team still found opportunities to take play deep into England territory. The Ireland boys could see themselves as unfortunate not to have scored at least two more tries but it was not to be.
The England team did reduce the arrears to 22-5 with a try after twenty minutes of the second half when they touched down after a series quick ruck balls created the opportunity for their backs to create space and score out wide.
Both teams made changes with Niall Horan and Jamie Dever replacing Ed Byrne and Chris Taylor in the Ireland front row, Sean McCarthy replacing Gavin Thornberry in the second row, Donagh Lawlor replacing the Josh Van Der Flier in the very impressive Ireland back row, Barry Digby replacing Dave Shanahan at scrum half and Harry McNulty coming on in a reshuffled Ireland back division for Steve Crosbie.
The final play of the game saw the England team score their second unconverted try of the game to leave the final score reading 22-10 for the Ireland U19 team and a very well deserved victory it was against quality England U19 opposition.
IRELAND UNDER-19 Team & Replacements (v England Under-19s, Saturday, April 14, London Irish RFC, Sunbury, kick-off 1pm):
15 – Darragh Leader (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
14 – Max McFarland (Clongowes Wood College/Leinster)
13 – Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
12 – Thomas Daly (Carlow RFC/Leinster)
11 – Rory Scholes (Belfast Harlequins RFC/Ulster)
10 – Steve Crosbie (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)
9 – Dave Shanahan (Clontarf RFC/Leinster)
1 – Edward Byrne (Clongowes Wood College/Leinster)
2 – Bryan Byrne (Clongowes Wood College/Leinster)
3 – Christopher Taylor (Malone RFC/Ulster)
4 – Ultan Dillane (Tralee RFC/Munster)
5 – Gavin Thornbury (Blackrock College/Leinster)
6 – Conor Joyce (Malone RFC/Ulster) (capt)
7 – Josh van der Flier (UCD RFC/Leinster)
8 – Ryan Murphy (Dolphin RFC/Munster)
Replacements:
16 – John Andrew (Ballymena RFC/Ulster)
17 – Niall Horan (Crescent College/Munster)
18 – Jamie Dever (Westport RFC/Connacht)
19 – Sean McCarthy (Rockwell College/Munster)
20 – Donagh Lawler (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
21 – Barry Digby (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
22 – Harry McNulty (Dublin University RFC/Munster)
23 – Eoghan Quinn (Castleknock College/Leinster)
Management Team:
Head Coach – Colin McEntee
Team Manager – Barney McGonigle
Assistant Coach – Nigel Carolan
Doctor – Tim O’Flanagan
Physiotherapist – Barry Smith
Strength & Conditioning Coach – Sami Dowling
Video Analyst – Vinny Hammond
Kit/Logisitcs – Colin Phillips
Squad Co-ordinator – Sinead Bennett
