Toothless Ireland come up short against England in U20 Six Nations clash

Ireland U20 3-19 England U20

Neil Doak's first competitive game in charge of Ireland ended in a 19-3 defeat by defending U20 Six Nations champions England at Virgin Media Park.

The hosts played 23 minutes of the first half with a numerical advantage and it was even 15 v 13 for nine minutes. But during that spell, England outscored Ireland 6-3 for a wind-assisted 9-3 half-time lead.

A second-half stalemate ensued and was broken by a late penalty try. In all, Ireland conceded 17 penalties to England’s 10.

These two teams have split the last five titles between them (three for Ireland to England's two) and the victors will expect to go far in this tournament.

England began with a strong wind at their backs and the even opening exchanges were broken in the 13th minute. Ireland strayed offside and Ben Coen made the straightforward kick for a 3-0 lead.

Within two minutes, French referee Jérémy Rozier would become the centre of attention after two English high hits on Irish players.

After multiple viewings on the big screen and howls from the crowd, Rozier deemed Junior Kpoku’s shoulder to the head of Eoghan Smyth a sending-off offence. The World Rugby law trial of the 20-minute red card meant the flanker could be replaced before the break.

After brief examination, Rozier decided the high tackle on Sam Wisniewski was just a penalty. The out-half chose to kick to the corner but a crossing penalty gave England an easy escape.

Their numbers were depleted even further when second-row and captain Tom Burrow was pinged in a ruck for slapping the ball out of scrum-half Clark Logan’s hands. Ireland, again, didn’t press home their advantage as Wisniewski booted the ball dead in the deceptive gale.

Despite their numerical disadvantage in the