England A 28-12 Ireland A
Andy Farrell was a keen observer in Bristol as Ireland A were no match for a powerful English side at Ashton Gate.
Lee Blackett's England A led from start to finish in a deserved 28-12 win, as Ireland paid a heavy price for a poor lineout and a selection gamble that backfired.
Ireland A had gone with a 6:2 split of forwards to backs on the bench, and they were left to rue that with injuries to their two out-halves, Ciarán Frawley and his replacement Harry Byrne, both of whom departed for head injury assessments.
An attritional game took its toll on Ireland, and head coach Mike Prendergast will be left dealing with the fallout back at Munster – with Diarmuid Barron leaving for an early HIA, while Shane Daly and Oli Jager also had to depart injured.
An early Ollie Hassell-Collins try gave England a 7-0 start, but they were pegged back when the impressive Shayne Bolton crossed for Ireland.
The home side were dominating the gainline, and it eventually broke the Irish defence down when captain Jack van Poortvliet pierced a gap to extend the English lead on 27 minutes, converted by Charlie Atkinson to make it 14-5 at the break.
England dominated the second half, and while Ireland defended relentlessly in the third quarter, their resistance was finally broken when Greg Fisilau took advantage of some loose defending at the fringe of a ruck. And while Ireland did reply with a late Hugh Gavin try, England had the final say with a penalty try to close out a deserved win.
Farrell (above) was seated with the Irish senior management at Ashton Gate and there were plenty of individual performances to be impressed with. Gavin and Jude Postlethwaite kept Ireland in the game with their defensive efforts, while Jack Aungier was dominant at the scrum until he departed in the second half.
In desperate weather conditions, Nathan Doak impressed with his kicking game, while Bolton and Max Deegan did their future chances no harm at all.
Ireland started well, with Aungier and Tom O’Toole both held up over the line in the opening minutes, but some early lineout struggles would eventually allow England move up the field.
The hosts took the lead on 13 minutes when Hassell-Collins dived into the left corner to score, but the try was created through some incredible handling by Atkinson, who avoided a crunching Tommy O’Brien tackle to free the ball and create an overlap.
The scrum was Ireland’s route into the game, and it gave them the territory to hit back on 17 minutes.
After getting into the 22, a lineout maul sucked in the England defence, before Postlethwaite’s brilliant decoy line freed up space for Frawley, as he passed outside to Deegan, and the Ireland captain threw a beautiful wide pass for Bolton to score in the corner. Frawley’s missed conversion left the score at 7-5.
It would get tougher for Ireland shortly after as they lost Daly (below) to a bad leg injury, the full-back had to be helped off the field after making an excellent covering tackle to deny an English try.
On 27 minutes it would get even worse. Harry Byrne had replaced Daly, but while he was down receiving treatment for a head injury, Sean Jansen bought a dummy from Van Poortvliet, with the English captain racing clear to get their second try, Atkinson converting to make it 14-5.
That Byrne injury caused a major reshuffle, as replacement scrum-half Fintan Gunne had to come on and play the remainder of the game on the wing, while O’Brien went into full-back.
Ireland survived to half time, but as the conditions worsened, so too did their lineout, although their insistence on throwing towards the tail meant some of those issues were self-inflicted.
The first half scrum dominance also vanished when Aungier departed, and the setpiece issues saw Ireland struggle to get out of their own half in the third quarter, while it took some big defensive interventions from Gavin and Tom O’Toole to prevent England from adding to their lead.
The backline injuries continued on 56 minutes when Frawley left with a HIA, as Brian Gleeson came on in his place, with Doak moving to out-half and Deegan having to fill space in the backline.
The defensive efforts were sure to catch up on Ireland, and eventually England broke them on 73 minutes. With the home side in possession just inside the Irish half, Conor O’Tighearnaigh folded too far around the corner of a ruck, with Fisilau sniping through the gap to give his side a healthy 21-5 lead.
The Irish heads didn’t drop though, and after forcing a penalty they finally made a lineout stick, mauling close to the line before Gavin barged his way over.
There would be no miracle comeback though, and in the final minute a deliberate knock-on from Deegan saw referee Ben Breakspear award a penalty try to the hosts, as the Ireland captain watched the final seconds from the sin-bin.
England A scorers: Tries: Ollie Hassell-Collins, Jack van Poortvliet, Greg Fisilau, Penalty Try
Conversions: Charlie Atkinson (2), Jamie Shillcock (1)
Ireland A scorers: Tries: Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin
Conversion: Nathan Doak (1)
England A: Joe Carpenter; Tobias Elliott, Max Ojomoh, Will Butt, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Charlie Atkinson, Jack van Poortvliet (capt); Phil Brantingham, Curtis Langdon, George Kloska; Hugh Tizard, Tom Lockett; Tom Pearson, Jack Kenningham, Alfie Barbeary
Replacements: Gabriel Oghre, Tarek Haffar, Luke Green, Richard Capstick, Greg Fisilau, Will Porter, Jamie Shillcock, George Hendy
Ireland A: Shane Daly; Tommy O'Brien, Jude Postlethwaite, Shayne Bolton; Ciarán Frawley, Nathan Doak; Tom O'Toole, Diarmuid Barron, Jack Aungier; Evan O'Connell, Darragh Murray; Max Deegan (capt), Alex Kendellen, Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Stephen Smyth, Paddy McCarthy, Oli Jager, Conor O'Tighearnaigh, Alex Soroka, Fintan Gunne, Harry Byrne, Brian Gleeson
