Rugby:Ireland overcame the disappointment of their narrow defeat to France when they beat a strong England outfit 22-10 in an Under 19 international at Sunbury. Coached by Colin McEntee and Nigel Carolan they scored all their points in a very impressive first half before replacing several starters.
Ireland's first try came from flanker and captain, Conor Joyce after a sustained period of pressure. He blasted past a hesitant England defence to touch down under the posts after 12 minutes of play. Centre Thomas Daly added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Ireland lost two players to injury a short time later with Rory Scholes being replaced on the left wing by Eoghan Quinn and hooker Bryan Byrne made way for John Andrew. Quinn had an immediate impact when he took advantage of good work from his backline colleagues to run in for a try with his first touch of the ball in the 21st minute.
Five minutes later, the elusive Castleknock player scored his second try of the game when he gathered a clever pass from Andrew to scamper over and score in the corner. Ireland finished the first half in the ascendancy with Quinn completing his hat-trick when he finished off an opportunity created for him by very good work from Robbie Henshaw and Daly, giving the visitors a 22-0 interval lead.
The second half saw England make a number of changes by bringing on some of their successful Under-20 Six Nations players. They stepped up their level of performance and began to ask questions of the visitors. However, they found the Irish defence well organised. English pressure eventually told with two late tries but Ireland were convincing winners on the day.
