UNDER-20 SIX NATIONS Ireland 16 England 15:Ireland left it late but a Rory Scholes try four minutes from time gave them their first Six Nations win of the season after a pulsating encounter at Dubarry Park last night.

Centre Tom Daly slotted the all important conversion to give Ireland a one point win, but they had earlier struggled to take advantage after England had Ross Moriarty sent off in the first half.

Ireland had two men yellow carded in the second-half, including Robbie Henshaw, but the Athlone man played a critical role in the winning try.

In search of their third Six Nations title in a row, England looked in determined mood to build on last week’s victory over Scotland and after the concession of a penalty in the first minute the home side fell behind.

Outhalf Henry Slade made no mistake from the right to give the champions a 3-0 lead, but with the English lineout misfiring in the opening exchanges Mike Ruddock’s side began to find their feet.

The game took a huge turn in the 27th minute when captain Luke McGrath battled for the ball at the base of a ruck and English flanker Ross Moriarty was deservedly sent off for an horrific dump tackle on the Leinster scrumhalf.

Infringed

Daly slotted the penalty from under the posts to draw Ireland level, but five minutes from half-time Slade kicked another penalty to made it 9-3 when Donnan infringed once again, this time for failing to roll away from the tackle.

Immediately after the restart replacement prop Nathan Morris’s first action was to enter a ruck from the side, and Daly slotted his second penalty to reduce the deficit to just three.

England continued with their methodical approach to the game and their territorial ascendancy paid off in the 50th minute when Slade landed his fourth penalty from just inside the 10-metre line.

Six minutes later Slade missed with a speculative drop goal after England failed to pierce the Ireland defence, but a minute after that Daly was sin-binned for killing the ball and Slade had more success from the tee to give the visitors a 15-6 lead.

Opposite number

Ireland needed to chase the game, but they suffered a server blow when home town hero Henshaw was harshly shown a yellow card on the hour mark when challenging his opposite number Ben Howard for possession from a garryowen.

With Daly in the bin, Rory Scholes slotted a successful first penalty attempt 15 minutes from time and three minutes later Hennessy levelled the game up at 13 men each when Elliot Stooke was binned.

After the reintroduction of Daly and Henshaw, Ireland set about clawing their way back into the match and four minutes from time a super move involving Henshaw and Daly sent Scholes over on the left.

And Daly slotted the difficult conversion to give Ireland the lead and clinch the victory.