Sam’s the man with late winner for Ireland
SAM Prendergast’s late long-range penalty give Ireland their first victory of the Summer Series in a 73-point thriller.
England burst into an early 14-0 lead as George Hendy and Alex Harmes crossed, before Ireland levelled through Fionn Gibbons and James McCormick’s tries.
A penalty try gave Ireland the lead, and they maintained it at the break despite a charge-down from Lewis Chessum, with Lorcan McLoughlin clinching Ireland’s bonus point score before half-time.
Prendergast knocked over a penalty to extend the lead to 12, but Mikey Summerfield drove over and Iwan Stephens produced an excellent finish in the corner for England.
Another Prendergast kick extended the lead before Hendy hit back with his second try – but Prendergast had the last word.
Ireland coach Richie Murphy said: “It’s a massive
win. We want to try and go home with two wins from four which with the group that we have, with 12 U19s, will be hugely beneficial
for next year.”
England will be relieved they leapfrogged France into second in the group, but will reflect on a poor defensive display, with Ireland’s first three tries coming courtesy of sloppy tackling.
England flew out of the blocks, a driving maul getting within metres of the line before fly-half Fin Smith clung on to a loose pass out to find Stephens, who fed Hendy to score.
It got worse for Ireland when Ethan Grayson’s beautiful floated pass to Harmes completed a brilliant counter-attack, which had started with a moment
of magic from captain Emeka Ilione, who clung onto a chip from Irish fullback Patrick Campbell.
But Ireland were helped back into the game by England’s poor defence. First McLoughlin shrugged off two tackles to feed Gibbons for their opener before McCormick drove over with the fringes vacant. Prendergast knocked over the equalising conversion and the comeback was
complete after 20 minutes, as a high tackle on Dylan O’Grady, who was reaching out for the line as he attempted to score Ireland’s third, prevented the Irish winger scoring.
As well as an Irish penalty try, Rekeiti Ma’asiWhite was sent to the sin-bin, and though Chessum’s charge-down got England back in the contest, McLoughlin’s before the break gave Ireland a
two-score buffer and Prendergast took the lead to a dozen with a penalty shortly after half-time. England hit back with Summerfield finishing a maul followed by Stephen’s athletic leap in the corner to level.
After a Prendergast penalty England might have thought they’d won it as Hendy collected Smith’s cross-field kick with 11 minutes remaining. But Smith left the door ajar as he missed what was a gettable conversion 15 metres in, and Prendergast made no mistake with his kick from inside England’s half.