Gleeson glee as Irish hold off England fightback
IRELAND’S U20s withstood a late comeback from England in Cork last Sunday to win 36-24 securing a second Grand Slam in a row.
“It’s unbelievable,” said man of the match Brian Gleeson. “We were shaky towards the end – fair play to England, they are an unbelievable team.
“We always talk about putting our foot on their throats and being relentless. I feel like we did that at times today and that is why we came out on top.”
Richie Murphy’s side looked on course for a sweeping victory as two tries apiece from wing Hugh Gavin and No.8 Gleeson, and another from prop George Hadden, opened up a 31-10 lead with three conversions from Sam Prendergast.
England’s discipline had imploded under the pressure early in the second half with wing Tobias Elliott yellow-carded for a deliberate knock on and fly-half Monty Bradbury sent off for a high tackle.
However, Alan Dickens’ side rallied with two tries in the final 10 minutes from Joe Jenkins and Elliott. But scrum-half Fintan Gunne added Ireland’s sixth try two minutes from time to secure back-to-back titles.
England finished the tournament in fourth after a strong start to the campaign with bonus point wins against Scotland, Italy and Wales was followed by back-to-back convincing defeats by France and Ireland.
Captain Lewis Chessum said: “Every single one of those boys can be proud of themselves. We went down to 14 and then 13 men and were still in the game, so I can’t ask for more.
“They (Ireland) are a good side and have proven it all Six Nations, look what they did to Scotland, they’ve beaten France and were the better team tonight.”
Leo Drouet’s four tries guided France to an eleven-try 67-17 win over Wales at the Stade Charles-Mathon to finish their Championship on a high.
With Ireland having won the title earlier on in the day, Les Bleuets knew they could not win it themselves and for the second year in a row would have to settle for second spot.
Baptiste Jauneau, Posolo Tuilagi, Emilien Gailleton and braces by Nicolas Depoortere and Louis Bielle-Biarrey added to Drouet’s quadruple and meant winless Wales finished with the wooden spoon.
Italy signed off their campaign in style finishing third after an emphatic 40-17 win against Scotland at Scotstoun.
Dan King traded tries with Giovanni Quattrini early on, but Jacopo Botturi and Sebastiano Battara scored after half-time before Marcos Francesco Gallorini’s double wrapped up the win for the visitors.
William Robinson grabbed a late consolation for Scotland who finished fifth, but Italy had the final word, with Nicholas Gasperini going over.