England Saxons 17-13 Ireland A
England's second-string were looking to impress the watching Martin Johnson
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 31, Jan 2010 03:22
By Tom Powell.
England Saxons held off a late Ireland A surge to record a 17-13 victory at the Rec in front of England coach Martin Johnson.
With just a week to go until the start of the Six Nations, the Saxons were looking to impress the first team coach ahead of their opener against Wales at Twickenham.
There was a similar incentive for the Ireland A side, with the first 15 facing Italy, but their loss was their first in eight matches.
The Saxons held a 14-6 lead going into half-time thanks to tries from David Strettle and Shane Geraghty with Ireland A's points coming from the boot of Paddy Wallace.
Chris Henry's try brought the sides to within a point but despite some late Irish pressure they couldn't find another score and the Saxons held on for the win.
There were contrasting selection choices from the two coaches with the Saxons opting for eleven uncapped players whereas the Irish side was full of experience with Peter Stringer, Rory Best and Marcus Horan amongst their starting 15.
Andy Saull's failure to roll away from the tackle area allowed Wallace to kick Ireland into a third minute lead as the visitors started confidently.
Ireland A were certainly the better side in the opening stages with Keith Matthews cutting through the Saxons' backline before a knock-on called a halt to the attack.
The Saxons slowly crept back into the match and on 14 minutes they had the first try of the afternoon.
Ben Youngs ran the ball from the base of the scrum, drew his opposite number Stringer and fed Strettle who scampered in at the corner. Geraghty landed the touchline conversion to give the Saxons a 7-3 lead.
Five minutes of aimless kicking was eventually broken up by a George Skivington infringement and Wallace punished the Saxons captain by making it 7-6.
The home side had done little with ball in hand since Strettle's try but they almost had a second five-pointer on 27 minutes after a good break from Dominic Waldouck and Noah Cato but Foinn Carr did well to bundle the Saracens winger into touch five metres from the whitewash.
Two minutes later the Saxons did extend their lead however, after a rare piece of quality, inter-linking rugby from the backline.
Alex Goode offloaded to Cato who outpaced Carr before finding Brad Barritt on his inside, who held off Gavin Duffy and popped the ball to the onrushing Geraghty who strolled under the posts. The fly-half kicked the simple conversion and the Saxons led 14-6.
Ireland A finally strung together a succession of phases but couldn't pierce the Saxons defence. They were then given an opportunity to grab three more points but Wallace sliced his penalty wide.
Ireland A came out of the blocks quickly in the second half but still lacked a cutting edge in the Saxons' 22, with Carr's knock-on putting an end to the latest attack.
Thirteen minutes into the second half and it was the Saxons' turn to attack. Cato and Skivington broke clear before the ball was recycled to Geraghty whose pass to Barritt was knocked on with the try line within touching distance.
The Saxons had to play with 14 men for ten minutes after Paul Doran-Jones was sin binned for going off his feet at a ruck and Ireland A immediately took advantage.
Replacement Isaac Boss broke off the back of the scrum and passed back inside to another replacement Henry who strode over.
Wallace's conversion from under the posts made it anyone's game at 14-13 with 15 minutes remaining.
Three minutes later Carr was penalised for offside but Geraghty missed the chance to kick his side further ahead, skewing his penalty wide.
A breakaway from Carr almost earned his side the win with nine minutes left but a superb tap tackle from Geraghty prevented the Connacht winger running in at the corner.
With the clock running down Geraghty added a penalty to make the game safe, rounding off a good performance from the Northampton man.