Young Saxons team turn the tables on Ireland A

The England Saxons put their Churchill Cup final misery behind them at the weekend by beating Ireland A 17-13.

When the two sides met last June it was Ireland who had the upper hand with a 49-22 victory but today Stuart Lancaster's men came out fighting. A first half try from David Strettle (Harlequins) got the Saxons on the scoreboard with Shane Geraghty (Northampton) adding his own effort just before half time and contributing seven points with the boot.

England errors kept Ireland in the game during the first half with Paddy Wallace kicking two easy penalties. Strettle's try eased the pressure after he received an outside pass from Ben Youngs to go over in the top corner for Geraghty to convert.

And on the half hour England's Geraghty went in under the posts after secure offloads from Saracens pair Noah Cato and Brad Barritt. Worrying moments for England before the break after Ireland were awarded another penalty but Wallace went wide at the posts, to take the half time score to 14-6.

Early pressure from Ireland A paid off in the second half with Paul Doran-Jones being sent to the sin bin for being off his feet at the ruck and with England down to 14 men, replacement Ryan Caldwell went over, Wallace added the extras to take them within a point, 14-13.

A further nail biting 15 minutes followed with Geraghty missing a penalty but England's defence held strong and they were awarded on the buzzer with another penalty, this time Geraghty didn't miss. The final score 17-13.

Lancaster said, "The opportunities we had, particularly in the first half we took and our second half defence was outstanding. We worked hard for each other and the shirt. Saxons is about building experience for these players at international level. Ireland took the game seriously and so did we and it was nice to turn the tables from our previous performance."

After the humiliation of last year’s Churchill Cup Final, at the hands of the same opponents, the Saxons came out and looked like they had a point to prove. Handling was a little sloppy in the first half, which is as expected from a group who’d only recently got together.

A curate’s egg of a performance from Geraghty, his insistence on kicking away possession (badly for the most part) in every passage of play in the first half earned him groans from the crowd, and he’s yet to show that consistency in being able to control a game from the first to last minute. Wayward kicking, missed tackles and hospital passes were offset by the occasional bits of genius. The fly half launched a pinpoint bomb in the final moments from where Ireland conceded a penalty which the Northampton playmaker duly landed with the last kick of an absorbing game. Though occasionally vulnerable in defence, it was Geraghty's lung-bursting, tap tackle on Ireland wing, Fionn Carr, that saved the day near the end.

Youngs enjoyed his first Saxons appearance and may find himself retained by the seniors this week; he and Strettle combined on one side of the field in a move that almost created a try for Noah Cato on the other and the Saracens wing was also involved in the move that created the second try, for Geraghty. There were also impressive displays from the likes of Cato and Dowson.

The Saxons had the necessary sense of shape and did well to contest the set-piece with the vigour they did given that they were up against heavy-duty opponents in the form of seasoned Test players such as prop Marcus Horan and hooker Rory Best. England looked as if they might be up against it in the set scrum but stuck at the task. In fact the very fact that the Ireland A side had over 300 caps to their name, compared to a paltry 16 on the England side, made the Saxons victory all the more impressive.

England Saxons: 15 Alex Goode (Saracens), 14 David Strettle (Harlequins), 13 Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps), 12 Brad Barritt (Saracens), 11 Noah Cato (Saracens), 10 Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints), 9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers), 1 Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby), 2 David Paice (London Irish), 3 Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester Rugby), 4 Dave Attwood (Gloucester Rugby), 5 George Skivington (London Wasps, captain), 6 Tom Wood (Worcester Warriors), 7 Andy Saull (Saracens), 8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)

Replacements: 16 Rob Webber (London Wasps) rep Paice (58), 17 Tom Mercey (Saracens) rep Wood (65-74), 18 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers) rep Attwood (58), 19 Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby) rep Saull (48), 20 Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons) rep Young (65), 21 Jon Clarke (Northampton Saints), 22 Miles Benjamin (Worcester Warriors) rep Strettle (69)

Scorers: Strettle, Geraghty Pens: Geraghty; Cons: Geraghty (2)
Sin bin: Doran-Jones (63)

Ireland A: 15 Gavin Duffy,14 Ian Dowling,13 Pfergus Mcfadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster),12 Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht), 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster), 9 Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster), 1 Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster), 2 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), 3 Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), 4 Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster), 5 Devon Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), 6 Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), 7 Shane Jennings (St Mary's College/Leinster), 8 John Muldoon (Galwegians/Connacht)

Replacements: 16 John Fogarty (De La Salle Palmerston/Leinster) rep Best (40), 17 Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), 18 Ryan Caldwell (Dungannon/Ulster) rep O'Driscoll (40), 19 Chris Henry rep Matthews (55), 20 Isaac Boss (Ballymena/Ulster) rep Stringer (65), 21 Ian Humphreys (Ballymena/Ulster) rep Mcfadden (65), 22 Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) rep Muldoon (55)

Scorers: Tries: Caldwell; Cons: Wallace; Pens: Wallace (2)

Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Crowd: 9875

Photos by Patrick Khachfe