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Congratulations to Stephen Myler - good luck to the lads for Sunday.


What was that about facts and opinions?!

ClaireJ
Saints vs London Wasps...

RedHatPhoto - supporting Soane Tonga'uiha's Testimonial - all the details on Tiny's site...

RedHatPhoto - a blog from a woman in a red hat taking photos

..well my hat's safe for now then, Kath...

Deserves his position, much better game management than DC. Would rather have seen Geraghty at 12 as thought Barratt was a bit weak in defence in US game, otherwise good looking team.

Another in a long line of humiliating performance from an England team.

England Saxons lose Churchill Cup battle
Monday June 22, 2009
Issued by Jessica Chambers

England Saxons 22 - 49 Ireland A

Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Denver

ENGLAND SAXONS lose the Churchill Cup and their winning record this evening as the trophy heads to Ireland.

The Saxons failed to retain the cup for a third successive year and suffered a six try defeat against a highly charged and physical Ireland A pack.

England scored two second half tries with Ben Woods and Tom Varndell going over, the rest of their points were from the boot of Stephen Myler, scoring three penalties.

Ireland A in contrast ran in two first half tries from Deven Toner and Isaac Boss and four second half tries from Sean Cronin, Felix Jones, Johne Murphy and John Muldoon with Jonathan Sexton adding a penalty, three conversions and a drop goal and Fergus McFadden sharing the kicking duties slotted two further conversions and a penalty.

England Saxons Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said, "We made some replacements in the second half because in the first we were losing the physical battle.

"Ireland A deserved to win they came at us and were a very though opposition. We have to go away and look at ourselves. At this level there are no second chances. Our desire was there but our execution wasn't."

England Saxons captain Phil Dowson said, "I'm shell shocked. We took a pasting and there are no excuses. It wasn't a pretty site at all.

"We just didn't look after our ball whereas in contrast Ireland A did. We didn't work hard enough at the breakdown and we have learned some harsh lessons today.

"We have to go away and look at the videos but we just were not good enough today."

Saxons' built an early 6-0 lead through penalties one for Ireland A being offside and then again minutes later for a knock on.

But, it didn't last long with Sexton slotting an easy three points to make the scores 6-3.

Toner's try for Ireland A came from England being penalised for using feet in the ruck and a five metre scrum saw him power over for them to take a 10-6 lead.

Saxons added a further three points from the boot of Myler to bring them to within a point, 9-10. Another Myler penalty followed which went wide.

In the 25 McFadden made a scorching mid-field break which led to Boss eventually finding the line and Sexton added the extras, 9-17.

Myler added another three points on the half hour after Ireland were penalised at the scrum, 12-17.

A double sin binning for fighting in the 33 saw Saxons' Dan Cole and Ireland A's Chris Henry spend some time out.

And a drop goal by Sexton kept Ireland's scoreboard ticking, 12-20.

On the half time buzzer captain Best was sent to the bin for hands in the ruck and Myler failed to slot the three points from the halfway line leaving the scores at 12-20.

Ireland A came back out on the attack and were rewarded, Cronin slipping through England's defence with McFadden adding the conversion to extend their lead to 27-12.

An attacking England lineout led to Woods' try after receiving an outside pass from Stuart Hooper, Myler failed to convert, 17-27.

In the 55 minute Ireland A were fully in their stride and after testing the Saxons defence Jones and Murphy ran over within five minutes of each other.

Jones at close range from a scrum and Murphy from scooping up a Myler cross field kick, to stretch their score to 17-39.

McFadden slotted over another penalty on 65 to add another two points, 17-42.

Ben Woods was sent to the bin for the remainder of the match and John Muldoon powered over in the 74 after a period of camping on England's line and McFadden added the extras, 17-49.

Varndell scored England Saxons' second try in the dying minutes but Shane Geraghty failed to convert to take the final scores to 22-49.

England Saxons: 15 Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), 14 Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), 13 Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps), 12 Brad Barritt (Saracens), 11 Noah Cato (Saracens), 10 Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), 9 Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons), 1 David Flatman (Bath Rugby), 2 Rob Webber (London Wasps), 3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), 4 Stuart Hooper (Bath Rugby), 5 Nick Kennedy (London Irish), 6 Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons, captain), 7 Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers), 8 Luke Narraway (Gloucester Rugby)

Replacements: 16 Joe Ward (London Wasps) rep Webber (70), 17 Tom Mercey (Saracens) rep Cole (56),18 Dean Schofield (Sale Sharks) rep Stuart Hooper (54), 19 Tom Guest (Harlequins) rep Narraway (56), 20 Joe Simpson (London Wasps) rep Young (65), 21 Danny Cipriani (London Wasps) rep Myler (60), 22 Shane Geraghty (London Irish) rep Barritt (60).

Scorers: Tries: Woods, Varndell; Pens: Myler (4).

Sin binned: Cole (33), Woods (73)

Ireland A: 15 Felix Jones (Seapoint/Leinster), 14 Denis Hurley (Cork Constitution/Munster), 13 Fergus McFadden (UCD/Leinster), 12 Keith Matthews (Buccaneers/Connacht), 11 Johne Murphy (Leicester), 10 Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster), 9 Isaac Boss (capt, Ballymena/Ulster), 1 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), 2 Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht), 3 Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster), 4 Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), 5 Devon Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), 6 Neil Best (capt, Northampton Saints), 7 Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster), 8 Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster)

Replacements: 16 Dennis Fogarty (Cork Constitution/Munster) rep Cronin (62), 17 Bryan Young (Ballymena/Ulster) rep Healy (75), 18 Trevor Hogan (Blackrock College/Leinster) rep Toner (75), 19 John Muldoon (Buccanneers/Connacht) rep O'Connor (50), 20 Simon Geogh (OId Belvedere/Leinster) rep Boss (75), 21 Niall O'Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) rep Chris Henry (43), 22 James Downey (Northampton Saints) rep Matthews (75).

Scorers: Tries: Toner, Boss, Cronin, Jones, Murphy, Muldoon;
Pens: Sexton, McFadden; Cons: Sexton (3), McFadden (2); DG: Sexton

Sin binned: Henry (33), Best (40)

Referee: Matt Goddard (Australia)

Saxons 2009 Churchill Cup fixtures and results

Saturday, June 6
England Saxons 28 - 20 Argentina Jaguars, Infinity Park, Denver

Sunday, June 14
USA 17 - 56 England Saxons, Infinity Park, Denver,

Sunday June 21
Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Churchill Cup final
England Saxons 22 - 49 Ireland A

Humped