England U21s take Grand Slam

England U21 40 - Ireland U21 5

It was a performance of pace and power in front of the 9,726 strong crowd with the England pack dominating their visitors in most departments to ensure they left with the silverware.

Coach Jim Mallinder said: “This is a tremendous achievement and to win the Grand Slam and Six Nations shows the strength of English rugby coming through. It’s a credit to the Regional Academies and it’s the result of a lot of hard work from all the players but also the management and backroom staff.”

Said Captain Matt Cornwell: “It was an awesome performance. I thought the first half was the best 40 minutes of rugby we’ve ever played. We stuck to the game plan, took the points early and tried to play rugby where we could.” I Pacey England blasted out of the blocks with two penalties inside five minutes both kicked by fly half Toby Flood who’s steepling kicks from hand also kept the Irish defence on their toes throughout the half.

But it was centre Anthony Allen who really lit up the crowd midway through the half when he burst through the Irish defence from just inside the Irish half to blister his way almost to the line before handing over to flanker James Haskell to finish off.

Flood missed the conversion but made up for it six minutes before the break when he slotted over his third penalty as Irish flanker Ejike Uzoigwe was yellow carded at a ruck.

Within minutes England had scored again following great work from No. 8 Jordan Crane and open-side flanker Michael Hill to set up a try for prop David Wilson.

Flood duly added the conversion and England turned around 21-0 to the good.

And they scored three minutes after the restart when left wing Nick Abendanon jinked his way through a startled Irish defence to score and Flood again obliged with the extras.

Five minutes later No 8 Jordan Crane smashed his way over from a quickly taken tapped penalty situation before a neat break from Haskell gave Abendanon his second touchdown under the posts and an easy conversion for Flood.

As England rang the changes Irish finally opened their account when full back Fionn Carr scored in the left hand corner.

Scoring Sequence:- 1min Flood pen; 5m Flood pen; 21m Haskell try; 34m Flood pen; 36m Wilson try, con Flood; H/T 21-0; 42m try Abendanon, con Flood; 48m try Crane; 57m try Abendanon, con Flood; 62m try Carr.

England U21s: Mike Brown (NEC Harlequins), Thom Evans (London Wasps), Matt Cornwell (Leicester Tigers, captain), Anthony Allen (Gloucester), Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), Toby Flood (Newcastle Falcons), Ben Foden (Sale Sharks), Alex Rogers (NEC Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), David Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), Richard Blaze (Worcester Warriors), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), James Haskell (London Wasps), Michael Hills (Sale Sharks), Jordan Crane (Leeds Tykes)

Replacements: Neil Briggs (Sale Sharks) 58m for Hartley , Mark Lambert (NEC Harlequins) 63m for Rogers, Sean Cox (Sale Sharks) 71-75 for Crane, Alex Rae (Northampton Saints) 67m for Haskell, Nick Runciman (Worcester Warriors) 67m for Foden, Ryan Lamb (Gloucester) 63m for Flood, Topsy Ojo (London Irish) 59mfor Evans.

England U21s Six Nations Rugby Fixtures for 2006.  

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