Ireland Under-20s Stun England To Claim Brilliant Win In Bath

The Ireland Under-20s (sponsored by PwC) produced their most complete performance of the year so far, as tries from Lee Fitzpatrick, Josh Neill, Daniel Ryan, and Noah Byrne inspired a 31-21 victory over England in Bath.

UNDER-20 MEN’S SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 3:

Friday, February 20 –

ENGLAND UNDER-20s 21 IRELAND UNDER-20s 31, Recreation Ground
Scorers: England U-20s: Tries: George Pearson, Connor Treacey, Nick Lilley; Cons: Finn Keylock 2, Ollie Davies
Ireland U-20s: Tries: Lee Fitzpatrick, Josh Neill, Daniel Ryan, Noah Byrne; Cons: Tom Wood 4; Pen: Charlie O’Shea
HT: England Under-20s 14 Ireland Under-20s 7

Leinster Academy back rower Neill was the player-of-the-match for the second week running, as Andrew Browne’s youngsters made it back-to-back bonus wins to move up two places to second, behind France, in the U-20 Six Nations table.

Full-back Byrne was influential again at the Recreation Ground, and an early break by the backs was followed by Fitzpatrick’s 10th-minute opener. Unbeaten across the first two rounds, England hit back to lead 14-7 at half-time courtesy of scores from George Pearson and Connor Treacey.

However, Ireland touched down three times between the 51st and 68th minutes, Neill’s close-range effort sparking the best out of the visitors with Ryan and Byrne, who finished superbly from his own kick through, also scoring.

Impressive out-half Tom Wood made it a double-scores lead (28-14) with all three conversions, and despite Nick Lilley grabbing England’s third try, replacement Charlie O’Shea’s cracking 75th-minute penalty had the visitors out of reach.

The result continues Ireland’s fine recent record in the Championship on English soil. They have now won three of their last four away games against England in the U-20 Six Nations, and also drew 32-all in Bath two years ago.

In front of a 13,060-strong crowd, centres James O’Leary and Rob Carney stood out with 30 carries between them, the back-three fizzed with intent, captain Sami Bishti’s leadership skills shone through, and number 8 Diarmaid O’Connell was a real workhorse with 10 carries and 17 tackles from 17 attempts.

Speaking after the Ireland U-20s’ first back-to-back Six Nations wins since 2024, prop Bishti said: “Absolutely incredible, we had to fight hard. Half-time they were really testing us, so I’m proud of the lads to dig deep. Really special.

“That’s the strength of group, the depth. The replacements come on and add impact. It’s amazing to watch, I’m super proud. We said, ‘Round three we have to go at this’, so I couldn’t be more proud.”

The game was played at a high tempo right from the off, Joe Finn digging in at the breakdown to ensure England’s first attacking 22-metre entry went unrewarded. The backs soon stretched their legs, with Carney and Byrne combining to put Derry Moloney racing down the right.

Finn Keylock came to the hosts’ rescue, but Ireland, building from successive penalties, struck from their next visit to England’s 22. Their lineout drive did some damage before hooker Fitzpatrick broke off, expertly cutting inside two defenders to score. Wood promptly knocked over his first conversion.

A Lucas Friday snipe made inroads for England, who also got their maul going before Cashel clubman Carney, a debutant last week against Itay, was first to a loose ball in front of his own posts.

Ireland forced a turnover from their opponents’ next maul attempt, and they repeated the feat midway through the first half, with Donnacha McGuire and Neill doing really well to force the drive to ground.

However, when James Pater countered in terrific fashion after catching a Wood kick, he teed up winger Pearson for a run-in from the left, evading two tackles to touch down closer in towards the posts. Keylock’s conversion made it seven points apiece.

The English maul, and incisive play from Jimmy Staples, allowed their skipper Treacey to threaten just a few minutes later. His opposite number O’Connell got back to deny him, but the home scrum grew in influence as they built for their second try.

Treacey was the player to split the sides in the 31st minute, slipping out of a tackle and spinning out of a second one to crash in underneath the posts. Keylock converted from straight in front, and seven points remained the difference as Ireland failed to turn a late maul opportunity into a score.

The accuracy of Ireland’s passing, coupled with their depth and angles of running, saw Browne’s charges made a strong start to the final 40 minutes. England responded well to an O’Connell turnover, but a 50:22 kick from centre Carney had his team-mates moving in the right direction again.

O’Leary showed his hard-carrying ability off the back of the resulting lineout. The forwards took over, pressing from replacement Rian Handley’s tap penalty, before Neill managed to burrow in under Patrick Hogg for his third try in as many matches. Wood’s extras squared things up once more.

Ireland’s attack was now in full flow, stretching the English defence with Moloney and Ryan making penetrating runs. A scrum penalty maintained their stranglehold on possession – reaching over 70% during the third quarter – and it was not long until the home defence leaked another try.

Wood zipped a great pass out for Carney to take on Lilley and Tyler Offiah, at the edge of the English 22. His flat delivery found Byrne who set up the waiting Ryan to slide over in the left corner despite Pater’s cover tackle. Wood lifted them further with a tremendous touchline conversion.

Ireland’s bench was having an impact too, with the newly-introduced Ben Blaney winning a turnover penalty. MU Barnhall’s Sean Walsh soon stepped in at scrum half, linking with Neill to send Carney breaking down the left touchline.

Neill made an important tackle on Davies to prevent an English breakout in response, and then Max Doyle got the Irish scrum up on the loosehead side to force a penalty. They were playing with the advantage when Byrne displayed his finishing skills out wide.

Wood’s cross-field kick out to the left saw the ball bounce back off Ryan, who had an aerial duel with Offiah. Byrne was perfectly placed to mop up the scraps, deftly dinking a grubber kick through and showing his pace to nudge the ball on again before grounding it ahead of Lilley.

The former Dublin minor footballer’s sliding, one-handed finish survived a TMO review, before Wood was precise again from the tee. That opened up a 14-point advantage, which only stood for three minutes as Lilley took a good line, onto Friday’s pass, to swiftly pull back seven points.

Ireland had some big moments to regain the momentum, with Byrne firstly winning a high ball before O’Shea, only seconds after his entry onto the field, got his hand to a Lilley pass, popping up in the next phase to draw a high tackle from Aiden Ainsworth-Cave.

The UCC clubman roared with delight after rifling over the crucial three-pointer from all of halfway. England’s hopes of a last-gasp brace of bonus points were dashed by a forward pass from Lilley, which ruled out replacement Davies’ try during the final play.

Following tonight’s heroics at the Rec, the Ireland U-20s will have a well-deserved rest week before concluding the Championship with back-to-back home fixtures against Wales and Scotland at Virgin Media Park. Tickets for those two clashes are on sale from Ticketmaster.ie.

TIME LINE: 10 minutes – Ireland Under-20s try: Lee Fitzpatrick – 0-5; conversion: Tom Wood – 0-7; 23 mins – England Under-20s try: George Pearson – 5-7; converson: Finn Keylock – 7-7; 31 mins – England Under-20s try: Connor Treacey – 12-7; conversion: Finn Keylock – 14-7; Half-time – England Under-20s 14 Ireland Under-20s 7; 51 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Josh Neill – 14-12; conversion: Tom Wood – 14-14; 58 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Daniel Ryan – 14-19; conversion: Tom Wood – 14-21; 68 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Noah Byrne – 14-26; conversion: Tom Wood – 14-28; 70 mins – England Under-20s try: Nick Lilley – 19-28; conversion: Ollie Davies – 21-28; 75 mins – Ireland Under-20s penalty: Charlie O’Shea – 21-31; Full-time – England Under-20s 21 Ireland Under-20s 31

ENGLAND U-20: James Pater (Northampton Saints); Tyler Offiah (Bath), Nick Lilley (Exeter Chiefs), Victor Worsnip (Bristol Bears), George Pearson (Leicester Tigers); Finn Keylock (Saracens), Lucas Friday (Harlequins); Oliver Scola (Northampton Saints), Jimmy Staples (Harlequins), Ollie Streeter (Harlequins), Elliot Williams (Harlequins), Patrick Hogg (Sale Sharks), Aiden Ainsworth-Cave (Northampton Saints), Seb Kelly (Sale Sharks), Connor Treacey (Bath) (capt).

Replacements used: Tate Williams (Harlequins) for Hogg, Ollie Davies (Sale Sharks) for Keylock (both 52 mins), Sonny Tonga’uiha (Northampton Saints) for Streeter, George Marsh (Leicester Tigers) for Kelly (both 59), Will Knight (Gloucester) for Worsnip (62), Jerold Gorleku (Harlequins) for Staples, Oliver Spencer (Sale Sharks) for Scola (both 69), George Newman (Exeter Chiefs) for Friday (77).

IRELAND U-20: Noah Byrne (Dublin University FC/Leinster); Derry Moloney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Rob Carney (Cashel RFC/Munster), James O’Leary (UCC RFC/Munster), Daniel Ryan (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht); Tom Wood (Garryowen FC/Munster), Christopher Barrett (UCC RFC/Munster); Max Doyle (UCD RFC/Leinster), Lee Fitzpatrick (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Sami Bishti (UCD RFC/Leinster) (capt), Joe Finn (Garryowen FC/Munster), Donnacha McGuire (UCD RFC/Leinster), Josh Neill (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Billy Hayes (Garryowen FC/Munster), Diarmaid O’Connell (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht).

Replacements used: Rian Handley (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) for Fitzpatrick (28 mins), Sean Walsh (MU Barnhall RFC/Leinster) for McGuire, Johnny O’Sullivan (Dublin University FC/Leinster) for Moloney (both 56), Ben Blaney (Terenure College RFC/Leinster) for Hayes (61), James O’Dwyer (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) for Barrett (62), Christian Foley (Young Munster RFC/Munster) for Doyle, Blake McClean (Instonians RFC/Ulster) for Bishti (both 69), Charlie O’Shea (UCC RFC/Munster) for Wood (73).

Referee: Morgan White (HKCR)