Representative match/ England Saxons 31 Ireland A 13: The final scoreline was a reasonable representation of England's dominance at Welford Road last night as their superior power eventually overwhelmed a game but outclassed Irish side, which led at the interval but could not survive indefinitely off scraps.
Ireland boasted the more experienced side but were seriously outgunned, particularly up front. There were fine individual performances from Alan Quinlan, Ryan Caldwell, Cian Healy, Isaac Boss and Luke Fitzgerald - the latter breaking the line on several occasions and looking a real threat in the centre. Gavin Duffy had good moments and Shane Jennings worked tirelessly in defence.
But the best Irish player by some distance was Tommy Bowe, who played brilliantly considering the meagre possession that came his way and proved the decision to omit him from the senior squad was risible.
He scored a try and almost made another but it was England inspired by Jordan Crane and Shane Geraghty, the latter switching from centre to outhalf after Ryan Lamb's injury that won convincingly.
The opening 40 minutes were very much stop-start because both teams were vulnerable at setpieces: England coughed up four lineouts on their own throw; Ireland were decimated on their own put-in at scrums. These factors coupled with a litany of handling errors destroyed continuity.
A classic illustration was the preamble to England's first-half try from hooker David Paice. In the preceding four minutes Frankie Sheahan overthrew a lineout, Shane Horgan punted out on the full, Gavin Duffy knocked on, and Ryan Caldwell drove into his own man and was penalised for killing the ball.
England elected for a scrum and were rewarded when Paice forced his way over from a couple of yards. Lamb missed the conversion having landed an earlier penalty and at that point Ireland trailed 8-3, Andy Dunne having posted a third-minute penalty.
Ireland had scrambled well defensively. They also had a cutting edge behind the scrum, manifest in their try on 25 minutes.
Ryan Caldwell stole an English lineout, offloading brilliantly to Trevor Hogan, and Boss threw a long pass to Bowe, who drifted around Paice and raced 25 metres to score.
Dunne converted superbly from the touchline and Ireland would defend that 10-8 lead to the interval.
Delon Armitage restored England's lead with a penalty before Bowe claimed centre stage once again with a scything 50-metre break. England transgressed and Dunne's 15-metre penalty nudged Ireland 13-11 ahead.
But by now England were bossing the collisions, and as Ireland began to tire, Geraghty's clever chip created a try for Tom Varndell, Armitage tagged on a penalty, Varndell grabbed his second try and Armitage touched down to embellish the result.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 3 mins: Dunne pen, 0-3; 5: Lamb pen, 3-3; 15: Paice try, 8-3; 25: Bowe try, Dunne con, 8-10 (half-time 8-10); 42: Armitage pen, 11-10; 49: Dunne pen, 11-13; 53: Varndell try, 16-13; 57: Armitage pen, 19-13; 70: Varndell try, 24-13; 82: Armitage try, con, 31-13.
ENGLAND SAXONS: N Abendanon; T Varndell, O Smith, S Geraghty, D Armitage; R Lamb, L Dickson; N Wood, D Paice, J Hobson; T Palmer, N Kennedy; P Dowson, B Woods, J Crane (capt). Replacements: A Allen for Lamb (15 mins); D Hartley for Paice, G Skivington for Palmer (both 49 mins); D Wilson for Hobson (59 mins); M Brown for Varndell, J Grindal for Dickson (both 77 mins).
IRELAND A: G Duffy (Connacht), J Murphy (Leicester), L Fitzgerald (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster, capt), T Bowe (Ulster); A Dunne (Connacht), I Boss (Ulster); C Healy (Leinster), F Sheahan (Munster), B Young (Ulster); T Hogan (Leinster), R Caldwell (Ulster); S Keogh (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster). Replacements: D Fitzpatrick (Ulster) for Young, N O'Connor (Ulster) for Dunne (both 57 mins); D Ryan (Munster) for Hogan (61 mins); D Riordan (Connacht) for Murphy, C Keane (Leinster) for Boss (both 73 mins); A Flavin (Connacht) for Sheahan, D Pollock (Ulster) for Keogh (both 77 mins).
Referee: P Allan(Scotland)
