'They thought it was done' – Ireland denied England with a late try
Try: Carnduff, Spencer, James, Waghorn pencil: Care 2 cons: CARE 3 |
Try: Tracy, O'Connor, McLaughlin, Walker, L. Murphy pencil: Murphy cons: Murphy, Naughton |
Luke Murphy scored a try as the clock ran red to deny England the Under-20 Six Nations title and snatch an equalizer for Ireland.
Ben Waghorn's late effort looked to have sealed the title with at least one game to go, after a Kane James goal earned England a draw.
Ireland scored their try for bonus points through Henry Walker and looked in control before the frenetic finish, leaving both teams in contention for the title heading into the final round.
Richie Murphy's Irish side, who go into this match one point ahead of England, are in the strongest position to secure the Six Nations title as they face winless Scotland in their last outing.
England faces the more difficult task of traveling to France.
In an error-strewn first half, Jack Murphy, son of head coach Murphy, dominated the visitors with a precise cross kick to Finn Treacy, who finished sharply into the corner and canceled out Finn Carnduff's opener. Try.
Tracy then turned to full-back Ben O'Connor after a long pass from Murphy cut through the English defence.
The home side's tight defense was exploited again by Murphy to score Hugo McLaughlin in the corner.
Substitute Ollie Spencer finished off a cross to ensure England stayed in touch heading into a thrilling final stages.
With the scores tied after James's try, England turned down a penalty in search of the extra points try, which would have won the title, and sharp hands freed Waghorn to score the potential title-winning try.
However, Ireland remained calm after the restart and worked their way up the field for Murphy and Sean Naughton to score to add the simple conversion that preserved their title chances.
Formations
England: Redshow; Cousins, Waghorn, Kerr, Wales; Bellamy, McParland; Opoku Fordjour, Oliver, Sylla, Sodeki, Kpoko, Carnduff (captain), Pollock, Michelo.
Replacements: Isaacs, Kirk, Halliwell, Carr, James, Douglas, Makepeace-Cubitt, Spencer.
Ireland: O'Connor. Tracy, De Clercq, Gavin, McLaughlin; Murphy, Coffey; Osanov, Sheehan, Boyd, Spicer, O'Connell (captain), Hobbs, Ward, Murphy.
Replacements: Walker, Howard, Bell, Corrigan, Edogbo, Brophy, Naughton, Colbert.
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