Substitute Aitzol King scored twice as Ireland beat England 42-27 at StoneX Stadium to move into first in the 2022 Six Nations Under 20s table.
George Hendy and Emeka Ilione scored for England either side of tries from Matthew Devine and Lorcan McLoughlin for Ireland.
King scored twice, and Rory McGuire extended Ireland’s lead after half-time while Cassius Cleaves added another try for England.
Deago Bailey added a late consolation, but it couldn’t stop Ireland from ending England’s Under-20s Six Nations title hopes while the visitors leapfrog France to move into first place.
Following a tight opening five minutes, Hendy opened the scoring for England, hitting a superb line that allowed him to burst through the centre of the Ireland defence.
The full-back thought he had scored a second five minutes later, but a TMO review showed that he did not ground the ball properly after expertly chasing down Jacob Cusick’s kick.
The Leicester Tigers centre kicked while England had a penalty advantage, and so when play was pulled back, England fly-half Jamie Benson added three points from in front of the posts.
Charlie Tector kicked a penalty of his own to reduce the deficit to seven points as Ireland began to build some momentum.
Their superb defence then won the ball back inside England’s 22, which in turn allowed scrum-half Devine to score a sniping try from the edge of the ruck.
And Ireland took the lead for the first time in the game through McLoughlin, who powered over from short range following a series of pick and goes.
England captain Ilione touched down after the ball was served up on a plate for him by hooker John Stewart to level the scores just before half-time.
Ireland came out of the break looking the better of the two sides, and they were rewarded when McGuire touched down under the posts from a close-range pick and go.
Alan Dickens’ side were on the back foot and could have conceded again when McLoughlin showed his strength to cross the whitewash once again, but this time his finish was adjudged to have been held up.
Tector added another penalty to extend his side’s lead to ten points with just over 25 minutes remaining.
But England struck back immediately when Cleaves showed great pace to beat two defenders in a tight space and put his side back within one score of their opponents.
It looked as if the contest could go either way, but on the 60th-minute substitute, King added the bonus-point try.
He finished superbly just minutes late to further extend his side’s lead, touching down with both feet in the air while onrushing defenders pushed his torso into touch.
As the game entered its final ten minutes, Tector kicked another penalty to put England 20 points behind and all but kill the game, but Bailey showed his finishing skills to chase down a clearing kick and score an excellent consolation try.
Charlie Tector kicked a penalty of his own to reduce the deficit to seven points as Ireland began to build some momentum.
Their superb defence then won the ball back inside England’s 22, which in turn allowed scrum-half Devine to score a sniping try from the edge of the ruck.
And Ireland took the lead for the first time in the game through McLoughlin, who powered over from close range following a series of pick and goes.
England captain Ilione touched down after the ball was served up on a plate for him by hooker John Stewart to level the scores just before half-time.
Ireland came out of the break looking the better of the two sides, and they were rewarded when McGuire touched down under the posts from a close-range pick and go.
Alan Dickens’ side were on the back foot and could have conceded again when McLoughlin showed his strength to cross the whitewash once again, but this time his finish was adjudged to have been held up.
Tector added another penalty to extend his side’s lead to ten points with just over 25 minutes remaining.
But England struck back immediately when Cleaves showed great pace to beat two defenders in a tight space and put his side back within one score of their opponents at 27-22.
It looked as if the contest could go either way, but on the hour King added the bonus-point try from a clever lineout move.
As the game entered its final ten minutes, Tector kicked another penalty to put England 20 points behind and all but kill the game, but Bailey showed his finishing skills to chase down a kick over the top from Will Joseph and score an excellent consolation try.
