February 5, 2004
England Under 21s 27 Ireland Under 21s 19
England Under 21s made it three wins out of three in the Six Nations championship after a hard-earned, but well deserved nail-biting victory over Ireland at Gloucester’s Kingsholm ground.
A record-breaking under 21s’ crowd of 7357 flocked in to see the England juniors, who had already beaten Scotland and Italy, play at Kingsholm for the first time ever and they were treated to an enthralling game that was not over until the dying moments of the game.
Ireland drew first blood with an early penalty from the boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson, but the home side replied with their first try just seven minutes into the game.
NEC Harlequins centre Andy Reay put the points on the scoreboard, but he had to thank skipper Clive Stuart-Smith of Leeds Tykes and his club teammate Adrian Jarvis who fed him the ball for the well-worked try. Jarvis missed with the conversion.
England stretched their lead to 10-3 15 minutes later with another impressive try. A grubber from Jarvis was too long for England A and Gloucester winger Marcel Garvey to get on the end of and touchdown, but Saracens’ Ben Russell finished off the job when England continued to barrage Ireland’s defence. Finally a Jarvis pass across the midfield to Garvey set Russell up to score on the right-wing. Jarvis was again unlucky with the conversion with his kick hitting the posts.
But Irish spirits were not down and Ireland clawed their way back into the game on the half-hour. A lovely run through the England defence after an attacking line-up saw centre John Hearty muscle his way over the line. With Steenson converting, England and Ireland were level at the break.
Steenson then edged Ireland ahead after the restart with an early penalty, though England immediately replied with a try from another Harlequins player Chris Bell. This time, England secured possession on the 22 metres line-out and spread the ball across the midfield with Garvey setting up Jarvis. Jarvis made no mistake with a clever grubber which was accurate enough for Bell to pounce on. The fly-half converted and then added a penalty to put the home side 20-13 up.
But Ireland continued to threaten England’s lead and Steenson, enjoying a steady evening with the boot, slotted over two penalties with ease to separate the two sides by just one point with 20 minutes to go.
With the clock ticking away, Ireland were firing on all cylinders and after failing to break down England’s defence Steenson attempted a drop goal. His efforts were unsuccessful, and so was a 78th minute victory that could have stolen the victory.
Instead, England suddenly turned the tables and broke away to score the try that sealed the match. After an initial attack the ball was recycled and Smith put the ball out wide to Andy Reay who set-up Bell. Replacement Brad Davies converted to secure a 27-19 victory.
Ends…
