England 45 – Ireland 21
England and Ireland faced off in only the second all-North Hemisphere final in the history of the World Rugby U20 Championship. This was England’s fourth final appearance on the trot.
England came into the final as favourites having seen off South Africa in their semi-final. However a 26-20 win in the Six Nations gave the Irish hope of repeating the feat.
First half
England dominated the game from the start pinning the Irish in their own half. 13 Marchant’s dancing feet unpicked the Irish defence to make it 7-0 after 14 minutes.
At the close of the first quarter England doubled their advantage as No. 8 Chick went over off the back of a dominant scrum.
England put on massive pressure at the breakdown forcing mistakes and turning over ball. They also dominated in the scrum and Ireland found it very hard to get anything going.
With ten minutes to oranges Ireland’s McPhillips tried the tactic of a desperate flyhalf, the dreaded chip from your own 22. Player of the tournament nominee Mallinder collected the ball and second row Taylor went over for their third try of the afternoon. 21-0 at half time.
Harry Mallinder, England captain in action
Second half
Within two minutes of the restart turnover ball saw Mallinder start a move from his own half. The flyhalf was there to get a second touch to go in under the posts, 28-0 and the engraver was getting his tools out.
Ireland finally produced something as they rumbled over in the corner a couple of minutes later. 28-7
Mallinder went in for his second try of the game with another second touch as England turned the screw. A gliding run by fullback Stockdale then put 13 Daly away on the Irish right to make the score 35-14 with just ten minutes of the restart. England scored again through Marchant with ten minutes to go.
Ireland gave a better account of themselves in the second half finishing the scoring as Deegan went over.
Final score: England 45 – Ireland 21.
Versatile England centre Joe Marchant was stopped this time
Game changer
England’s first 20 minutes left the result beyond doubt. Despite their admirable play to become finalists perhaps Ireland were a little overawed by the occasion.
Man of the match
England captain Mallinder snagged himself two tries, landed his kicks and had a hand is most of his teams tries. The last time they won this tournament the captain was a young man by the name of Maro Itoje. It may not be too long before Mallinder treads the same path.
Max Deegan (Ireland) – player of the tournament
Tournament wrap-up
England got off to a great start to the final and never looked back. The same can be said about tournament. This is a talented crop of players and they’re deserved world champions. This is their third time to win the tournament.
Ireland – With his side losing 17-0 to Wales just 20 minutes into their campaign Ireland coach Nigel Carolan probably wasn’t dreaming of a first World Rugby U20s Championship final appearance. The final aside Ireland had a fantastic tournament and the likes of Stockdale, Deegan and Ryan and ones to watch for the future.
Congratulations to Max Deegan, Ireland no. 8 and skipper, for being chosen by World Rugby as 2016 Player of the Tournament.
Argentina finished as the best of the Rugby Championship nations clinching third place following a repeat of their pool victory over South Africa. This time the margin was rather healthier as they ran out 49-19 winners.
South Africa were unimpressive in the pool games, losing to Argentina but scraping through to the finals through an extra bonus point. They were beaten by England in the semi-final and lost again to Argentina, in a thrashing for third-place ranking.
New Zealand – The defending champions missed the semi-finals for the first time in the tournament’s history following a shock pool defeat to Ireland. They eventually finished fifth after an imposing last quarter against Australia.
Wales had a tournament to forget finishing in seventh place. It certainly wasn’t their pre-tournament target having swept all before them on their way to a Six Nations Grand Slam.
Places 9-12 were filled by France, Georgia, Italy – and Japan, who have been relegated to the 2017 World Rugby U20 Trophy.
Mack Mason – Australia’s best in Manchester
Australia
The young Aussies finished their World Under 20s campaign in sixth place place losing out to defending champions New Zealand. That’s one place lower than 2015 and another year where they missed out on the semi-finals.
They ran the Junior All Blacks close in the first half going in tied at 21-apiece but the game became a blow-out as New Zealand stretched to a 55-24 win scoring eight tries to three in the process.
As none of the Pacific Island nations qualified it means that Australia finished not only as the lowest ranked Rugby Championship nation, but also were bottom of the Southern Hemisphere pile.
They ran England close in the pool stages but having already lost to Scotland it was do or die for them. Unfortunately they didn’t “do”.
The fifth/sixth place play off is becoming a bit of an old family friend for the Aussies as they’ve now contested it in the last three World Rugby U20 Championships. On the evidence of this year’s showing there’s plenty of work to be done for 2017 if they are to reach a first semi-final since 2011.
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