Young England impress as win over Ireland takes them through to final
SUNDAY WRAP
LAST Sunday in the U20's World Championship in Cape Town, England secured a long-awaited victory over Ireland to reach the final where they were joined on Friday by France.
The French avenged their previous loss to New Zealand, while it was another unfortunate loss for the hosts South Africa and a return to winning ways for the young Wallabies.
England managed to gain a spot in the final for the first time since 2018, as they continued their winning run this summer, beating Ireland 31-20. With tries from Ollie Allan, Craig Wright and Sean Kerr, who also converted two of the scores and kicked his side to victories with four penalties, bringing his own points total to 21 points.
Ireland's 20 points with tries from Oliver Coffey and Bryn Ward just weren't enough for the men in green, as as Mark
Mapletopft's young side proved too much by breaking a streak of high scoring draws between the two sides.
England came into Friday's final unbeaten with victories over Fiji, Argentina, and South Africa.
France, who were looking to win four U20 titles in a row, beat New Zealand 55-31 after having previously been beaten in the pool stages due to a last minute penalty.
It was through tries from Mathis Ferte, Charly Gambini, Xan Mousques, Joe Querre-Karaba and then a hat-trick from Mathis Catro Ferreira that France secured their place in the showpiece final. All tries were converted perfectly by their captain Hugo Reus, who has been one of the stars of the tournament.
Other action from the Championship on Sunday saw a repeat result for Argentina as they once again defeated the Baby Boks on their home soil, this time 34-24, with tries from Timoteo Silva, Greogorio Perez Pardo, Efrain Elias and Juan Greising Revol.
For South Africa, Jurenzo Julius once again impressed scoring two tries in defeat.
Australia made it through to face Argentina after beating Wales 36-29, with scores from Harvey Cordukes, Toby Macpherson, Kadin Pritchard, Archer Saunders and Dan Nelson, showing that unlike the Irish missing matchday three didn't seem to be an issue.
Italy defeated Spain 2815, with Giacomo Milano and Marco Scalabrin scoring for the young Azzuri, and Georgia saw off Fiji 40-36 with Nika Lomidze, Luka Keshelava, Giorgi Georgedava, Mikheil Khakhubia and Tarieli Burtikashvili all touching down for tries.
