CHURCHILL CUP

News | Fixtures and Results

Irish fall to England Saxons

Saturday 14th June 2008

Brace position: Matt Banahan added another two tries to his Churchill Cup tally

England Saxons booked a place in the final of the Churchill Cup after recording an emphatic 34-12 win over their Irish counterparts at Fletcher's Field in Toronto on Saturday.

A much-changed Saxons side, led by hooker George Chuter, ran in six tries with Ireland's Keith Earls running in a brace as consolation.

The result mean Steve Bates's side top Group B and will meet Group A winners Scotland in the showpiece at in Chicago's Toyota Park next Saturday.

Earls gave Ireland the lead when he touched down after 10 minutes, but after the conversion was missed Matt Banahan scored a try of his own to make it 5-5.

Ryan Lamb succeeded where Jonathan Sexton failed with the extras to make it 7-5.

Steffon Armitage made it 12-5 with a try after 32 minutes, but Earls's second score before half-time kept the Irish in contention.

Sexton's conversion made it 12-12 but Ugo Monye struck on the cusp of half-time to give Saxons the lead going into the break.

Banahan completed his brace five minutes after the restart and Alex Clarke added five more points when he crossed the whitewash with 19 minutes remaining.

Nick Abendanon scored England's sixth before Ryan Lamb grabbed a second conversion as the teams closed out the game.

The scorers:

For England Saxons:
Tries: Armitage, Banahan 2, Clarke, Abendanon, Monye
Cons: Lamb 2

For Ireland A:
Tries: Earls 2
Con: Sexton

The teams:

England Saxons: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Ugo Monye, 13 Ollie Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jordan Crane, 5 Chris Jones, 4 George Skivington, 3 Dave Wilson, 2 George Chuter, 1 Alex Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Jack Forster, 18 Richard Blaze, 19 Chris Robshaw, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Adrian Jarvis, 22 Ben Foden.

Ireland A: 15 Denis Hurley, 14 Gary Brown, 13 Kieran Lewis, 12 Keith Earls, 11 Brian Tuohy, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 David Pollock, 6 Neil Best, 5 Bob Casey (c) 4 Donnacha Ryan 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Johnny O'Connor, 20 Frank Murphy, 21 Ian Keatley, 22 Darren Cave.

Referee: Federico Cuesta (Argentina)
Touch judges: Andrew McPherson (Scotland), Mark Newton (Canada)