Richie Murphy's Ireland got their U20 World Championship campaign off to a high-scoring, tank-emptying draw against England in Paarl, South Africa.
Ireland led 15-10 at half-time, thanks to tries from Sam Prendergast, George Hadden and James McNabney, but Prendergast missed with all three conversion attempts.
England responded with two tries, early in the second half, to lead 24-15 before a lovely Fintan Gunne kick teed up Ruadhan Quinn to get Ireland back in the match. Henry McErlean's try put Ireland back ahead and Hugh Cooney then dotted down after some slick Irish passing, and offloads.
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Hugh Cooney sent off
Those two tries were converted by Prendergast, who finally found his kicking range, and Ireland led 34-24 with 15 minutes to go.
The English pack had been throwing their weight around for much of the day, though, and when a penalty put them just a converted try behind, they would have still fancied getting something from the game. An overthrown Irish lineout put them in a heap of trouble and Jacob Cusick made them pay, in the left-hand corner. That try was converted, from the touchline, and it was 34-34 with 10 minutes to play.
Ireland pressed for the winning score but they were forced to play the last five minutes with only 14 men after Hugh Cooney was red-carded. The centre went in far too high on his tackle attempt and was sent to the turf in a heap, but was deemed in the wrong and had to go.
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Ireland U20s hold on
That late red card sawEngland pressing for the comeback win but the Irish lads held firm and it was honours even at full-time.
"It's crazy stuff," former Ireland back-row Alan Quinlan told Virgin Media. "In the end, Ireland were left hanging on... it was frantic the whole way through."
"Madness, madness," reflected fellow pundit Fiona Hayes. "Quinny is right, lots of mistakes were made but lots of great tries were scored. It was magical to watch."
Richie Murphy's side are next up against Australia on Thursday morning [kick-off 9:30am, Irish time].
