Ireland Under-18s 12, England Under-18s 29

Otley second row Dominic Barrow captained England to an impressive 29-12 victory over Ireland in an under-18 European qualifier at Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin.

England were trailing 12-10 with 15 minutes remaining.

Barrow, who is on loan from Leeds Carnegie, said: “It was a really physical game – loads of graft from both sets of forwards. They were disruptive and in our faces, but that’s what it’s all about.

"All credit to our boys, we really dug in deep and pushed on in the final ten minutes or so.”

Barrow added: “There’s a great strength in depth with this squad. Looking at our bench, any one of those lads could have started, no problem, and that’s exactly what you need at this level.

“We’ll have a lot more time together ahead of the Six Nations, which will be good because we are by no means a finished article.

“From a personal point of view, I’m quite happy with my game. The set-pieces went pretty well.

“I thought we dominated the scrums but there’s still work to be done on our line-outs, which is something we’ll improve on, but Ireland gave us a good game.”

England under-18s head coach John Fletcher said: “First and foremost, it was a really good Test match between two decent sides.

“When a game is finely poised with ten minutes to go, you know it’s a good one. I was pleased with the way we raised our game in those last ten or 15 minutes – 12-10 down in Ireland with a pretty good crowd behind them, we showed a lot of character to come back.

“Although the 29-12 scoreline may flatter us a little, I did think that we were the better side.

"A win like that can provide a catalyst for our whole season, and hopefully it has set the tone for what we expect.”