Saracens wing Noah Cato impressed for England

England Saxons exacted revenge for last year's Churchill Cup drubbing at the hands of Ireland A with a hard-fought victory in Bath.

Tries from wing David Strettle and fly-half Shane Geraghty, both converted by the latter, gave the hosts a narrow advantage at the break.

Number eight Chris Henry added to Paddy Wallace's two penalties after the restart as the visitors rallied.

But Geraghty added a late penalty to secure the win for the Saxons.

Northampton fly-half Geraghty, dropped by manager Martin Johnson after starting England's autumn Tests against Australia and Argentina at inside centre, delivered an assured display at number 10.

Some of the Saxons' play lacked finesse, yet when Geraghty moved the ball wide there were impressive contributions from Wasps centre Dominic Waldouck and Saracens wing Noah Cato.

Ireland also had their moments - notably a slashing early break by Munster wing Ian Dowling - before Henry's score gave them hope in the closing minutes.

606: DEBATE Phil Dowson has got to get on the bench for England. He's tough, he's a leader, he has good ball skills and he covers the back row in its entirety Shoubhik

But Geraghty also showed his defensive prowess when the Saxons needed it, executing a crucial tackle on Ireland wing Fionn Carr when the visitors launched a late counter-attack.

"Shane's contribution was first class," said Saxons boss Stuart Lancaster, whose side play Italy A in Treviso next Sunday.

"He has grown up a lot, both as a player and as a person. He has got self-confidence, and I am really pleased for him.

"He is in a very competitive position at 10 - Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood are not poor players - and Shane needs to build his overall game.

"But he has got that innate ability to develop and finish things when gaps open up."

Geraghty admitted the 49-22 Churchill Cup drubbing last June had motivated the Saxons.

"We talked about unfinished business from last summer and we wanted to go after them in attack and defence. All week, we had that mindset," he said.

"Ireland are an experienced team, and it was very physical out there, but we backed ourselves in defence especially, which is what won us the game."

Ireland had made all the initial running, easing ahead through a second-minute Wallace penalty as England struggled to establish any fluency or pattern.

The experienced Irish pack, assisted by some clever box-kicking from scrum-half Peter Stringer, established a degree of territorial control before England struck from their first attack.

Stringer's opposite number Ben Youngs made a darting break inside Ireland's 22, and Strettle finished impressively after gathering the Leicester player's pass.

Geraghty slotted the conversion, but Wallace's second penalty brought Ireland to within a point after 22 minutes.

England though, had found some confidence with ball in hand and scored their second try 10 minutes before half-time.

Full-back Alex Goode made a break before freeing his Saracens colleague Cato, and after a third Saracens player - centre Brad Barritt - appeared on Cato's shoulder, Geraghty had the simple task of sprinting over unopposed.

Geraghty's second successful conversion took the Saxons into a healthy 14-6 lead, and with his destructive Saints colleague Phil Dowson causing Ireland all kinds of problems from number eight, the home side continued growing in confidence.

Wallace then missed a straightforward penalty chance on the stroke of half-time, but England were good value for their advantage.

Ireland coach Michael Bradley made two changes for the second period, replacing hooker Rory Best with John Fogarty and sending on lock Ryan Caldwell for Mick O'Driscoll.

And England also utilised their bench, with Gloucester back-row Luke Narraway, Leicester lock Geoff Parling and Wasps hooker Rob Webber all being given chances to impress.

England though, spent much of the second-half defending, and Henry crashed over just a minute after Saxons prop Paul Doran-Jones was yellow-carded for killing possession.

But the Saxons held out, and managed to engineer just enough territory for Geraghty to kick a penalty in the game's final act.

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