Ireland U-19 15 Australian Schools 0: JAMES McKINNEY inspired Allen Clarke's Ireland Under-19s to a memorable win over their Australian Schools' Under-19 counterparts at Cork IT last night.
The Queen’s University outhalf kicked a perfect four from four as Ireland outclassed their Southern Hemisphere opponents on a cold Cork evening.
Australia came into the game on the back of 26 wins from 30 internationals in Britain and Ireland but soon found themselves behind courtesy of a penalty from McKinney.
Kyle Godwin missed an easy penalty for the visitors and Tiernan O’Halloran doubled Ireland’s advantage with a well-struck drop goal.
Ireland were good value for their early lead having played most of the rugby in the opposition half. Captain Jordi Murphy got through a power of work at blindside flank and winger Corey Hircock was a constant threat from broken play.
The set-piece also worked well and the backs showed plenty of imagination behind the scrum, even if their support play was at times a fraction slow.
The Wallabies struggled for want of a decent platform up front and looked most threatening on the counter attack. Centre Tyson Frizell twice stretched the home defence with searing breaks and Jacob Woodhouse also threatened from fullback.
They struggled to turn pressure into points however – Godwin missed another easy opportunity with the boot and they went into the break with a six-point deficit.
Ireland started the second half brightly with the outstanding Simon Hanbidge and David O’Mahony terrorising the Australian lineout, and James Tracy getting the nudge on in the scrum.
Kimami Sitauti then threatened to cut the home side open with a break from deep, but substitute Alex Kelly made a fine tackle with his first involvement in the game.
McKinney turned down a kickable penalty attempt on 45 minutes, then knocked over two in a row to put Ireland in a commanding lead.
All the while, Australia struggled to get out of their own half and Clarke’s men continued to force the game, both in attack and defence where their line speed was particularly impressive.
The frustrated visitors gave away penalty after penalty and McKinney rounded off the win with another clean strike late on.
IRELAND UNDER-19: A Conway; T O’Halloran, B Macken, L Marshal (A Kelly 39), C Hircock; J McKinney (G Quinn McDonagh 66), P Du Toit (M Dolan 50); J Tracy (L Padian 70), D Doyle (K O’Byrne 70, M Moore (P Mullen 70); S Hanbidge (S Leckey 70), D O’Mahony; J Murphy (capt.), A Conneely (D Gallagher 59), E McKeon.
AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS UNDER-19: J Woodhouse; C Feauai, T Kingston, T Frizell, K Sitauti; K Godwin (R Esekia 62), M Lucas; J Kimmince, H Roach, P Alo-Emile; L Jones, G Peterson (J De Guingand 50); J Tuapou (capt), L Gill, N Paila (A Hamilton 38).
Referee: David Rose (RFU).
