Ireland Under-20 38 Wales Under-20 41
This young Ireland side don’t do mundane, that’s for sure. But coach Noel McNamara might settle for less of a roller-coaster ride as the home side ultimately came up a little short in a hugely entertaining encounter. There were plenty of flaws but as a spectacle it was enthralling.
There were 11 tries in total, Wales finishing 6-5 ahead in that respect and 5-2 in terms of match points. Ireland had some superb individual performances, Angus Curtis, Ronan Kelleher, Jack Dunne, Sean Masterson and Jack O’Sullivan in particular but will rue some lacklustre defending that ultimately proved insurmountable, despite the character they showed in their second half riposte.
There was a nervousness that permeated the Irish team in the opening exchanges, passes not going to hand, high balls spilled and some rash decisions in defence that saw them give up a couple of tries, the first one soft on foot of some brittle tackling and the second from a lineout maul and two-metre plunge.
When Wales scored a third try through James Botham, a grandson of former England cricketer, Ian, to go with those from Thomas Rogers and the outstanding Max Williams to move into a 19-3 lead inside the first 20-minutes – the origins of the third another Irish handling error – it looked like being a long night for the home side. There was the odd glimmer, usually involving centre Curtis, whose footwork and lines of running led to some excellent breaks.
It was apposite that he should score Ireland’s only try of the half, supporting a muscular linebreak by hooker Ronan Kelleher to step one defender and reach out and dot down in powering through the tackle of another Welsh player. Byrne kicked the conversion to add to an earlier penalty to leave the homes side trailing 19-10 at the interval.
There were five tries in the first 16 minutes of the second half a brace apiece for Welsh captain Tommy Reffell and Ireland number eight, the outstanding Jack O’Sullivan; Welsh centre Callum Carson, the odd man out so speak. When the dust settled, the visitors led 38-24, only for Ireland to claim a fourth and a bonus point through Johnny Stewart. Byrne’s place-kicking was flawless.
Evans kicked a penalty but Ireland set up a grandstand finish with a try from O’Brien after brilliant work from replacement prop Tom O’Toole and fine link play by Ronan Foley that allowed the Irish captain to race in from 40-metres. Stewart popped over the conversion to leave Ireland trailing 41-38 in what can only be described as a pulsating half of rugby.
Scoring sequence – 2 mins: Rogers try, 0-5; 8: Williams try, Evans conversion, 0-12; 15: Byrne penalty, 3-12; 20: Botham try, Evans conversion, 3-19; 35: Curtis try, Byrne conversion, 10-19; 41: Reffell try, Evans conversion, 10-26; 46: J O'Sullivan, Byrne conversion, 17-26; 51: Reffell try, 17-31; 56: J O'Sullivan try, Byrne conversion, 24-31; 57: Carson try, Evans conversion, 24-38; 64: Stewart try, Byrne conversion, 31-38; 70: Evans penalty, 31-41; 75: O'Brien try, Stewart conversion, 38-41.
IRELAND UNDER-20s: M Silvester (Dublin University); T O'Brien (UCD, capt), J Hume (Banbridge), A Curtis (QUB), J McCarthy (UL Bohemian); H Byrne (UCD), J Stewart (QUB): J Duggan (Naas), R Kelleher (Lansdowne), J Aungier (St Mary's College); C Daly (Clontarf), J Dunne (Dublin University); S Masterson (Corinthians), M Agnew (Ballymena), J O'Sullivan (UCC).
Replacements: C Ryan (UCD) for Daly 29 mins; A Kernohan (Ballymena) for McCarthy 66 mins; J French (UCC) for Duggan 70 mins; T O’Toole (Banbridge) for Aungier 70 mins; R Foley (UCD) for Masterson 70 mins; C Dean (St Mary’s College) for Byrne 70 mins; ; H O’Sullivan (Clontarf) for Hume 72 mins; D Barron (Garryowen) for Kelleher 75 mins
WALES UNDER-20s: C Evans; J Goodchild, C Carson, M Llewellyn, T Rogers; B Jones, H Morgan; J Reynolds, I Harris, R Henry; O Lloyd, M Williams; T Reffell ( capt), J Botham, T Basham.
Replacements: R Carre for Reynolds 48 mins; K Mathias for Henry 48 mins; , D Lake for Harris 61 mins; M Morris for Botham 61 mins;, D Babos for Morgan 61 mins, D Smith for Goodchild 64 mins; B Thomas for Rogers 66 mins; J Pope for Lloyd 75 mins.
Referee: S Grove (Scotland).
