Under-19 World Championship/ Ireland Under-19 15 Scotland Under-19 8: Ireland finished their IRB Under-19 World Championship with victory over Scotland at Kings Park here to make it three in a row for the Irish and an overall finishing place of ninth.

The Scots, who had had the greater share of possession in the match, fell foul of a fussy referee at the contact points with an alarming regularity and paid dearly against an Ireland side equipped with both left- and right-foot kickers in full back Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden.

Ireland also kicked well from hand, with Kearney and outhalf Killiand Lett putting the Scots under pressure.

"This was a good finish to our tournament. The game could have gone any way," said Ireland coach Pat Murray. "I thought that Scotland played some excellent rugby but on the day we got our kicking game right."

Ireland also showed up well in defence, the best coming from openside Barry O'Mahoney who tracked down Scotland's Cammy Johnston after the pacy winger had been put in the clear.

A penalty by McFadden and two by Kearney gave Ireland a 9-0 half-time lead, but five minutes into the second half Scotland struck, running the ball from a penalty before an astute grubber kick by Jon Alston allowed hooker Sean Crombie to touch down for an unconverted try.

Scotland tried desperately to close the gap, but Kearney added two more penalty goals.

IRELAND UNDER-19: R Kearney; E Moloney, F McFadden, D Cave, D Black; K Lett, M D'Arcy; C Black, G O'Meara, K Griffin, D McGowan, D Toner, A Saunderson, B O'Mahoney, D Laffer (capt). Replacements (used): R Boles, K Moloney, D O'Reilly, D Dawson.

SCOTLAND UNDER-19: T Jericevich; J Alston, D McCall, C Dunlop, C Johnston; J King, A Miller; K Traynor (capt), S Crombie, A Dymock, A Kelly, G Scott, C Forrester, R Rennie, J Barclay. Replacements (used): D Malcolm, A Dymock, O Tatham, G Cottrell.

Referee: D Jabase