The Irish under-19s, who travel to Toulouse in April for the World Cup, fared as well as could be expected against a well organised and effective Irish Schools outfit at Suttonians' ground yesterday.

The Irish Schools side used this match as preparation for their forthcoming Triple Crown match against Scotland in the spring.

It was an exceptional performance all round but plaudits once more went to out-half Andrew Dunne of Belvedere College, who showed great poise under pressure despite being hampered by an ankle injury.

Dunne's contribution cannot be understated but he benefited greatly from his pack who rotated the ball to great effect on a dark wintry afternoon.

The game was barely 10 minutes old when the Irish Schools went over for their score, wing Neil Beggs using his pace to touch down in the left hand corner.

Clongowes' Gordon Darcy was somewhat unfortunate with the subsequent conversion with his kick bouncing off the woodwork but the full-back made his mark soon after when a well worked scrum in front of the posts saw the ball wheeled out to Darcy who timed his run perfectly to record his first try of the game.

That proved to be the last score of an intriguing first half and the interval seemed to help the under19s who kept their opponents on a short leash for much of the second period. But some poor handling proved to be their undoing and having weathered the storm, Irish Schools finished the stronger with two more tries coming from Darcy, which he converted himself, and James Norton in the closing stages.