Under-20 World Rugby Championship: Ireland Under-20 30 Australia Under-20 10
It was a great victory, a hard-nosed, dogged, unrelenting homily to Ireland’s set piece dominance and the general work of their outstanding pack of forwards. Conditions were poor to start, a sodden surface, and then the rain arrived to make matters worse. Ireland were in their element in those elements.
There were performance imperfections but in the immediate aftermath no one will care one iota, those considerations superseded by a four-try bonus point victory that give Richie Murphy’s Grand Slam champions a great shot at making the Cup semi-finals when they face Fiji next Tuesday. Ireland’s scrum and lineout maul essentially won this match.
Ireland’s outstanding captain Gus McCarthy summed it up perfectly when he said: “We’re absolutely delighted. That last minute try and bonus point really shows the character in the squad.” Murphy’s side rode their good fortune at times, but it shouldn’t detract from a superb collective display.
Paddy McCarthy and Brian Gleeson were brilliant, Ronan Foxe enjoyed a great debut, Charlie Irvine and Conor O’Tighearnaigh provided ballast, energy and a huge work-rate, so too Ruadhán Quinn and James McNabney. A word too for the tireless excellence of scrumhalf Fintan Gunne and the centre partnership for John Devine and Hugh Gavin who gave Ireland great front-foot ball.
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Ireland demonstrated great resilience in the first half, albeit acknowledging that bouts of pressure were self-induced because of indiscipline and a questionable commitment to offloading out of the tackle when it wasn’t on. The latter frailty would have a tangible tariff of seven points and one or two hairy moments to try and redeem the initial folly.
Australia owned the ball for all bar 30-seconds of the first 10-minutes, turned down two easy penalties, as they looked for a more substantial reward. Ireland managed to rebuff their advances, or at least protect their own line initially; a try for Australian centre Henry O’Donnell that came later in the half, originated from a misplaced Irish pass in the Junior Wallabies’ 22.
Andrew Osborne saved his side on another occasion intercepting what would have been a try-scoring pass from Aussie outhalf Jack Bowen metres from his line and even though he didn’t have the pace to go 90-metres, it did lead to a penalty from Sam Prendergast to give Murphy’s side a 3-0 lead.
O’Donnell’s try came from an Irish error and David Vaihu’s brilliant footwork on counterattack. Bowen kicked a conversion and then a penalty to push the Junior Wallabies out to 10-3 but at this point Ireland had more of a foothold in possession and territory, Brian Gleeson and Paddy McCarthy outstanding in the van of their team’s best moments.
James McNabney was fortunate to escape what looked like a high tackle but Ireland were back in the game in earnest. Ireland’s try came from a surge by Ronan Foxe and then Paddy McCarthy barrelled his way a further 10 metres to the Aussie line, festooned with gold jerseys on his back.
Ireland used the short-side and James Nicholson – he had some fine interventions – dived over in the corner from Prendergast’s floated pass. The outhalf missed the conversion but kicked a penalty in injury time to give his side an 11-10 lead at the interval.
Conditions deteriorated further after the interval, the rain coming down in earnest, and an already sodden surface with casual water in places making underfoot conditions so difficult. Australia produced a gorgeous backline move to create a run-in for Tim Ryan but the wing watched the pass spill from his grasp; it was a massive let-off.
Australia had lost tight head prop Massimo de Lutiis in the first half and from that moment, Ireland dominated the scrum. They won two penalties in succession from this set piece and from the second, they kicked to the corner.
The Aussies stymied the initial surge, but Foxe changed the orientation and then Gleeson, with help from his tight head, powered over from close range. Prendergast kicked the conversion to nudge Ireland into a 18-10 lead but the same issues in game management continued to resurface, basic mistakes on foot of questionable decision-making.
Another huge scrum this time with Fiachna Barrett at tight head provided Ireland with a penalty and from the five-metre lineout, inspirational captain Gus McCarthy powered through the tackle of his Aussie counterpart, scrumhalf, Wilson and dotted down to the satisfaction of the referee, Angus Mabey.
Ireland might have been left to rue several opportunities to score the bonus point try, losing control at a couple of close in lineouts and then when Paddy McCarthy was held up over the line, while Danny Sheehan overran Jack Oliver’s pass within sight of the Aussie line. Ireland lost Rory Telfer to a yellow card for a high tackle (later upgraded to red as part of the TMO bunker review protocol) and Ruadhán Quinn to an accidental clash of heads.
However, with the last play of the game, Barrett tapped a penalty and eventually after several sallies were repelled Diarmuid Mangan managed to touch down. Harry West’s conversion the final act in a brilliant second half, which Ireland won 19-0.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 6 mins: Prendergast pen, 3-0; 23: O’Donnell try, Bowen con, 3-7; 27: Bowen pen, 3-10; 30: Nicholson try, 8-10; 40: Prendergast pen 11-10. Half-time: 11-10. 52: Gleeson try, Prendergast con, 18-10; 62: G McCarthy try, 23-10; 80 (+1): Mangan try, West conversion 30-10.
IRELAND: H McErlean (Terenure); A Osborne (Naas), H Gavin (Galwegians), J Devine (Corinthians), J Nicholson (UCD); S Prendergast (Lansdowne), F Gunne (Terenure); P McCarthy (Dublin University), G McCarthy (UCD, capt), R Foxe (Old Belvedere); C Irvine (QUB), C O’Tighearnaigh (UCD); J McNabney (Ballymena), R Quinn (Old Crescent), B Gleeson (Garryowen).
Yellow card: R Telfer (77 mins).
Replacements: D Mangan (UCD) for McNabney, F Barrett (Corinthians) for Foxe (both 56 mins); R Telfer (QUB) for Osborne (60); E O’Connell (UL Bohemian) for Irvine (62); D Sheehan (UCC) for G McCarthy, J Oliver (Garryowen) for Gunne (both 71); H West (Buccaneers) for Prendergast (73); George Morris (Lansdowne) for P McCarthy (77).
AUSTRALIA: M Gordon; T Ryan, H O’Donnell, D Vaihu, D Lancaster; J Bowen, T Wilson (capt); J Barrett, M Craig, M de Lutiis; J Legg, D Maiava; L Hooper, N Slack-Smith, J Bryant.
Replacements: N Bloomfield for de Lutiis (36 mins); T Annan for O’Donnell (58); L Bowron for Craig, H Usher for Barrett (64); L Taiataina for Bryant (66); T Macpherson for Legg (71 mins).
Referee: A Mabey (New Zealand).
