Ireland 15 South Africa 57:Ireland suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of South Africa in their fifth place semi-final of the Junior World Championship in Padova, Italy.
As Ireland look to take on Wales in the 7th/8th play-off spot the Baby Boks will play Fiji in Treviso on Sunday.
The busy schedule looked to have taken its toll on Mike Ruddock’s side, who still gave their all at the Stadio de Plebiscito. That said the Springboks outscored their opponents by nine tries to two.
Cornell du Preez, Arno Botha and winger Wandile Mjekevu all crossed the whitewash in the opening 15 minutes. Two more tries followed before the break through Tshotsho Mbovane and another from Mjekevu.
Ireland only just got on the scoresheet through the boot of James McKinney, who came on for Paddy Jackson as a blood sub.
Further tries came for South Africa in the second period as Jaco Taute scored the sixth. Mbovane then added another try.
Ireland’s first try came through Galwegians flanker Eoin McKeon but the game as a contest was long over.
The half century came up for South Africa as centre Francois Venter got in on the act.
Mbovane went on to get his hat-trick while Jackson pulled another score back for Ireland.
“The best team won by a country mile,” said Ruddock. “We fell off the tackles, we didn’t win the collisions, and we didn’t learn the lessons from the last game.”
Scorers for Ireland:Try: E McKeon, P Jackson Con: J McKinney 2 Pens: J McKinney
South Africa:Tries: C du Preez , W Mjekevu 2, A Botha, T Mbovane 3, J Taute, F Venter Cons: J Goosen 5, J Welthagen
Ireland:T O'Halloran; A Conway, B Macken (J McKinney 48), L Marshall (A Kelly 45), A Boyle; P Jackson (J McKinney 16), K Marmion; J Tracy (F Bealham 45), N Annett (capt), T Furlong (C Carey 45); M Kearney (D Qualter 45), I Henderson; E McKeon, D Doyle, J Murphy (S Buckley 50).
South Africa:U Beyers; T Mbovane, J Taute, F Venter (P Jordaan 45), W Mjekevu; J Goosen (J Welthagen 55), P Rademan (L Jacobs 63); S Kotze, M Van Vuuren (M Mbonambi 40), N Schonert (JR Jenkinson 40); J Cook, E Etzebeth; F Kleinhans N Carr 70) , C Du Preez, A Botha (capt).
Referee: F Pastrana (Argentina)
