Ireland U20 0 Wales U20 16

Ireland’s hopes of a Six Nations title suffered a massive blow when they were turned over by an impressive Welsh side.

Ireland trailed 3-0 at the break but Wales dictated the game after the restart with their superb scrum leading the way in testing conditions.

Indeed, Ireland might well have edged it but Ross Byrne saw two good penalty attempts from opposite sides on the 22 narrowly shave the wrong side of the near posts.

But his misfortune with the boot was nothing compared to the woes of his opposite number Ethan Davies who managed just one of six kicks in the opening half.

The Cardiff Blues man persisted despite the swirling wind which made every kick a lottery.

Davies managed to find the range after 25 minutes with an extraordinary kick from 22m on the left. It seemed that he had mishit it, but the wind swept it over.

Three further efforts failed as Ireland defended waves of attacks. The home side’s hopes suffered a blow when they lost impressive lock Seán O’Brien to a shoulder injury after 25 minutes.

The Welsh pack were dominant throughout and they forced a series of penalties after the restart.

Wales piled on the pressure and eventually Ireland conceded a penalty in front of the posts when lock Ross Molony was penalised and Davies made no mistake to make it 6-0.

He extended the lead to 9-0 after 54 minutes with a good penalty from 22m on the left and while Ireland countered well, with loosehead prop Peter Dooley leading the charge, their handling let them down at crucial stages.

Wales continued to dominate up front with James Benjamin to the forefront and they wrapped up the issue after 61 minutes. The score came when number eight Ben Roach broke from a scrum inside the 22 and Garyn Smith put his captain Steffan Hughes in for the try.

Davies added the easy conversion to make it 16-0.