Slow Start Costs Ireland U20s

The Ireland U20s were made to pay for a sloppy start as they lost 22-12 to Wales in tonight’s 5th-8th place play-off at the World Rugby U20 Championship.

Tries from Dafydd Howells, Seb Davies and Joshua Adams had the Welsh 19-0 up in as many minutes in Viadana, with a Jarrod Evans penalty extending their lead before the break.

Ireland closed the gap with an early second half try from full-back Ciaran Gaffney, converted by Joey Carbery, and scrum half Charlie Rock sniped over with eight minutes remaining.

However, it was a case of too little, too late for Nigel Carolan's charges who will close out the tournament by playing Scotland in Saturday's 7th-8th place play-off at the same venue – Stadio Luigi Zaffanella (kick-off 1pm local time/12pm Irish time).

The omens were not good for Ireland when the Welsh scored from their very first attack, the white-shirted defence allowing advancing full-back Howells enough room to go over in the corner after three minutes.

Out-half Evans missed the conversion but he added the extras to a well-taken ninth-minute score from Davies, who was put through by some neat build-up play from forward colleague Harrison Keddie.

Ireland did have some scoring opportunities in the early stages, however Connacht prospect Gaffney was held up just short of the try-line and out-half Carbery was off target with a 14th minute penalty attempt.
Wales, though, seemed in red hot form as winger Adams crossed for try number three towards the end of the first quarter, with Evans again converting.

Frustratingly, Ireland failed to score while Welsh flanker Tom Phillips was in the sin-bin and after he returned, a penalty from Evans kept the scoreboard ticking over for the young Dragons at 22-0.

The Irish coaches' half-time words had the desired effect as the second half was only three minutes' old when Gaffney touched down. Centre Sam Arnold created the opening with a fine break, allowing the Galwegians clubman to finish off in the right corner. In addition, Carbery fired over a well-struck conversion.
Ireland did show their battling qualities by making it a much more even contest over the closing 40 minutes, with Andrew Porter, David O'Connor and captain Josh Murphy standing out in terms of work-rate up front.

The Irish bench also had an impact and further Welsh indiscipline saw their skipper Ollie Griffiths yellow carded on the hour mark. Crucially, Ireland were held scoreless while he was off and it took a close range try from the energetic Rock, who was making his first U20 start, to reduce the arrears.

Carbery was unable to convert this time, leaving 10 points between the sides, and time ran out on Ireland as Wales did the double on them, adding to their 19-12 win from this year's U-20 Six Nations.

Ireland U20: Ciaran Gaffney; Stephen Fitzgerald, Garry Ringrose, Sam Arnold, Jacob Stockdale; Joey Carbery, Charlie Rock; Andrew Porter, Sean McNulty, Oisin Heffernan; David O'Connor, Alex Thompson; Josh Murphy – capt., Conor Oliver, Nick Timoney

Replacements: Adam McBurney, Liam O'Connor, Conan O'Donnell, Lorcan Dow, Rory Moloney, Tomás Quinlan, Fergal Cleary, Jack Owens