Ireland U20s Suffer Opening Round Defeat

The Wales Under-20s greater experience and cohesion helped them carve out a 35-24 win over Ireland in Friday’s U-20 6 Nations opener played at Donnybrook.

The Munster representation included the Cork Con duo of Shane Daly and John Poland in the starting line-up with Young Munster's Shane Fenton, Cashel's Sean O'Connor and Shannon's Kelvin Brown in the replacements.

Daly and Brown both contributed to the scoreline with second half tries while the sprightly sub-academy scrumhalf Poland was awarded the man of the match.

The visitors forced their way into a 20-14 half-time lead, forwards Dafydd Hughes and Adam Beard touching down in response to Cillian Gallagher's very well-taken fourth-minute try.

An intercept try from Dan Jones, who also kicked 15 points, and a fourth of the night from Harri Millard wrapped up the result, with Ireland's closing tries scored by Kelvin Brown and Shane Daly.

Wales had eight returning players from last year in their team compared to three Irish – front rowers Andrew Porter, Adam McBurney and Conan O'Donnell – and that extra bit of nous proved crucial in a very entertaining and fast-paced tussle.

Despite the opening round defeat, Nigel Carolan's youngsters can take a good deal of positives from the game with man-of-the-match John Poland, captain James Ryan and lively replacement Brown among their top performers.

Carolan's side face a tough second round trip to Narbonne next Friday, taking on a France team that cruised to a six-try 40-3 victory over Italy.

Ireland U20s Scorers: Tries – Cillian Gallagher, Kelvin Brown, Shane Daly; Pens – Johnny McPhillips 3.

Ireland U20s: Jack Power (UCD/Leinster); Matthew Byrne (Terenure College/Leinster), Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster), Jimmy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster), Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster); Johnny McPhillips (Queen's University/Ulster), John Poland (Cork Constitution/Munster); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Adam McBurney (Ballymena/Ulster), Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/Connacht), Peter Claffey (Galwegians/Connacht), James Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt), Cillian Gallagher (Sligo/Connacht), Will Connors (UCD/Leinster), Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster).

Replacements used: Kelvin Brown (Shannon/Munster) for Deegan (25-29 mins, temp sub), Brown for Connors (half-time), Conor Kenny (Buccaneers/Connacht) for O'Donnell (62), Sean O'Connor (Cashel/Munster) for Claffey, Conor O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster) for McPhillips (both 66), Shane Fenton (Young Munster/Munster) for McBurney, Stephen Kerins (Sligo/Connacht) for Poland (both 74), James Bollard (Dublin University/Leinster) for Porter, Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons/Exile) for Power (both 77).