Molony grabs hat-trick as Ireland under-20s grab first win of Six Nations
Charlie Molony grabbed an opening half hat-trick of tries at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday night as Ireland defeated Scotland to earn their first win of this year’s U20 Men’s Six Nations Championship.
Along with Gene O’Leary Kareem and Billy Bohan, Daniel Green was added to the starting line-up for this game as Ireland aimed to bounce back from an opening-round defeat to defending champions England.
The selection of Green at full-back saw Molony switching to the right-wing and the latter was released through a gap by the former for a try underneath the posts with a little over 90 seconds gone on the clock.
Molony was a key figure on the Blackrock College side that claimed their 71st Leinster Schools Senior Cup title with a final victory over St Michael’s College last March and he bagged his second try of the evening after claiming an elaborate crossfield kick from fly-half Sam Wisniewski.
Lock Billy Corrigan was subsequently on hand to dot down in the 17th minute, before a rampant Ireland impressively sealed a bonus point just past the first-quarter mark.
Following excellent approach work from Wisniewski and Connor Fahy, Molony completed his hat-trick by side-stepping his way over the line on 22 minutes. Scotland were left deflated as a result of this scoring blitz from their opponents, but the hosts finally got up and running four minutes later when Fergus Watson got on the end of a fast-paced move for an unconverted try.
Yet even though hooker Henry Walker had a five-pointer ruled out towards the end of the opening period, that earlier surge ensured Ireland brought a 26-5 cushion into the interval.
However, the Scottish coaching team introduced a plethora of replacements on the resumption and following a move from the front-row to the back-row, starting hooker Joe Roberts applied the finishing touches to an elongated attack for a 44th minute try.
Scotland looked to be creating serious momentum when Hector Patterson dotted down moments later and the Irish players breathed a sigh of relief after it was eventually chalked off by the match officials in Edinburgh.
Ireland head coach Neil Doak was also beginning to dip into his reserve options and two of his fresh faces combined to good effect for the visitors’ fifth try of the game on 59 minutes.
Seconds after being thrust into the action, Oisin Minogue (nephew of the late Anthony Foley and son of former Ireland women’s international Rosie Foley) was picked out by replacement hooker Connor Magee from a short line-out and dived over the line in clinical style.
Although this helped Ireland to settle back into the game, a spirited Scotland fired back inside the final-quarter with an excellent solo score from Patterson – the Edinburgh club man kicking forward along the turf before grounding over the whitewash.
Scotland’s failure to slot any of their three conversion attempts between the posts meant Ireland remained in a comfortable position, however, and they will now embark on a third round visit to Wales in Newport on February 21 with renewed vigour.
Tries: F Watson, J Roberts, H Patterson
Tries: C Molony 3, B Corrigan, O Minogue Cons: D Green 4
J Brown; N Moncrieff (C Waugh 74), J Ventisei, K Yule, F Watson; M Urwin (R Wolfenden 71), N Cowan (H Patterson h-t); O McKenna (J Shearer h-t), J Roberts, O Blyth-Lafferty (J Stewart 66); C Moss (B Godsell h-t), D Halkon; C Lindsay (O Duncan 59), B Allen (S Stephen h-t), R Logan.
D Green; C Molony, G O’Leary Kareem (E Smyth 66), C Fahy, C Mangan; S Wisniewski (D Hicks 64), C Logan (W Wootton 61); B Bohan (P Moore 68), H Walker (C Magee 53), A Mullan (T McAllister h-t); M Ronan (D Walsh 65), B Corrigan; M Foy, B Power (O Minogue 59), E McCarthy.
T Bertazza (Argentina).