RUGBY
Irish U20s have to settle for eighth place
By Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING a comprehensive 40-17 defeat to New Zealand in Rosario on Saturday, Ireland recorded an eighth-place finish at the World Rugby U20 Championships in Argentina.
Despite a promising start to the tournament – namely a stunning victory over England in their pool opener on June 4 – a series of injuries left the Charlie Ryan-led Irish severely hamstrung in the latter stages. Nevertheless, it will largely go down as a memorable 2019 for the nation’s brightest prospects – many of whom are expected to graduate to the senior provincial grade in the coming months.
Having entered the competition as rank outsiders, Noel McNamara’s charges defied all the odds in this spring’s Six Nations campaign by securing a magnificent Grand Slam success. To put this achievement into context, it was Ireland’s first Championship title at the grade since 2010 and the first Slam triumph in all of 12 years.
Athy’s Martin Moloney was a key figure in the Irish back-row for this unforgettable journey, but was subsequently ruled out of the World Championship through injury. He was joined on the treatment table by a number of fellow Leinster compatriots, including team captain David Hawkshaw.
Regardless, they overcame the challenge of England for the second time in the calendar year – before Australia put them to the sword (45-17) just four days later.
Although they recorded a convincing bonus-point triumph at the expense of Italy in their final pool outing, it was only enough to book a 5th-8th place play-off with England last Monday week.
The Saxons came into this contest on the back of a morale-boosting win over Australia. Ireland twice led during the opening period courtesy of Ben Healy penalties, but Josh Hodge’s seven-point salvo gave England a 13-6 interval cushion.
Even though Healy added another three points off the kicking tee, their arch rivals looked set to ease through when they moved 23-9 clear just shy of the hour mark.
They remained in the driving seat on the stroke of 70 minutes – only for Ireland to come storming back into contention.
Jonathan Wren and Brian Deeny (a mid-tournament call-up) registering two tries in the space of three minutes, both of them supplemented by Healy conversions.
This raised the spectre of extra-time, before Tom Willis’ stoppage-time try gave England the spoils.
As a result, Ireland faced New Zealand in their final game of the tournament. The Green Army famously got the better of the southern hemisphere giants during the 2016 Championship, when James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale and Andrew Porter were star performers for the victors.
While Josh Wycherley, Dylan Tierney-Martin and Ryan Baird all grabbed tries, they ultimately fell short to their impressive counterparts on this occasion.
Meanwhile, Naas native Billy Dardis played a starring role for Ireland at the Moscow 7s last weekend – where Anthony Eddy’s men were runners-up to France in the Cup decider. This ensures the Irish will be second seeds for the forthcoming Rugby Europe Olympic qualifying tournament in Colomiers.