Irish U-21’s finish ninth

Ireland24

Ireland dominated from the kick-off but over half an hour had elapsed before they crossed the try line through centre David Telford.

Fly half Michael Rainey, converted. Italy struck back when left wing Valerie Santillo crossed for a try. Andreo Marcato added the conversion points to bring his side level 7-7 at half time.

Ireland pounced for their second try, 10 minutes after the restart.

After a line-out, Ulsterman Neil McComb started a drive which was ended with a try for Kieran Potts.

Scrum-half Connor O’Loughlin touched down from a similar move, moments later and Rainey added the extra points.

Then Italy began to fight back and full back Mirco Bergamasco quickly had his side’s second try.

Four minutes from the final whistle Ireland’s David Gannon infringed at an Italian line-out in Ireland’s 22.

Italy kicked to touch five metres from Ireland’s left wing corner flag.

From the resultant line out, Sergio Parisse dived over the line.

Substitute scrum-half Andreo Brancoli landed the conversion to tie the scores. But Ireland dug deep. They won a line-out near halfway and started a move involving backs and forwards.

Flanker Neil Ronan fed replacement wing Richard Lane who dived over for a try in the seventh minute of injury time.

Meanwhile, New Zealand were crowned IRB Under-21 world champions when they beat Australia 21-10 at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford.

The teams drew 37-37 when they met in the pool stages, but it was a different story yesterday as the ‘Baby Blacks’ were never behind in the match after taking an early lead through lock Ross Kennedy.

IRELAND: 1 J Moran, 2 R Best (K Corrigan 13-19 min blood), 3 D Fitzpatrick (E McGovern half-time); 4 D Gannon, 5 N McComb; 6 J Muldoon (M McCornish 69 min), 7 N Ronan; 8 C Potts; 9 C McLoughlin (D Geraghty 75 min), 10 M Rainey (Capt); 11 J Hearty (R Lane half-time), 12 G Telford, 13 B Murphy, 14 K Matthews; 15 T Bowe. Replacements not used: S Crawford, D McAllister.