Ireland the wizards of Oz dissection

IRELAND U19’s produced a performance of high intensity and immense quality on their way to a comprehensive defeat of Australia Schools in an absorbing international at Cork IT last night.

The Irish didn’t take a backward step all evening and thoroughly deserved to take the spoils from a game that became increasingly one-sided as a dogged Australia ran out of steam and ideas.

The Irish pack had much to do with the win. They more than held their own in the line outs through second rows Simon Hanbidge and David O’Mahony, and number eight Eoin McKeon; the scrums were equally solid, and in the loose Jordi Murphy and Aaron Conneely contributed their share along with livewire hooker David Doyle. Add props James Tracy and Martin Moore to the mix and there wasn’t a weak link in that Irish pack despite non-stop threat from Australia’s Jordan Tuapou, Liam Gill and Greg Peterson.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they relied heavily on too few in the pack and on the strength of Tyson Frizell in midfield and Ireland had much the better back-line options. Having come to terms with the threat from the strong-running Frizell, Ireland warmed to the task and went on to play most of the quality rugby.

Ireland secured their clear-cut victory courtesy of four penalties and a drop goal, but it would not have been out of order had they added a couple of tries.

The win was a source of delight to coach Allen Clarke, whose words of praise were well placed. “We focused in on the fact that the days are gone in Irish rugby where teams rely on 20 minutes of passion; that passion is there and is unquestionable, but after three days’ preparation you saw the potential of this group.

“We have a quality of player coming through now that’s smart, ambitious, and very proud to wear the green. They’re really driving themselves forward, they’re physically better but they also want to play rugby and that was on show tonight.”

Apart from one early scare when Frizell thundered through the heart of the defence, Ireland looked the more promising of the sides in the opening exchanges; Andrew Conway’s seventh minute run and another break from Brendan Macken could both have yielded tries, but the home side had to be content with a penalty from James McKinney after 11 minutes.

Australia missed a golden chance of equalising five minutes later when Kyle Goodwin fluffed a simple penalty attempt and they paid for it when Tiernan O’Halloran dropped a goal after 20 minutes to make it 6-0.

Goodwin missed a second penalty soon after, and it took Ireland 14 minutes of the second half to stretch the lead, despite exerting almost total control, and it was a relief when McKinney knocked over a penalty from out wide.

But it did get better with the Irish pack assuming almost full control and Australia wilted under the pressure. The concession of penalties at crucial stages hurt the visitors badly and McKinney was spot on to knock over two more to give his side an unassailable 15-point lead.

IRELAND U19: A Conway (Blackrock); T O’Halloran (Galwegians), B Macken (Blackrock), L Marshall (Ballymena), C Hircock (Exiles/Bedford); J McKinney (Queens University), P Du Toit (UCD); J Tracy (Newbridge College), D Doyle (UCD), M Moore (Lansdowne); S Hanbidge (CBC Cork), D O’Mahony (PBC Cork); J Murphy (Blackrock, capt), E McKeon (Colaiste Iognaid), A Connelly (Colaiste Iognaid).

Replacements: A Kelly (St Michaels) for Marshall (45), M Dolan (Marist College Athlone) for Du Toit, D Gallagher (Trinity) for Conneely (both 58), G Quinn McDonagh (Shannon) for McKinney (67), L Padian (Exiles/Worcester) for Treacy, P Mullen (Kings Hospital) for Moore, K O’Byrne (UCC) for Doyle, S Leckey (Exiles/Glasgow) for Hanbidge (all 68).

AUSTRALIA SCHOOLS U19: J Woodhouse; C Feauai, T Kingston, T Frizell, K Situati; K Goodwin, M Lucas; J Kimmince, H Roach, P Alo Emile; L Jones, G Peterson; J Tuapou (capt), N Paula, L Gill.

Replacements: A Hamilton for Piala (46), J De Guingand for Tuapou, (53), R Esekia for Goodwin (62), R Saifoloi for P Alo Emile (68).

Referee: D Rose ( England ).