Impressive Irish see off Scots’

IRELAND achieved their second win from three in the Six Nations U20 Championship with a decisive victory over Scotland at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in Inverness last night.

On a perfect pitch, Ireland, were able to use their forward power to win the match, their superiority in the set scrum being a telling factor in their win.

“We had our first choice tighthead, Martin Moore, back in the side and that made a big difference,” said Ireland U20 coach Mike Ruddock.

“Scotland never stopped coming at us but in the wet they dropped crucial passes. Overall I thought that, in the first half especially, it was a very professional performance from us. We made our defence count and that was pleasing after what happened against France two weeks ago.

“I thought too that we made good use of our back three,” stated Ruddock, who could only have purred with delight at the form of full-back Michael Sherlock.

The Clontarf man was the most incisive runner on the field and a constant threat in broken play. Deservedly, he was voted man of the match.

It was Scotland who made the first threat with a charge-down of Paddy Jackson’s attempted clearance kick from the Ireland 22m area, only for a knock-on to deny the Scots an early score.

Ireland immediately righted matters by shoving Scotland backwards at their own scrum put-in to prelude a period of sustained attack that forced the Scots into two try-saving tackles in the left corner before the Irish forwards used their weight to create space for skipper Niall Annett to force his way over for an unconverted try.

After Scotland had three times collapsed the scrum on their own line, referee Ian Tempest awarded a penalty try, converted by Jackson for a 12-0 interval lead.

Two penalty misses from Scots centre Harry Leonard let Ireland off the hook in the second period. At the other end, Jackson showed how to convert pressure into points with a superb kick at goal to decisively extend his side’s lead by a further three points.

Scorers for Ireland U20: N Annett try; Penalty try; P Jackson con, pen.

SCOTLAND U20: G Bryce (S Atkin 73); M Doneghan, M Bennett, H Leonard (captain), K Gossman; S Edwards (C Jackson 70), J Stevenson (S Kennedy 60); R Hislop, D Cherry (R Ferguson 72), C Philips (G Hunter 52), M Todd (A Kirkland 51), R McAlpine, A Spence (M Eadie 53), H Watson, J Tyas

IRELAND U20: M Sherlock; T O’Halloran, A Kelly, JJ Hanrahan, A Boyle (C O’Shea 70); P Jackson (G Quinn McDonogh 79), B McIlroy (M Dolan 60); J Tracy, N Annett (captain) (D Doyle 71), M Moore (T Furlong 71), M Kearney (C O’Flaherty 78), D Qualter (I Henderson 69), S Buckley, A Conneely, J Murphy

Referee: I Tempest (RFU).