Venter gives Irish dose of Baby blues

IRELAND Under-20s saw their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the IRB Junior World Championship dashed by a 42-26 defeat by South Africa in Treviso last night.

After going down 33-25 to England in their tournament opener last Friday, Ireland needed to win if they were to have any hope of making the last four.

However, despite another spirited showing and a brace of tries from the electric Andrew Conway, they were ultimately overpowered by a Baby Boks side which racked up five tries in total, with star centre Brendan Venter helping himself to a brace, and Eben Etzebeth, Wandile Mjekevu and Arno Botha all scoring one apiece.