Third time a charm for Ireland skipper Scannell

At the third time of asking, Ireland finally triumphed over arch-rivals England in the Junior World Cup in Cape Town yesterday, a victory that puts them into a final play-off for fifth place against France later this week.

Having been denied a Grand Slam in London and a place in the semi-finals when losing narrowly to England earlier in the tournament, it was a good day at the office for Mike Ruddock’s young stars, who mixed clinical finishing with defensive heroics to finally gain revenge.

Skipper Niall Scannell was clearly delighted, saying: “I guess we owed them that, we didn’t do ourselves justice in London, let it slip last week, so there was no margin for error today. It was a magnificent team performance from the entire squad from 1 to 23.”