Ireland U20s dig deep to stun fancied Wales

Wales U20s 25 Ireland U20s 26: These underage tournaments are supposed to be more about character-forming than winning but Ireland managed to achieve both aims in an astonishing start to the World Rugby U20 Championship.

They had to come from behind in winning their last three games in the Six Nations but damage limitation seemed to be the order of the evening in Manchester City Academy Stadium when they fell 17-0 behind after just 20 minutes.

“We like to do things the difficult way,” said coach Nigel Carolan, as if it was pre-planned. “But these are young guys, they are learning and they are growing. We made a lot of mistakes in the first-half.