Five-try Ireland U21s start with good win

Ireland 43 Tonga 5

Ireland opened their IRB U21 World Championship campaign with a well-deserved 43-5 win against Tonga at New Anniesland, Glasgow, having fallen behind after just three minutes.

Mark McDermott's men scored five tries in all as they held all the aces in attack and defence against the tricky Islanders. Recent Ulster call-up Tommy Bowe split four tries with his right wing partner Richard Lane of UCC with skipper David Gannon muscling over twelve minutes from time to complete the rout.

A shaky start was endured as Tongan lock Lisiate Fa'aoso struck off a close range maul over. Just three minutes later the Irish had regrouped as Lane was put in by Blackrock centre John Hearty.

With Queen's out-half Gareth Steenson striking three penalties and adding the extras to one of Bowe's first half double, Ireland were 26-5 up at the break.

With the Irish set-up clearly intent on racking up points, Steenson kicked a fourth penalty six minutes after the restart. Lane again outsprinted his marker for a fourth try on 54 minutes, converted by Steenson and Blackrock Lock Gannon touched down late on for replacement out-half Michael Glancy of Loughborough to clip over a 15-metre convert.

Team manager David Haslett was undoubtedly pleased with his side's efforts. "The Tongans were hard and physical as we expected," said the Ulster man, "and while the scoreline was heavily in our favour, the match was very well-contested."

"We were very good in defence and attack and really let loose out wide," added Haslett, whose side enjoy a recovery day tomorrow before preparing for Tuesday's meeting with South American champions Argentina, who defeated Italy 43-10 today.

"We'll have our main training session on Sunday for the next game, and the obvious objective will be to gain parity with what is a very powerful Argentine pack."

Scorers: Ireland: Tries: T Bowe 2, R Lane 2, D Gannon; Cons: G Steenson 2, M Glancy; Pens: G Steenson 4

Tonga: Try: L Fa'aoso