Ireland U20s hit stride in second-half to subdue Wales in thriller
MADE IT: Ruadhan Quinn of Ireland scores a try during the U20 Six Nations Rugby Championship match against Wales at Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay, Wales. Pic: Paul Greenwood/Sportsfile
There are no sure things at an U20s grade where boys are trying to become men but Richie Murphy’s Irish team matured in front of our eyes on Friday night with a belated but powerful surge that delivered a bonus-point Six Nations win in Colwyn Bay.
SIX NATIONS RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023
Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.
SIX NATIONS RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023
Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.
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Ireland were sloppy and unsure of themselves for a good 50 minutes but ultimately found their groove and ran in four of their six tries in the last 25 minutes to claim a fifth straight victory over their Welsh neighbours at this level.
It took them just 20 minutes to go from six points down to 13 up, the turnaround silencing the strains of Tom Jones’ ‘Delilah’ just as it started to roll around the ground in celebration and in defiance of the Welsh union’s decision to blackball the old tune.
Ireland’s 2022 team claimed a Grand Slam and this bunch has the talent to warrant similarly high expectations. The hope is that they have shaken off any nerves and uncertainties against a game Welsh side that played its part in a stunning first-round tie.
They insisted on making life difficult for themselves from the word go with Brian Gleeson dropping the kick-off and Fintan Gunne following suit just ten minutes later. Other errors, individual and collective, fed into an initial and then lingering malaise.
Wales really should have made them pay more but inside-centre John Devine held up the Welsh scrum-half over the Irish line while his midfield partner Hugh Cooney helped lift another siege with a bursting tackle on the half-hour.
Still, Ireland’s defence was stretched regularly by the pace and execution of the Welsh attack and would eventually concede four tries. The hosts enjoyed a windfall of early possession and territory and yet it was the visitors who stumbled into the lead.
It was fitting that it came from a botched Irish lineout – their attacks were regularly breaking down due to various issues – the ball falling kindly for lock Diarmuid Mangan to make a break before Conor O’Tighearnaigh eventually went over.
Sam Prendergast’s conversion put them seven-up after eight minutes but Gunne’s mishap was punished more severely than Gleeson’s with Wales pulling and dragging them about before Louie Hennessy was worked into an acre of space out wide.
Llien Morgan claimed a second for the Welsh on 19 minutes, the winger finishing off a sublime attacking move that boasted two delicious offloads, but Daniel Edwards missed the conversion this time around and that left it 15-7.
It was already a brilliant game full of fluid attacks but Ireland needed a spark and it came from Cooney’s tackle. That set up a platform for a second touch down, this one courtesy of tight-head Paddy McCarthy from close-in.
Here was everything we knew turned on its head: a bigger Irish team banking on their physical superiority to stay with a smaller, zippier opponent, but there was quality in their ranks too. Could they show more of that after the break?
Not initially.
Possession and territory wasn’t a problem on the restart but their execution was. Again. Twice they were held up on or over the line and they couldn’t punch through even when Welsh ten Edwards was sent to the bin.
Worse again was the concession of a try to the 14 men with Sam Scarfe touching down on a quick but, by now, rare Welsh attack. A missed conversion left the home team 20-14 up but the sea change was coming.
The Irish response amounted to 20 points in the next dozen minutes with two tries from James Nicholson, who had switched from full-back to wing, another from openside Ruadhan Quinn and with the superb Prendergast adding a penalty and a conversion.
All three scores were exceptional in their own way with individuals and the team as a whole now playing with momentum and confidence. Some of the quick hands and quicker feet on display was just superb.
Up 34-20 with 13 minutes to go, another Prendergast penalty left Ireland three scores to the good and with a five-point match haul all but secure by the time Morgan and Henry McErlean traded tries in the last handful of minutes.
The next few weeks should be fun.
C Winnett; L Morgan, L Hennessy, H Ackerman, H Houston; D Edwards, A Hughes; D Kelleher-Griffiths, S Scarfe, T Pritchard; L Edwards, J Green; R Woodman, L Giannini, H Davies.
I Young, F Chapman, E Fackrell, O Evans, M Martin, H Williams, H James, T Florence.
J Nicholson (UCD/Leinster); I Anagu (La Rochelle/IQ Rugby), H Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster), J Devine (Corinthians/Connacht), H Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht); S Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), F Gunne (Terenure/Leinster); G Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster), G McCarthy (UCD/Leinster), P McCarthy (DUFC/Leinster); D Mangan (UCD/Leinster), C O’Tighernaigh (UCD/Leinster); J McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster), R Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster), B Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster).
D Sheahan (UCC/Munster), G Morris (Lansdowne/Leinster), F Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht), E O’Connell (UL Bohemians/Munster), J Sheahan (UCC/Munster), O Cawley (Naas/Leinster), H West (Buccaneers/Connacht), H McErlean (Terenure/Leinster).
L Ramos (France).
