One more mountain to scale for Murphy's Irish charges

WORLD RUGBY FINAL: Ireland will face France in the World Rugby U20 Championship Final on Friday July 14th. Pic: ©INPHO/SteveHaagSports/Darren Stewart

Through rugby tribulations and deep personal tragedy, Ireland kept focus on their goal of making the final the World Rugby U20 Championships and it paid off.

Richie Murphy’s lads dismantled South Africa 31-12 in the semi-final with a clinical display of defence grit and attacking flair. They will meet tournament pacesetters France in the final on 14 July after Les Blues rebounded from early setbacks to beat England 52-31 in a freewheeling game.

Ireland’s victory was built on the foundation of heroic defence, mainly in the first half, when the Junior Boks had all the possession and territory and pounded away at Ireland’s line.

The green wall creaked and bent, but it never broke, as the hosts’ composure and patience let them down time and again in the face of immovable Irish jerseys.

And with their one meaningful attack of the first half, Ireland scored when flyhalf Sam Prendergast stabbed an inch-perfect kick/pass for James Nicholson to run on to and score. Leading 7-0 at the break was a massive moment in the contest.

“I thought South Africa came out very strong and threw a lot of fight at us,” head coach Murphy said. “I thought system-wise we actually did quite well and we were obviously delighted to be able to get out of that onslaught, soak it all up and then actually sneak in on half-time seven points up. That was a massive turning point in the game.” 

The Junior Boks did manage to briefly level the scores soon after half-time when scrumhalf Imad Khan rounded off a sweeping move. But instead of being the spark to light the home team, it stunned Ireland into action and they simply dominated the next 30 minutes.

As the pack, now with more ball, began to dominate the gain line, Prendergast and scrumhalf Fintan Gunne controlled the tempo and field position.

Prendergast dictated terms of play with short and long passes, and intelligent use of the boot when needed.

Prendergast gave his most complete performance of the tournament and was immaculate off the kicking tee, in difficult, windy and slippery conditions at the Athlone Stadium, to land five from five kicks at goal.

“Sam came into his own, especially in the second half. He started getting his head up and moving the ball to space really well,” Murphy said.

“From a team point of view, you know the first half was about grit and determination. In the second half we probably showed a little bit more about what we could do as a rugby team. We scored some really good tries.

“It was quite hard to tackle some of those big boys coming around the corners, but in fairness to our boys we stuck at it and that gave us that opportunity.

“I suppose in the second half we'd have conceded early on but went straight back down and got a try off of Brian Gleeson coming around off the line out which put us in a really good place.” 

The excellent Ireland pack won the Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year and know what to expect in the final. France will pose some tough questions as they have been free-scoring in a tournament played on difficult surfaces.

But the Irish pack is different gravy. Gleeson is immense and Paddy and Gus McCarthy in the front row have emerged as two of the biggest stars at this tournament.

They have attacking nous too but it all stems from a superb eight, who have laid an excellent foundation in every game.

“We're in a World Cup final now, which is exactly where we wanted to be,” Murphy said.

“We've talked about preparing for these moments and I suppose in the second half I felt that we probably put a little bit more of ourselves out onto the pitch, in the way we were capable of playing the game.

“It would be nice to go into the final and just be true to ourselves and play the game the way we've played it all year.” 

And back home, Jack Oliver will be watching. After the tragic death of his father Greig in a paragliding accident in Cape Town, Ireland have honoured their teammate and the memory of his father in the best way possible.

“It's obviously been a difficult couple of weeks, you know, we've had plenty of stuff going on but obviously Greig's passing was particularly difficult,” Murphy said.

“Jack was in the group with us until, I think it was Wednesday evening when he left, so it was a difficult time for the boys. Jack sent his support this morning and so did Fiona, Greig's wife.

“I know they're at home and we're really delighted to be able to bring him back something because no matter what happens now in the final, we'll be going back with something for Jack.”