McCarthy fully aware of effort required to beat New Zealand

Ireland's Billy Corrigan, Oisin Minogue, Luke Murphy and Eanna McCarthy. Pic: Sebastiano Pessina/Inpho

Ireland captain Eanna McCarthy knows it’s going to take a special effort if they are to advance to the semi-finals of the World Rugby U20 Championships by beating New Zealand for only the second time in 10 meetings in this grade when they clash in Calvisano on Wednesday afternoon (5pm Irish time).

An 18-16 loss to hosts Italy after they defeated Georgia 35-28 in the opening game means nothing less than a win will do for Ireland and even then they may need a bonus point to oust a Junior All Blacks side who are three match points ahead of them going into this final pool game.