Captain Bishti eager to carry momentum into U20's Triple Crown tilt
JOB DONE: Ireland players Daniel Ryan, right, and Sami Bishti after their side's victory in the U20 Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Wales at Virgin Media Park in Cork. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Ireland Under-20 captain Sami Bishti believes his squad have a tough week’s preparation ahead of their Triple Crown attempt against Scotland next Sunday after surviving an early scare in their victory over Wales.
The Irish U20s made it three wins in a row in Cork on Saturday night as they registered a bonus-point, seven tries to five success over a Wales side which had raced into a 12-0 lead after just seven minutes at Virgin Media Park.
The win sets up an opportunity to grab some silverware on home turf this weekend, a year on from a painful wooden spoon for the class of 2025. But tighthead prop Bishti reflected on the journey his own team has made since a heavy opening-round defeat to France in Perpignan last month.
The defending champions came out 50-21 winners at Stade Aime Giral but Ireland have rebounded impressively with wins over Italy, England away and now the Welsh to climb into second place behind the French. A vastly superior points difference, +73 to Ireland’s -1, and five-point advantage at the top of the table should be enough to ensure a successful title defence when they face England in La Rochelle next Sunday evening but for the Irish skipper, a Triple Crown would come in the context of a strong spirit and resilience within head coach Andrew Browne’s squad.
“To be fair, from where we've come from, from France to now, we just keep building, keep gathering that momentum, going again,” Bishti told the Irish Examiner.
“I suppose a few things probably we'll look back and review that we weren't too happy about (against Wales). I think conceding the amount we did and the penalties and letting them grow themselves a bit into the game when we thought we'd shut them out, we’ll definitely look to close off going to Scotland because we just know that's unacceptable.
“But I think overall, to score that many points and go from that challenge of having a great performance against England to then the challenge of playing again against Wales, I think the lads did really well.”
Wales had scored the opening, converted try in the third minute having been given an easy entry into the home 22 as Ireland conceded back to back penalties, visiting hooker Tom Howe finishing a lineout maul. A second try came three minutes later through wing Tom Bowen.
Credit to Ireland, they hit back in style with three tries between the 15th and 23rd minutes, wing Daniel Ryan with the first of his double in a man of the match performance, followed by back-rowers Josh Neill and Diarmaid O’Connell, both of which were converted by Tom Wood.
The Munster academy number 10 grabbed his third conversion of the first half four minutes before half-time after his half-back partner Christopher Barrett brought up the try bonus point on his hometown ground and Ireland took a 26-12 lead into the interval.
Three tries apiece in the second half saw Wales collect their own try bonus point but Irish scores from hooker Lee Fitzpatrick and his replacement Duinn Maguire either side of a breathtaking 80-metre intercept try from Ryan were enough to deny the Welsh a losing bonus point.
Bishti was impressed by his team’s work ethic, epitomised late on when with the game won, outside centre Rob Carney working back to deliver a try-saving tap tackle on Bowen as he sprinted down the left wing.
“That’s something we speak about, you know, those small margins, those small one-percenter moments, even with the game almost over and won there and still it's Rob Carney working as hard as he can to make that tap tackle,” the captain said.
“I mean, that shows the efforts in the group and that kind of shows, I suppose, the DNA of the group, which is pretty, pretty cool.”
Bishti was not getting carried away with any thoughts of lifting the Triple Crown back in Cork next Sunday, despite Scotland having lost three in a row following their opening-round win in Italy, including a 45-26 loss to France in Edinburgh last Friday night.
“We know the challenge is coming. They're not going to give it easy at all. They have some experience from last year, a couple of lads coming back and we know that.
"We'll be putting in the work to make sure we're putting the best foot forward going into it and we're pretty excited, to be honest. That's the main thing. Can't wait for it. We're hoping for another good crowd here. The more support, the better. It's unbelievable.
“You can see just when we start to get into the game and the energy that's building around the stadium, it's such a cool feeling. We're so privileged to have that. It's unbelievable.”
N Byrne (J O’Dwyer, 71); D Moloney, R Carney, J O’Leary (J O’Sullivan, 61), D Ryan; T Wood (C O’Shea, 46), C Barrett; M Doyle, L Fitzpatrick (Duinn Maguire, 58), S Bishti – captain (B McClean, 67); J Finn, D McNeice (Donnacha McGuire, 68); J Neill, B Blaney (C Foley, 53-58 FR YC repl; B Hayes, 59), D O’Connell.
Yellow card: M Doyle 48-58
R Cummings; D Scott, O Darwin-Lewis, S Emanuel – co-captain, T Bowen (B Cutts, 71); L Lucas (C Leggatt-Jones, 48), S Davies (C Pritchard, 71); G Tuckley (G Leyland, 62), T Howe (O Thomas, 71), J Pritchard (Y Cook, 56); L Evans (O Rees, 67), O Williams; D Gwynne – co-captain, C James, E Minto (D Kossuth, 24).
Yellow card: O Darwin-Lewis 20-30
Kevin Bralley (France).
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