Ireland U20s secure Triple Crown with dominant win over Scotland

Ireland's Joe Finn with Tom Wood as he is tackled by Jamie Stewart of Scotland. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Ireland U20 47 Scotland U20 14 

Ireland collected a second Six Nations Triple Crown of the weekend as the men’s under-20s swept their Scottish counterparts aside with a dominant performance in Cork on Sunday.

Seven tries, six of them converted by man of the match and Munster academy fly-half Tom Wood, made it a fourth win in a row for Andrew Browne’s squad as they emulated their senior colleagues by rebounding handsomely from a heavy opening-round defeat in France.

Hooker Duinn Maguire, wing Derry Moloney, centre Rob Carney and flanker Ben Blaney had secured a try bonus point with tries before half-time while replacement back Johnny O’Sullivan also scored on 67 minutes before Scotland troubled the scoreboard with two late tries. Ireland scrum-half Christopher Barrett snuffed out any thoughts of a Scottish fightback with his try on 75 minutes and replacement prop Christian Foley rounded off a great afternoon.

The five match points placed Ireland level with Grand Slam-chasing France ahead of their last match at home against England on Sunday evening, though the French look certain to be crowned champions for a second year in a row having headed into their finale with a +73 points difference, 39 points better than the Irish, who will be hoping for a favour from the English in La Rochelle.

The first half had been largely one-way traffic as Ireland made the most of their possession and thwarted whatever Scotland threw at them to build an impressive 28-0 lead by half-time.

Ireland's Tom Wood celebrates with his mum Nicola after the game. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho

Hooker Duinn Maguire followed up his try-scoring cameo off the bench in the win over Wales in round four with the opening score on seven minutes as Ireland converted from a five-metre lineout after fly-half Wood had kicked a penalty into their right-hand corner.

The Irish pack set a maul with flanker Blaney peeling off down the blindside, where he fed Maguire for the finish, Wood converting.

There looked to have been a second for the home side in the 15th minute when Cashel centre Rob Carney completed a sharp attack down the left having collected wing Derry Moloney’s offload from off the deck after he had received a pass inside from flanker Josh Neill. 

An intervention from the Television Match Official, however, led to Fijian referee David Vosaelevu striking off the try for a forward pass from Neill to Moloney.

If there was frustration it was short-lived as Ireland did add their second six minutes later, Moloney receiving a long pass from Wood on the right wing to run in unopposed after a period of pressure inside the 22. 

Wood made no mistake with the conversion this time to push Ireland’s lead to 14-0 with Carney finally getting his reward with his team’s third try of the afternoon on the half-hour mark, the fly-half adding the extras.

Openside flanker Blaney brought up the bonus point seven minutes later, scrum-half Christopher Barrett the provider having made a half-break down the left flank, then feeding the back rower the ball with a short pass. Blaney had work to do but shook off his tackler to score from 25 metres out and Wood nailed his fourth conversion from four.

That Scotland stayed scoreless was due to Irish commitment to defence, the visitors twice held up over the line in the first half and Ireland went in at the break in rude health, 28-0 up.

The third quarter was a much tighter affair with most of the action taking place between the respective 22s, a situation which suited Ireland, their try bonus point safely secured, and will have frustrated the Scots, with the flow of the contest further disrupted by a steady stream of replacements. 

The uptick in scrums also benefited a stronger Irish pack who were also enjoying themselves at lineout time in a faultless set-piece performance, and the new front row quickly found their feet by winning a 66th-minute scrum penalty inside their own half.

It proved to be the platform Ireland required to break the second half points drought, backline replacements Charlie O’Shea and Johnny O’Sullivan combining to finish off a sweeping move scored by the latter in the 67th minute, with Wood converting yet again.

The score also sparked Scotland into life and their ambition outweighed pragmatism as they turned down a shot at the pots from a penalty which would have avoided a nilling to go for the corner. It paid dividends with a lineout drive providing a try for replacement Jamie McAughtrie, converted by Hamish MacArthur with nine minutes to go, full-back Henry Widdowson scoring a second, also converted for the Scots two minutes later.

It was Ireland who had the last laugh though as scrum-half Barrett claimed his team’s sixth try of the game as Wood completed his sixth conversion. Yet it was not to be a perfect afternoon from the tee for the fly-half, who missed his seventh attempt after replacement prop Christian Foley rounded off a comprehensive victory in the final minute.

IRELAND U20: N Byrne (J O’Sullivan, 46), D Moloney, R Carney (C O’Shea, 63), J O’Leary, D Ryan; T Wood, C Barrett; M Doyle (C Foley, 61), D Maguire (L Fitzpatrick, 49), S Bishti – captain (L Murtagh, 61); J Finn, D McGuire (D McNeice, 49); J Neill (J O’Dwyer, 72), B Blaney (B Hayes, 53), D O’Connell.

SCOTLAND U20: H Widdowson; N Moncrieff (H Armstrong, 26), C Waugh, H Clark, R McHaffie; J Dalziel, A McKenzie (H MacArthur, 58); O McKenna (W Pearce, 56), J Roberts – captain, J Stewart (J Rennie, 56); A Blackett (C Lindsay, h-t), D Halkon (F Ronnie, 58); A Appleby, J Utterson (H Preston, h-t), R Purvis (J McAughtrie, 56).

Referee: David Vosalevu (Fiji).