IRELAND’S U20 RUGBY are guaranteed their best ever finish at an IRB Junior World Championship after beating reigning Six Nations champions England in Cape Town today.
Mike Ruddock’s side booked a meeting with France in the fifth-place play-off thanks to tries from Barry Daly Iain Henderson and Jordan Coghlan and the boot of JJ Hanrahan as they ran out 27-12 winners.
They had lost to England on the previous two meetings but were third time lucky at the University of Western Cape Stadium.
Ireland team: Peter Nelson (Dungannon/Ulster); Barry Daly (UCD/Leinster), Stuart Olding (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Chris Farrell (Dungannon/Ulster), Foster Horan (Lansdowne/Leinster); JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster), Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht); Des Merrey (Clontarf/Leinster), Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Alan O’Connor (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster), Jordan Coghlan (UCD/Leinster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).
Replacements used: Conor Finn (Buccaneers/Connacht) for Horan (44 mins), James Rael (Garryowen/Munster) for Scannell (62), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) for Marmion (67), Aaron Conneely (Corinthians/Connacht) for Beirne (71), Shane Buckley (Garryowen/Munster) for Coghlan (74), Jake Cawley (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Furlong, Peter Reilly (Lansdowne/Leinster) for Merrey, Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) for Hanrahan (all 77).
