Ireland U20s 39
Italy U20s 12
THE IRELAND U20s made it three wins from three in the U20 Six Nations as they powered to a bonus-point win over Italy at Musgrave Park.
Following a strange, scrappy first half, Ireland finished strongly to comfortably see off an Italy team who struggled to keep their discipline under control throughout.
Ireland came into the game as the team to catch in the Six Nations given their status as the only side to go unbeaten across the opening two rounds. Italy were also carrying some positive momentum following their historic win over England last time out, but they failed to repeat those heroics as Ireland were full value for what ended up being a comfortable win in the Cork rain, scoring five tries as they kept their Grand Slam bid on course.
The result means Ireland remain three points clear of both England and France in the table, England beating Wales 43-14 tonight while France were 30-17 winners in Scotland.
Back in Cork, Ireland actually struggled to find any rhythm in the opening minutes of the game, a succession of handling errors not helping matters as they found themselves camped in their own half, some poor decisions being made on the back of good Italian pressure.
Yet they weathered that early storm and began to grow into the contest, and after a couple of false starts they cut Italy open with a superb team move, launching a wonderful counter-attack which included great work by the electric Patrick Campbell and winger Chay Mullins down the right wing, before the ball quickly moved through the hands to send Fionn Gibbons over in the left corner.
Charlie Tector added the conversion and Ireland were up and running in front of a healthy crowd of 7,000 in Cork.
To make matters worse for the visitors, the same passage of play saw David Odiase receive a yellow card for a senseless incident with Ireland’s James McCormick, Odiase making contact with the face in dragging the Ireland hooker to the ground.
Having started well, Italy were quickly losing control and struggling to keep their discipline in check. After charging at the Italy line with no success, Ireland pushed their lead into double digits with a close-range Tector penalty shortly before Odiase re-entered the action.
Ireland looked capable of scoring with each attack, Italy finding it increasingly difficult to live with the hosts’ tempo and variety.
Having survived the latest Ireland onslaught, Italy coughed up another sloppy penalty and Tector again split the posts, Ireland leading 13-0 and looking in total control, enjoying 71% of the possession across the opening 30 minutes.
The returning Matthew Devine was central to much of that – the scrum-half restored to the starting team – while a dynamic Ireland pack were also getting plenty of change from the Italians, loosehead Jack Boyle and captain Reuben Crothers once again to the fore, while Munster fullback Campbell enjoyed a couple of roving runs from deep.
Italy needed to steady the ship, but instead saw captain Giacomo Ferrari become the latest to get on the wrong side of referee Aled Evans, the flanker carrying into Crothers with an outstretched arm and crashing a closed fist into the Ireland captain. It was a dangerous piece of play, and resulted in Italy’s second yellow card of the opening period.
Italy had one last opportunity to put some points on the board before the break, kicking to the corner only to see the resulting lineout maul stopped dead in its tracks.
They recycled the ball to the opposite wing and despite Ireland looking well set, loosehead Luca Rizzoli produced some excellent footwork to snipe through and find a way over the line, Nicolò Teneggi kicking the conversion to bring Italy to within six points with the last play of the half – the 13-7 scoreline much kinder to the visitors following a sloppy opening 40 minutes in which they gave away 13 penalties.
Ireland had looked much sharper up to that point, but they were also guilty of making too many errors in possession, losing the ball in contact and lacking a clinical edge in the Italy ’22, with the scrum also guilty of a few wobbles under pressure.
Italy carried their momentum into the second half as they went through the phases in search of a second try, although a disciplined Ireland defence managed to push them back up the pitch before turning over the ball.
Italy continued to threaten, and Campbell had to be alert to stop Filippo Lazzarin breaking free down the left.
Another Italy penalty then allowed Ireland to launch their first meaningful attack of the second half, Tector kicking to the corner before another smooth Ireland lineout allowed them power towards the Italy line, with Devine showing good instinct to dot down from close range following a series of Ireland pick-and-goes.
As Tector placed the ball to kick the conversion, Italy went down to 14 for a third time, hooker Lapo Frangini the latest to head for the sideline.
This time Ireland finally took full advantage of their extra man, with substitute Lorcan McLoughlin benefiting from some excellent, clinical work to power over, although this time Tector was off the mark with his conversion.
Ireland now had 20 minutes to land the bonus-point score.
Bristol winfer Mullins had the crowd on their feet as he sprinted clear down the wing, but was eventually caught inside the Italy 22.
A five-metre lineout offered another prime opportunity, and this time Ireland took it with both hands, the excellent James Culhane getting the final touch with Butler adding the conversion as the game entered the final 10 minutes, the home side moving 25 points clear.
Now it was time to turn on the style. Mullins had looked threatening all night and finally got his score as he stepped inside and split the Italy defence and add a fifth try.
Tommaso Scramoncin managed to bundle over for a late consolation score, but the game had long been beyond Italy’s reach, McLoughlin yellow-carded as Italy’s Giovannni Sante sent the conversion wide.
It wasn’t the most complete performance we’ve seen from this Ireland team, but their Grand Slam charge remains on course, with a testing trip to play England next on the agenda.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Gibbons, Devine, McLoughlin, Culhane, Mullins.
Conversions: Tector [2/3], Butler [2/2]
Penalty: Tector [2/2]
Italy scorers:
Tries: Rizzoli, Scramoncin
Conversion: Teneggi [1/1], Sante [0/1]
Penalty: Teneggi [0/1]
IRELAND U20s: Patrick Campbell; Chay Mullins, Jude Postlethwaite, Ben Brownlee (Dylan O’Grady, HT), Fionn Gibbons; Charlie Tector (Tony Butler, 69), Matthew Devine (Ethan Coughlan, 68); Jack Boyle (Oisin Michel, 69), James McCormick (Josh Hanlon, 68), Rory McGuire (Darragh McSweeney, 60); Conor O’Tighearnaigh (Adam McNamee, 70), Mark Morrissey; James McNabney (Lorcan McLoughlin, 52), Reuben Crothers (captain), James Culhane.
ITALY U20s: Lorenzo Pani; Federico Cuminetti, Francois Carlo Mey (Arturo Fusari, 61), Dewi Passarella, Filippo Lazzarin; Nicolò Teneggi (Giovanni Sante, 61), Alessandro Garbisi (Gianluca Tomaselli, 70); Luca Rizzoli (Riccardo Bartolini, 75), Lapo Frangini (Giacomo Ferrari, 67), Riccardo Genovese (Valerio Bizzotto, 69); Alessandro Ortombina, Riccardo Andreoli; David Odiase (Lizardo Rodriguez Carlos Berlese, 69), Ross Vintcent (Giovanni Cenedese, 37-41 HIA, 45), Giacomo Ferrari (captain) (Tommaso Scramoncin, 59).
Yellow cards: Odiase 18, Ferrari 36, Frangini 57
Referee: Aled Evans (WRU)
Gavan Casey is joined by Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella to look ahead to Italy, chat about the provinces’ latest signings, and remember ‘Inga the Winga’.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
