Wales U20s 41
Ireland U20s 27
James Candy reports from Eirias Park.
IRELAND UNDER-20′S BID for the Six Nations title were scuppered by a free-flowing Wales performance at Eirias Park tonight.
Wales centre Kieran Williams crossed for a pair of tries to lead his men to a 41-27 triumph.
Irish captain Calvin Nash scored first to put his men on the front-foot, but their lead was short-lived. Wales out-half Ben Jones switched the play to the open side and put Corey Tarrant through a gaping hole to score.
Jones converted to give the hosts a 10-7 lead, before the free-flowing Welsh attack struck again.
Cardiff Blues prospect Rhun Williams then set Corey Baldwin free down the left wing before he found Cameron Lewis, who gave a basketball-esque pass to Dane Blacker for an easy run-in to take Wales 10 points clear.
Irish out-half Bill Johnston landed a pair of penalties towards the end of the first period to cut the gap to only four points, before Williams went over for Wales’ third try to make it 24-13 at the break.
Ireland held on in the second-half with tries from Joey Conway and Paul Boyle and conversions from Johnston leveled the scores.
Irish replacement Conor Fitzgerald was shown yellow for failing to retreat 10 metres, and they were made to pay when Williams cut through again to score his fifth try of the championship for the bonus-point and Jack Pope finished the job with another.
Ireland scorers:Tries: Calvin Nash, Joey Conway, Paul BoyleConversions: Bill Johnston [1]Penalties: Bill Johnston [3]
Wales scorers:
Tries: Corey Tarrant, Dane Blacker, Kieran Williams [2], Pope
Conversions: Ben Jones [5]
Penalties: Ben Jones [2]
Wales U20: R Williams; C Baldwin, C Lewis (I Nicholas 72), K Williams; R Conbeer, B Jones; D Blacker (R Morgan-Williams 61), R Carre ( S Thomas 69), C Tarrant (O Hughes 65), K Assiratti (C Coleman 65), A Dombrandt (J Pope 75), S Moore, S Lewis-Hughes, W Jones (capt) (J Botham 59), A Ward.
Ireland U20: J Larmour; T O’Brien, J Kelly (C Hogan 50), C Frawley, C Nash (capt) (C Fitzgerald
54); B Johnston, J Stewart; J Conway, T McElroy (R Kelleher 57), C Connolly (M Burke 72), F Wycherley (J Regan 69), O Dowling, G Coombes (M Rea 64), P Boyle, C Doris.
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