Ireland U20 82

Scotland U20 7

Lewis Stuart reports from Glasgow

IRELAND’S JUNIOR RANKS gave their senior colleague a lesson in how to march on towards a possible Grand Slam as they demolished Scotland in a one sided encounter in Glasgow. The men in green took charge in the opening minutes and never let go in a performance that has to give them plenty of confidence ahead of next week’s England showdown.

They finished with 12 tries in a one-sided display of ruthless power, disciplined teamwork and clever handling that exposed all the Scottish frailties.

Right from the start they were sharper, quicker and much more accurate than their opponents. When Sam Prendergast chipped over the top of the defence after two minutes of non-stop action and Hugh Cooney, the centre got to it first before quick hands put Andrew Osborne in for a try on his debut, the floodgates were already open.

The forwards then took over, prop Fiachna Barrett and hooker Gus McCarthy both muscling their way over before a set-piece move from a tap penalty under the Scotland posts bamboozled the home defence to give Ruadhán Quinn, the openside flanker, plenty of room to amble over.

With the try bonus point in the bag and no realistic way back for Scotland, the visitors might have been forgiven for relaxing and overplaying things but their standards hardly dropped. True, there was the odd speculative pass, but the team cohesion was still obvious as they ran Scotland ragged.

John Devine, the centre, was the next to capitalise as the cut cleanly through from half way to put Fintan Gunne in for the next try with Henry McErlean, the full back, making the break for the next with Gus McCarthy, the hooker the link man to put Quinn in for his second.

Scotland could have saved their first half blushes but tried to run the ball out of defence after the 40 minutes were up and paid the price when James McNabne, the blindside flanker, brought his side up to 47 first half points.

There was a brief hint of a Scotland fightback at the start of the second half when hooker Cory Tait barged his ways over but Diarmuid Mangan, who had just come on at lock, charged clear of the Scots on a 30 metre race to the line and normal service was resumed.

Quinn completed his hat trick and when Scotland lost lock Jake Parkinson to a red card for a head-high tackle on locks Evan O’Connell, the Scots crumbled with replacements Danny Sheehan, Rory Telfer and Oscar Crawley all crossing in the final flurry.

Scotland U20: Try: Corey Tait.
Con: Luke Townsend [1 from 1]

Ireland U20: Tries: Andrew Osborne, Fiachna Barrett, Gus McCarthy, Ruadhán Quinnn (3), Fintan Gunne, James McNabney, Diarmuid Mangan, Danny Sheahan, Rory Telfer, Oscar Cawley.
Cons: Sam Prendergas [7 from 8], Matthew Lynch [4 from 4]

Scotland U20: 15 Dan King (Andy McLean, 54); 14 Logan Jarvie (Ben Salmon, 51), 13 Duncan Munn (co-captain), 12 Kerr Yule, 11 Geordie Gwynn, 10 Luke Townsend, 9 Finlay Burgess (Charlie Clare, 35); 1 Craig Davidson (Max Surry, 66), 2 Corey Tait (Elliot Young, 66), 3 Moby Ogunlaja (Robbie Deans, 51), 4 Jake Parkinson, 5 Harris McLeod (Sam Derrick, 41), 6 Liam McConnell (co-captain), 7 Rudi Brown (Jonny Morris, 73), 8 Jonny Morris (Ruaraidh Hart, 54).

Red card: Jake Parkinson 70

Ireland U20: 15 Henry McErlean (Rory Telfer, 60); 14 Andrew Osborne, 13 Hugh Cooney, 12 John Devine, 11 Hugh Gavin, 10 Sam Prendergast (Matthew Lynch, 52), 9 Fintan Gunne (Oscar Cawley, 60); 1 George Hadden (George Morris, 50), 2 Gus McCarthy (captain) (Danny Sheahan, 50), 3 Fiachna Barrett (Paddy McCarthy, 50), 4 Evan O’Connell (Conor O’Tighearnaigh, 70), 5 Conor O’Tighearnaigh (Diarmuid Mangan, 51), 6 James McNabney, 7 Ruadhán Quinn, 8 Brian Gleeson (Liam Molony, 70).

Referee: Takehito Namekawa (Japan)

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