The Ireland Under-20s (sponsored by PwC) finished off the U-20 Six Nations Summer Series with back-to-back wins, beating Scotland 41-24 in the finals day curtain-raiser in Treviso.
UNDER-20 SIX NATIONS SUMMER SERIES PLAY-OFF: Tuesday, July 12
IRELAND UNDER-20s 41 SCOTLAND UNDER-20s 24, Stadio di Monigo
Scorers: Ireland U-20s: Tries: Daniel Hawkshaw, Scott Wilson, Aitzol King, Sam Prendergast, Fionn Gibbons, Diarmuid Mangan, Shay McCarthy; Cons: Sam Pendergast 3
Scotland U-20s: Tries: Patrick Harrison 2, Ollie Leatherbarrow; Cons: Euan Cunningham 3; Pen: Euan Cunningham
HT: Ireland Under-20s 29 Scotland Under-20s 14
There were first starts for four players at this level and Harry West, Joseph Mawhinney and Dominic Rhys Hey made their debuts off the bench, as Richie Murphy’s young squad ended the tournament in winning style.
Scoring five tries inside an excellent opening 22 minutes, the Ireland U-20s led 29-14 at half-time and were well on course for their seventh victory of a year that saw them win a memorable Six Nations Grand Slam.
Daniel Hawkshaw, Scott Wilson, Aitzol King, Sam Prendergast and Fionn Gibbons, who grabbed his third of the tournament, all crossed the whitewash. Patrick Harrison replied with a brace for Scotland.
A Euan Cunningham penalty closed the gap to 12 points, the sweltering conditions leading to a scrappy second half but timely scores from Diarmuid Mangan (53 minutes) and replacement Shay McCarthy (68) took care of the result.
Murphy’s side seized the lead after just 86 seconds, centre Hawkshaw collecting a neat chip over the top from Prendergast and stepping off his left to score beside the posts. Prendergast made it a seven-pointer.
A couple of penalties took Scotland back towards their own try-line, and although the Irish maul was stopped short, prop Wilson wrestled his way over from a ruck soon after.
14-0 became 19-0 just three minutes later, good passing from Prendergast, Hawkshaw and Mangan releasing winger King up the right touchline and he cut inside and stretched out to score despite a tackle from the chasing Duncan Munn.
A superb break by Prendergast from deep almost delivered a try for the new Leinster Academy squad member, who duly crossed in the right corner from an Andrew O’Mahony pass.
However, Scotland bounced back from flanker Gregor Hiddleston’s sin-binning, Gabe Jones doing brilliantly to keep the ball in play before Harrison crashed over from a close-in ruck. Euan Cunningham converted.
A quickly-taken restart caught the Scots out, though, as Gibbons gobbled up Prendergast’s kick, stayed clear of Jones and fixed the final defender with some nice footwork to touch down in the right corner.
Although Mangan got caught at the back of a ruck and paying the price with a yellow card, Scotland knocked on at a scrum and the lively Patrick Campbell was hauled down short at the end of a promising high-tempo Irish attack.
Indeed, it was Scotland who closed out the opening 40 minutes with a second try from Harrison, the industrious hooker on the end of a well-executed lineout drive. Cunningham’s conversion left 15 points between the sides.
Kenny Murray’s charges made it 10 points without reply, out-half Cunningham nailing a long range penalty five minutes after the restart. Ireland’s lead was down to a dozen points.
Punishing a Scottish kick that went out on the full, Ireland built some phases to get back within scoring range as Prendergast and Mangan both made good ground before replacement Michael Moloney’s quick tap sent the big flanker over from five metres out.
Prendergast’s conversion had the scoreboard showing 36-17, before the stifling heat saw the error count increase in and around the hour mark. Scotland lost centre Munn to the bin for infringing near his own line.
Ireland’s progress was thwarted by a lineout steal, a rip in the tackle and a knock on. Their accuracy returned via successive lineouts and some hard carrying from Lorcan McLoughlin and replacement Ronan O’Sullivan.
Prendergast was bang on target with a cross-field kick that was collected and grounded in the right corner by replacement McCarthy, who did well to finish under pressure from Keiran Clark.
Andy Stirrat led Scotland’s response, breaking through tackles straight from the restart and number 8 Ollie Leatherbarrow spun out of contact to claim their third try, converted by Cunningham.
It remained seven tries to three, with a forward pass ruling out a classy score for Moloney – McCarthy and West linked crisply with him in the build-up, but Prendergast’s initial delivery was adjudged to be forward. Replacement Reece Malone was pulled back for another one late on.
TIME LINE: 1 minute – Ireland try: Daniel Hawkshaw – 5-0; conversion: Sam Prendergast – 7-0; 9 mins – Ireland try: Scott Wilson – 12-0; conversion: Sam Prendergast – 14-0; 12 mins – Ireland try: Aitzol King – 19-0; 15 mins – Scotland yellow card: Gregor Hiddleston; 16 mins – Ireland try: Sam Prendergast – 24-0; conversion: missed by Sam Prendergast – 24-0; 20 mins – Scotland try: Patrick Harrison – 24-5; conversion: Euan Cunningham – 24-7; 22 mins – Ireland try: Fionn Gibbons – 29-7; conversion: missed by Sam Prendergast – 29-7; 25 mins – Ireland yellow card: Diarmuid Mangan; 38 mins – Scotland try: Patrick Harrison – 29-12; conversion: Euan Cunningham – 29-14; Half-time – Ireland 29 Scotland 14; 46 mins – Scotland penalty: Euan Cunningham – 29-17; 53 mins – Ireland try: Diarmuid Mangan – 34-17; conversion: Sam Prendergast – 36-17; 58 mins – Scotland yellow card: Duncan Munn; 68 mins – Ireland try: Shay McCarthy – 41-17; conversion: missed by Sam Prendergast – 41-17; 70 mins – Scotland try: Ollie Leatherbarrow – 41-22; conversion: Euan Cunningham – 41-24; Full-time – Ireland 41 Scotland 24
IRELAND U-20: Patrick Campbell (Young Munster RFC/Munster); Aitzol King (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Fionn Gibbons (UCD RFC/Leinster), Daniel Hawkshaw (Clontarf FC/Leinster), George Coomber (UCC RFC/Munster); Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster), Andrew O’Mahony (UCC RFC/Munster); George Hadden (Gorey RFC/Clontarf FC/Leinster), Josh Hanlon (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Charlie Irvine (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Adam McNamee (Malone RFC/Ulster), Diarmuid Mangan (UCD RFC/Leinster), Reuben Crothers (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster) (capt), Lorcan McLoughlin (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster).
Replacements used:
Dominic Rhys Hey (Gloucester Hartpury Rugby/IQ Rugby), Kieran Ryan (Shannon RFC/Munster), Joseph Mawhinney (Ballymena RFC/Ulster), George Shaw (Cardiff University/IQ Rugby), Ronan O’Sullivan (Highfield RFC/Munster), Michael Moloney (UCD RFC/Leinster), Harry West (Ballina RFC/Connacht), Shay McCarthy (Young Munster RFC/Munster), Reece Malone (Loughborough University/Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Oisin Michel (Lansdowne FC/Leinster), James McCormick (Ballymena RFC/Ulster).
SCOTLAND U-20: Keiran Clark (Southern Knights); Kerr Johnston (Gala RFC), Duncan Munn (Boroughmuir Bears), Andy Stirrat (Ayrshire Bulls), Gabe Jones (Brunel University/Ealing Trailfinders); Euan Cunningham (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Ben Afshar (Southern Knights); Iain Carmichael (Boroughmuir Bears), Patrick Harrison (Watsonians RFC/Edinburgh Rugby), Callum Norrie (Stirling County/Strathallan School), Josh Taylor (Ealing Trailfinders), Max Williamson (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Rhys Tait (Boroughmuir Bears/Glasgow Warriors) (capt), Gregor Hiddleston (Stirling County), Ollie Leatherbarrow (Exeter Chiefs).
Replacements used:
Duncan Hood (Bath University), Ali Rogers (Ayrshire Bulls), Gregor Scougall (Watsonians RFC), James Lascelles (Gloucester Rugby/Hartpury College), Jake Spurway (Stirling County /Durham University), Tim Brown (Ayrshire Bulls), Thomas Glendinning (Ayrshire Bulls), Ross McKnight (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Liam McConnell (Boroughmuir Bears), Rudi Brown (Southern Knights/Edinburgh Rugby), Finlay Burgess (Stirling County).
Referee: Benoit Rousselet (France)
Source: Irish Rugby