Ireland Under-20s Make It A Triple Crown Double In Cork

Replacement Christian Foley’s last-time try capped off the Ireland Under-20s’ fourth straight bonus point win as they finished this year’s U-20 Men’s Six Nations as Triple Crown winners.

UNDER-20 MEN’S SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 5:

Sunday, March 15 –

IRELAND UNDER-20s 47 SCOTLAND UNDER-20s 14, Virgin Media Park
Scorers: Ireland U-20s: Tries: Duinn Maguire, Derry Moloney, Rob Carney, Ben Blaney, Johnny O’Sullivan, Christopher Barrett, Christian Foley; Cons: Tom Wood 6
Scotland U-20s: Tries: Jamie McAughtrie, Henry Widdowson; Cons: Hamish McArthur 2
HT: Ireland Under-20s 28 Scotland Under-20s 0

Four converted first-half scores without reply set them on their way to a 47-14 victory over Scotland, as Irish Rugby celebrated a Men’s senior and Under-20 Triple Crown double for the third time in five seasons.

The Virgin Media Park crowd lapped up another incisive attacking performance from Andrew Browne’s youngsters, who had PwC player-of-the-match Tom Wood pulling the strings at half-back, alongside Christopher Barrett who made it five tries for the 2026 Championship.

Despite Scotland’s bright start, a clever lineout move had Duinn Maguire powering over for a seven-minute opener. Wood’s inviting skip pass put Derry Moloney racing in from the same right corner, midway through the first half.

Ireland were at their free-flowing best for Rob Carney’s 29th-minute effort, before busy flanker Ben Blaney raced away down the blindside to bag the bonus point, making it 28-0 for half-time.

The scores dried up until slick passing from the Irish backs released replacement Johnny O’Sullivan to cross in the 67th minute. Scotland rallied with back-to-back seven-pointers from Jamie McAughtrie and Henry Widdowson.

However, O’Sullivan supplied the assist for Barrett, who had moved to the wing, to maintain his brilliant try-scoring form, and a late surge from the home pack ended with prop Foley gleefully grounding the ball for try number seven.

Full report to follow…

TIME LINE: 7 minutes – Ireland Under-20s try: Duinn Maguire – 5-0; conversion: Tom Wood – 7-0; 20 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Derry Moloney – 12-0; conversion: Tom Wood – 14-0; 29 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Rob Carney – 19-0; conversion: Tom Wood – 21-0; 37 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Ben Blaney – 26-0; conversion: Tom Wood – 28-0; Half-time – Ireland Under-20s 28 Scotland Under-20s 0; 67 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Johnny O’Sullivan – 33-0; conversion: Tom Wood – 35-0; 70 mins – Scotland Under-20s try: Jamie McAughtrie – 35-5; conversion: Hamish McArthur – 35-7; 71 mins – Scotland Under-20s try: Henry Widdowson – 35-12; conversion: Hamish McArthur – 35-14; 75 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Christopher Barrett – 40-14; conversion: Tom Wood – 42-14; 80+1 mins – Ireland Under-20s try: Christian Foley – 47-14; conversion: missed by Tom Wood – 47-14; Full-time – Ireland Under-20s 47 Scotland Under-20s 14

IRELAND U-20: Noah Byrne (Dublin University FC/Leinster); Derry Moloney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Rob Carney (Cashel RFC/Munster), James O’Leary (UCC RFC/Munster), Daniel Ryan (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht); Tom Wood (Garryowen FC/Munster), Christopher Barrett (UCC RFC/Munster); Max Doyle (UCD RFC/Leinster), Duinn Maguire (UCD RFC/Leinster), Sami Bishti (UCD RFC/Leinster) (capt), Joe Finn (Garryowen FC/Munster), Donnacha McGuire (UCD RFC/Leinster), Josh Neill (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Ben Blaney (Terenure College RFC/Leinster), Diarmaid O’Connell (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht).

Replacements used: Johnny O’Sullivan (Dublin University FC/Leinster) for Byrne (46 mins), Dylan McNeice (UCD RFC/Leinster) for McGuire, Lee Fitzpatrick (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for Maguire (both 49), Billy Hayes (Garryowen FC/Munster) for Blaney (53), Christian Foley (Young Munster RFC/Munster) for Doyle, Luke Murtagh (Galwegians RFC/Connacht) for Bishti (both 61), Charlie O’Shea (UCC RFC/Munster) for Carney (63), James O’Dwyer (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) for Neill (71).

SCOTLAND U-20: Henry Widdowson (Edinburgh Rugby); Nairn Moncrieff (Edinburgh Rugby), Campbell Waugh (Glasgow Hawks), Harry Clark (Watsonian FC), Rory McHaffie (Edinburgh Rugby); Jake Dalziel (Merchiston Castle School/Melrose RFC), Adam McKenzie (Watsonian FC); Oliver McKenna (Glasgow Warriors), Joe Roberts (Glasgow Warriors) (capt), Jamie Stewart (Edinburgh Rugby), Alfie Blackett (Cardiff Metropolitan University), Dan Halkon (Glasgow Warriors), Archie Appleby (Northampton Saints), Jack Utterson (Edinburgh Rugby), Rory Purvis (Glasgow Warriors).

Replacements used: Henry Armstrong (Stirling County RFC) for Moncrieff (26 mins), Harvey Preston (Glasgow Hawks) for Utterson, Christian Lindsay (Edinburgh Rugby) for Blackett (both half-time), Jackson Rennie (Glasgow Warriors) for Stewart, Jamie McAughtrie (Ayr RFC) for Purvis, Will Pearce (Cardiff Metropolitan University/Bristol Bears) for McKenna (all 55), Hamish MacArthur (Edinburgh Rugby) for McKenzie (57), Fin Ronnie (Watsonian FC) for Halkon (58).

Referee: David Vosalevu (FRU)