Satisfying Start For Ireland Under-20s

Darren Hudson was the hat-trick her for the Ireland Under-20s gained a runaway 39-0 win over Italy at Dubarry Park on Friday night.

RBS UNDER-20 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Friday, February 5

IRELAND UNDER-20s 39 ITALY UNDER-20s 0, Dubarry Park

Scorers: Ireland U-20: Tries: Darren Hudson 3, Nevin Spence, Simon Zebo, Brendan Macken; Cons: James McKinney 2, Brian Kingston; Pen: James McKinney
Italy U-20: –

RTE Match Coverage – First Half; Second Half

Darren Hudson, the St. Mary’s College winger, touched down after 19, 52 and 72 minutes to help Allen Clarke’s charges open their RBS Under-20 6 Nations campaign with a pleasing win.

The margin of victory could have been wider and the Irish side, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, did take their time to settle in the opening half, which was understandably given first night nerves.

But they showed enough glimpses of forward grunt and attacking class out wide to suggest that they could have a say in the destination of the title this year.

Strong early runs from hooker Niall Annett and number 8 Patrick Butler had the Athlone crowd roaring its approval, but Irish out-half James McKinney was off target with a long range fifth minute penalty.

However, the Queen’s University clubman was successful with an easier penalty chance, three minutes later, to open the scoring.

There were errors on both sides as they sought to dominate the breakdown and encouragingly for Clarke’s youngsters, they were solid on their own set piece ball and also secured a couple of turnovers against a beefy Italian pack.

The back row unit of Butler, Dominic Ryan and captain Rhys Ruddock was particularly effective and the try deadlock was broken midway through the half, following a brave catch by McKinney.

Ireland used quick ball to attack down the left and Nevin Spence and Ryan carried forward before full-back Andrew Conway, who impressed throughout, dinked a kick ahead into the Italian 22.

Conway could not regain possession but Hudson glided in from the right and his excellent pick-up off the ground allowed him go over in the left corner with the minimum of fuss.

McKinney failed to convert from a difficult angle and soon after, the Irish, who were growing in confidence, had a try ruled out by the television match official.

Winger Simon Zebo led a great counter attack, Hudson was hauled down short of the posts and when the ball was spread out to the left, skipper Ruddock was inches away from scoring.

Italy were struggling to cope with Ireland’s attacks. The hosts failed to convert an overlap on the right when centre Brendan Macken threw a forward pass to Hudson, but just moments later, try number two arrived when a lovely delayed pass from McKinney put centre Spence through to the left of the posts for an unconverted score.

There were further near misses for the Irish as the half came to a close, Macken being unfortunate to lose control of the ball as he stretched for the try-line, while Italy’s Tommaso Iannone had the accuracy but not the required distance when he punted an injury-time penalty towards the Irish posts.

13-0 ahead at the break, Ireland wasted little time in re-establishing their control and gradually their superior fitness levels and ball-playing ability told.

Italy, with four replacements on, were caught napping on the left when Zebo spun out of a tackle and stretched over for the hosts’ third try, which McKinney managed to convert from close to the touchline.

The increasingly influential McKinney then popped a well-timed pass inside for support runner Hudson to speed over under the posts for a 52nd minute try. Now 27-0 down, the Italians, although still maintaining a high level of effort, were clearly losing heart.

Iannone lifted his side’s heads with a pacy break and kick ahead, coming up to the hour mark, and a sustained period of pressure in the Irish 22 looked set to yield some dividends for the Azzurri side.

But the combined efforts of replacement prop Stewart Maguire and scrum half John Cooney saw Italy’s Filippo Cazzola held up over the try-line when a score seemed certain.

With eight minutes remaining, Ireland gained a fifth try when the fast-breaking Conway wormed his way through on a diagonal burst and he drew a defender before offloading for ESB International man-of-the-match Hudson to score in the right corner and chalk up his hat-trick.

Italy had another unrewarded spell in Irish territory before Macken finished off the scoring in injury-time by brilliantly beating two players for pace and stepping inside the last defender for a well-taken try which replacement out-half Brian Kingston converted.

There will be tougher days ahead for Ruddock and his team-mates – next week’s trip to France will certainly test their mettle – but as Championship starts go, this was a very positive one.

The opening round’s other games, also played on Friday, saw Scotland score a notable 8-8 draw with defending champions France, while England powered their way to a 41-14 home victory over Wales.

IRELAND U-20: Andrew Conway; Darren Hudson, Brendan Macken, Nevin Spence, Simon Zebo; James McKinney, John Cooney; Bryan Cagney, Niall Annett, Jack O’Connell, David O’Callaghan, Ben Marshall, Rhys Ruddock (capt), Dominic Ryan, Patrick Butler.

Replacements used: Robin O’Sullivan for Ryan (44 mins), Eoin Griffin for Zebo (57), Brian Kingston for McKinney (60), David Doyle for Annett (61), Stewart Maguire for O’Connell (62), Brian Hayes for O’Callaghan (63), Michael Heaney for Cooney (67).

ITALY U-20: Ruggero Trevisan; Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Benvenuti, Sebastian Rodwell, Giovanni Alberghini; Tommaso Iannone, Edoardo Gori (capt); Carlo Fazzari, Nicola Corbanese, Francesco Pepoli, Enrico Targa, Lorenzo Santelli, Nicola Belardo, Filippo Ferrarini, Gabriele Cicchinelli.

Replacements used: Andrea Manici for Corbanese, Antonio Denti for Pepoli, Alberto Chillon for Gori, Francesco Menon for Venditti (all half-time), Filippo Cazzola for Santelli (58), Michele Mortali for Alberghini (67), Edoardo Lubian for Targa (71).

Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)