Under-20s Secure Ninth Place At Junior World Championship
Chris Cochrane, Eoin O’Malley and David Kearney shared out five tries as the Ireland Under-20s (sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers) ended the IRB Junior World Championship in fine form with a 39-12 dismissal of Scotland in Newport.
2008 IRB JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – 9TH-10TH PLACE PLAY-OFF: Sunday, June 22
IRELAND UNDER-20s 39 SCOTLAND UNDER-20s 12, Rodney Parade, Newport
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Chris Cochrane 2, Eoin O’Malley, David Kearney 2; Cons: Ian Porter 2, Ian Madigan 2; Pens: Ian Porter 2
Scotland: Tries: Ruaridh Jackson, Andrew Rose; Con: Jamie Murray
Eric Elwood’s Ireland side chalked up a comfortable win over Scotland at a windswept Rodney Parade in Newport on Sunday, a result which means they clinch ninth place overall at the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship.
The Irish were the worthy winners on the day, but Scotland put in a gallant display after the sending-off of their right winger Tom Bury for kicking an opponent on the ground left them a man short for an hour.
Ireland made early use of the breeze at their backs with two early penalties from scrum half Ian Porter.
However, Scotland made light of their numerical disadvantage and engineered several scoring opportunities with only heroic Irish defence keeping them at bay.
Things then went from bad to worse for Scotland as they lost influential centre Stephen McColl and then had second row Neale Patrick was stretchered off within minutes of each other before conceding the game’s first try.
Ireland struck just before half-time when left winger Chris Cochrane touched down after a Scotland kick was charged down.
Trailing 13-0, Scotland had a second half mountain to climb and it only became steeper when Ireland’s replacement out-half Ian Madigan slid through a sublime grubber kick for centre Eoin O’Malley to gather and score under the posts.
Nevertheless, the Scots showed real grit to bounce back when replacement Ruaridh Jackson gathered a loose ball on halfway and outsprinted the cover to touch down in the corner for his side’s first points in the 52nd-minute.
It was no more than their efforts merited and, even when Madigan put winger David Kearney over for Ireland’s third try after a neat blindside break, Scotland responded with a score from flanker Andrew Rose.
Yet the Irish wingers had the final word as Kearney and Cochrane both finished off length of the field moves to claim their second tries in the match.
Scotland had given their all but Ireland had just too much for them with number 8 Kieran Essex leading the way and scrum half Porter’s right boot proving important in the early stages.
Speaking afterwards, Elwood said: “It was a good result (for us). Any time you put 39 points on an opponent, it’s a good result.
“It’s been a long, tough tournament for us but we set out to win our last three games and we’ve done that.
“We know the Scots quite well and they were ravaged by injuries which was tough for them. But we can only play what’s in front of us.”
TIME LINE: 5 minutes – Ireland penalty: Ian Porter – 3-0; 11 mins – Ireland penalty: Ian Porter – 6-0; 20 mins – Scotland red card: Tom Bury; 40 mins – Ireland yellow card: Michael Entwistle; 40+2 mins – Ireland try: Chris Cochrane – 11-0; conversion: Ian Porter – 13-0; Half-time – Ireland 13 Scotland 0; 47 mins – Ireland try: Eoin O’Malley – 18-0; conversion: Ian Porter – 20-0; 52 mins – Scotland try: Ruaridh Jackson – 20-5; conversion: missed by Jamie Murray – 20-5; 56 mins – Scotland yellow card: Fraser McKenzie; 65 mins – Ireland try: David Kearney – 25-5; conversion: missed by Ian Madigan – 25-5; 68 mins – Ireland yellow card: James Sandford; 69 mins – Scotland try: Andrew Rose – 25-10; conversion: Jamie Murray – 25-12; 72 mins – Ireland try: David Kearney – 30-12; conversion: Ian Madigan – 32-12; 78 mins – Ireland try: Chris Cochrane – 37-12; conversion: Ian Madigan – 39-12; Full-time – Ireland 39 Scotland 12
IRELAND UNDER-20: Niall Morris (Blackrock College/Leinster); David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster), Eoin O’Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Conor Cleary (Greystones/Leinster), Chris Cochrane (Queen’s University/Ulster); Martin Dufficy (Dublin University/Leinster), Ian Porter (Queen’s University/Ulster); Paul Karayiannis (Queen’s University/Ulster), Jason Harris-Wright (Greystones/Leinster), Ben Barclay (UCD/Leinster), Ian Nagle (UCC/Munster), Eoin Sheriff (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul Ryan (Blackrock College/Leinster) (capt), Michael Entwistle (Ballymena/Ulster), Kieran Essex (UL Bohemians/Munster).
Replacements used: James Sandford (Queen’s University/Ulster) for Nagle (28 mins), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster) for Dufficy (half-time), Ciaran Ruddock (Neath/Exiles) for Entwistle, Jamie Smith (Ballymena/Ulster) for Cleary (both 50), Stephen Archer (UCC/Munster) for Barclay (53), David Moore (Blackrock College/Leinster) for Porter (57), Stephen Douglas (Ballymena/Ulster) for Harris-Wright (60).
SCOTLAND UNDER-20: Murray Allan; Tom Bury, Paul Loudon, Stephen McColl, Chris Kinloch; Jamie Murray, Ross Samson; Gary Strain, Adrian Duncan, Lewis Niven, Fraser McKenzie, Neale Patrick, Andrew Rose, Lewis Calder (capt), Craig Simmonds.
Replacements used: Ruaridh Jackson for McColl (34 mins), Alex Wukovits for Patrick (36), Peter Jericevich for Samson, Peter Horne for Allan (both 49), Gavin Cameron for Niven (51), Jonny Baird for Simmonds (62), Niall Shannon for Kinloch (71).
Referee: James Jones (Wales)