Baby Blacks sweep Irish for semis spot
Big wing Tevita Li starred with two tries as New Zealand booked a semifinal berth at rugby’s under 20 world championships in Italy.
New Zealand proved too strong for Ireland, winning 25-3 at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana, yesterday.
New Zealand will play France in their semifinal on Tuesday (NZ time) with South Africa and champion England meeting in the other semifinal.
It was a much-improved effort against Ireland compared to the scratchy three-point win over Argentina earlier in the week and completed an unbeaten run through pool play after their comfortable win against Scotland in their opening match.
Ireland produced plenty of pressure with their big pack providing enough ball for them to enjoy good field position. But New Zealand’s defence was relentless and their composure good as they saw off the green challenge.
Their attack was impressive once they found freedom with the ball.
Li, the Blues wing, benefitted with his brace of tries when the game opened up briefly either side of halftime.
But for long periods the gallant Irish outfit controlled the ball, but gained no reward.
New Zealand, looking for their first success at this level since 2011, will need to be on their game against a French side whose pack will sure to be as competitive as Ireland’s.
Joey Carbery missed two early penalty attempts as Ireland kept New Zealand pinned in their half during the opening phases
Carbery finally landed a goal after 15 minutes to give the Irish reward for their constant field position pressure.
But New Zealand showed the potency of their attack when they finally got into the right area. They applied pressure among their forwards close to the Irish line and then spun the ball wide for Li to crash over in the corner.
The Kiwis continued to apply pressure and an Otere Black penalty edged them further ahead.
Ireland lost halfback and skipper Nick McCarthy to a shoulder injury just before halftime.
Black landed a long-range penalty to finish the half with New Zealand ahead 11-3.