WELSH YOUNGSTERS ARE TAKEN APART BY IRELAND
WALES lost 43-8 to Ireland as the Grand Slam champions showed their ruthless side in the U20s Six Nations. Tries from Henry Walker (2), Sean Edogbo, Danny Sheahan (2) and Ben O’Connor secured a handsome victory for the hosts, with Wales getting their sole score through scrum-half Ieuan Davies.
Richard Whiffin’s side could not handle the Irish maul throughout the 80 minutes, with the home side bagging multiple scores through their dominance in that area.
The starting and replacement hookers for Ireland scored two tries each, and were successful in peeling off the back of the maul on separate occasions.
Early on in the first half, Wales hooker Harry Thomas was yellow carded for not wrapping in the tackle, but the visitors remained strong despite being a man down.
When the Scarlets front rower returned to the field his bad luck continued, being pinged for a neck roll as Wales tried to build.
Wales showed signs of real promise in attack in the first half, but weren’t able to break the line when it mattered.
After being outmuscled by England last week, Whiffin’s side looked to front up to the Irish physicality at times in the opening 40, but were unable to repel their efforts from close range, where Ireland were most efficient.
Ireland’s rolling maul worked relentlessly towards the whitewash for their first try through blindside flanker Edogbo, who finished off a multi-phase surge.
All but one of Ireland’s scores came from close range.
Wales were the nearly team at times, putting together some clever, varied moves with smart dummyrunning lines, but appeared to run out of ideas when they got within range of executing the killer blow.
Wales continued to push in the second half, but fumbled a couple of chances.
However, their efforts were eventually rewarded with a Ieuan Davies try, which was kickstarted by an excellent step from replacement fly-half Harri Ford.
Statistically speaking, the sides were well matched in most areas.
The teams had roughly the same number of carried metres and were 50/50 on possession, but Ireland were simply more clinical where it really mattered.
The trusty boot of fly-half Jack Murphy enhanced the efforts of his team-mates and kept the board ticking over for the home team.
The closing stages were largely error-strewn for Wales as they became overwhelmed by the incessant Irish pressure.
Another sin bin didn’t help Wales as replacement hooker Evan Wood was given his marching orders for a ruck infringement with 15 minutes to play.
A barn-storming try from Ben O’Connor epitomised the disjointed state of the Wales team in the closing stages, as the full-back powered through for a score that rubber stamped a tough night for Wales in Cork.
IRELAND: Ben O’Connor (Munster); Finn Treacy (Connacht), Wilhelm de Klerk (Leinster), Hugh Gavin (Connacht), Hugo McLaughlin (Leinster); Jack Murphy (Leinster), Oliver Coffey (Leinster); Ben Howard (Leinster), Henry Walker (Ulster), Patreece Bell (Sale Sharks), Joe
Hopes (Ulster), Evan O’Connell (Munster, capt), Sean Edogbo (Munster), Bryn Ward (Ulster), Luke Murphy (Munster). REPLACEMENTS: Danny Sheahan (Munster), Alex Usanov (Leinster), Jacob Boyd (Ulster), Billy Corrigan (Leinster), Tom Brigg (Ulster), Tadhg Brophy (Leinster), Sean Naughton (Connacht), Davy Colbert (Leinster). WALES: Huw Anderson (Dragons); Harry Rees-Weldon (Dragons), Louie Hennessey (Bath), Harri Ackerman (Dragons, capt), Walker Price (Dragons);HarriWilde(Cardiff),
Ieuan Davies (Bath); Josh Morse (Scarlets), Harry Thomas (Scarlets), Sam Scott (Midlands Central), Jonny Green (Harlequins), Nick Thomas (Dragons), Osian Thomas (Leicester Tigers), Harry Beddall (Leicester Tigers), Lucas de la Rua (Cardiff). REPLACEMENTS: Will Austin (Sale Sharks), Jordan Morris (Dragons), Kian Hire (Ospreys), Owen Conquer (Ebbw Vale), Will Plessis (Scarlets), Rhodri Lewis (Ospreys), Harri Ford (RGC), Macs Page (Scarlets).