Sport

Ireland see off plucky Scotland

Ireland 10 Scotland 0: It took two forward-oriented tries from fullback Dan Lavery and number eight and captain Seán O'Brien…

Wed Mar 30 2005 - 01:00

Ireland 10 Scotland 0: It took two forward-oriented tries from fullback Dan Lavery and number eight and captain Seán O'Brien for Ireland to shake off Scotland on an almost waterlogged surface in the Under-18 Four Nations tournament at Dunvant in Wales yesterday.

There would have been few complaints if the game had been cancelled and the steady rainfall did nothing to improve the conditions. Ireland made 11 changes from their heroic 13-13 draw with Wales on Saturday.

Scotland came into their second match on the back of a 48-13 mauling from England. It was to their credit they showed no signs of that with such an improved performance.

The first-half deadlock was no surprise as both sides struggled to put phases together. Ireland finally made the breakthrough when Lavery followed the example of others in a series of mauls and rucks to make the last few yards to the line in the 46th minute.

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The first score was always going to be the most important and O'Brien finished a similar effort 10 minutes later as Ireland gained the upper-hand with the second-half introduction of five of the players that almost shocked Wales on Saturday.

Ireland will play their final match of the week-long competition against England in what could be the decider at Pontypridd on Friday.

Scorers: Ireland Under-18s: D Lavery, S O'Brien try each.

IRELAND Under-18: D Lavery (Irish Exiles); S Monaghan (Boyne RFC), S Morrow (Methodist College), I Whitten (Wallace HS), C Smith (Coleraine AI); M Skelton (Naas RFC), S Cranley (Pres Bray); D Mahony (St Michael's College), S Douglas (RBAI), J Hagan (Balbriggan RFC), J McCullough (RBAI), J Graham (Royal School Armagh), T O'Donnell (Clanwilliam RFC), D Johnston (Methodist College), S O'Brien (Tullow RFC, capt). Replacements: R Sweeney (St Mary's College) for Hagan 45 mins; D Millard (Irish Exiles) for Mahony 47 mins; N Keogh (St Munchin's college) for McCullough 55 mins; K Sheehan (St Michael's College) for Johnston 56 mins; C Murphy (Belvedere College) for Smith 58 mins.

SCOTLAND Under-18s: C Goudie; J Coutts, C Anderson, G Hogg (capt), A Robertson; C Marshall, M Bringhurst; S Linton, T Wright, R McCallum, W Litt, S Turnbull, D Levison, A Thompson, R Vernon. Replacements: G Nagle for Linton 46 mins; F Wilford for Wright 51 mins; J Hunter for Bringhurst, R Curle for Marshall 56 mins; G McGilchrist for Litt 64 mins.

Referee: I Robinson, England.