Sport

Make-or-break time as Ireland chase bonus point

Under-21 World Championship : Ireland face Samoa in the second round of the IRB World Under-21 Championship at the Marista ground…

Alan Lorimer
Mon Jun 13 2005 - 01:00

Under-21 World Championship: Ireland face Samoa in the second round of the IRB World Under-21 Championship at the Marista ground in Mendoza knowing they have to win and score at least four tries to collect the all-important bonus point if they are to finish in the top eight at the end of the pool stages.

In the first-round match against France, Ireland, suffering defeat by an eight-point margin, were cruelly denied a losers' bonus point by a try in the last play of the game from the French replacement centre Thibault Lacroix.

"We perhaps didn't go for field position in the later stages as France pressured us," said Ireland coach Mark McDermott.

"As a result we played the last five minutes in our own 22-metre area.

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"You could possibly put that down to inexperience. We had seven new caps in the match against France. What you have to remember is that the intensity of the competition here is far, far greater than anything a lot of our guys have ever experienced.

"We got off to a great start against France but annoyingly we missed two opportunities to add to our early scores.

"We could have been 22-nil ahead, instead of which we trailed France 14-10 at the break," added McDermott.

Samoa will come into the match today on the back of a heavy defeat by England. But they will also have derived confidence from scoring three second half-tries in that game, underlining their attacking skills.

"England played with structure in the first half and rattled up a lot of points. Then when the game became looser the Samoans were able to run the ball," observed McDermott after studying a video of the first-round match.

"Samoa are good at exploiting any weak tackling. They counter well and run good angles," the Ireland coach added.

For this match, Ireland have made several changes to their team.

Gerry Hurley , the Garryowen scrumhalf, starts instead of Cillian Willis (UCD). Dan Riordan of Corinthians is on the wing for Paul McKenzie. And Ross Noonan of UCC starts at lock.

Meanwhile, the Terenure lock Alex Dunlop will join the Ireland under-21 squad in Mendoza as replacement for the injured Mark Melbourne, who damaged ankle ligaments in the opening match against France.

IRELAND UNDER-21: R McCarron (UCD); P Hurley (UCC), A Trimble (Ballymena), G Stafford (Lansdowne), D Riordan (Corinthians); G Steenson (Dungannon, captain), G Hurley (UCC); G Maxwell (Dungannon), S Philpott (Saracens), J Andress (Belfast Harlequins); R Noonan (UCC), R Caldwell (Dungannon); K McLaughlin (UCD), C Henry (Malone), S Ferris (Dungannon).

Replacements: J Merrigen (Corinthians), R Loughney (Galwegians), T Richardson (Buccaneers), A Kavanagh (Garryowen), C Willis (UCD), J Sexton (St Mary's College), M Kettyle (Belfast Harlequins).