Under-19 World Cup/ Australia 23 Ireland 0: Ireland can finish no higher than ninth in the IRB Under-19 World Championship after failing to gain a bonus point against Australia at the ABSA stadium, Durban, on Saturday.

A bonus point would have had Ireland contesting fifth-to-eighth positions with France, Wales and Argentina.

The Irish will face bottom-placed Japan at the Glenwood High School ground in Durban on Wednesday in a match they should win easily.

Thereafter, if Scotland defeat Georgia on Wednesday, the two Celtic nations could be battling for the ninth position.

Ireland started well against Australia but found themselves trailing 6-0 at half-time.

But two converted second-half tries and an injury-time penalty gave Australia a substantial win.

"We made mistake after mistake," lamented the Ireland manager, Michael Cunningham.

"We spilled too much ball and failed to find touch with our kicks. It was not the losing but the poor quality of our performance that was disappointing.

"Again we didn't have the killer touch when we got into the scoring zone. That was very disappointing for us."

Ireland will go into their match with Japan without outhalf Evan Ryan, who has heavy bruising on an arm and will take no further part in the tournament.

Also out for the rest of the championship is winger Frankie Daly, who has a knee injury.

IRELAND UNDER-19: R Kearney; F Daly, F McFadden, D Cave, D Black; E Ryan, M D'Arcy; C Black, G O'Meara, B Lynch, D McGowan, F Walsh, D Laffan, B O'Mahoney, D O'Reilly.

Positions after three rounds : 1 South Africa 14 pts, 2 New Zealand 13 pts, 3 Australia 13 pts, 4 England 11 pts, 5 Wales 10 pts, 6 France 7 pts, 7 Romania 5 pts, 8 Argentina 5 pts, 9 Ireland 4 pts, 10 Scotland 4 pts, 11 Georgia 0 pts, 12 Japan 0 pts.