Six Nations U20 Championship: Ireland 23 Italy 22
Ireland followed up their opening Six Nations match, a brilliant 37-31 win in Aix-en-Provence, with a second win over Italy in Cork to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive. Irish coach Richie Murphy and his players are now chasing an unprecedented three successive Grand Slams.
Murphy had predicted a fired up and physical challenge from the Italians before the match and after Ireland’s six day turn around, that’s exactly what he got, the Irish scrum again under tremendous pressure. That and some loose play and mistakes from Ireland across the board combined with sharp running from the Italian back three made it a tough night for the Irish fans.
“What a battle,” said Ireland fullback,” Ben O’Connor. “Every single player one to 23 just dug in.”
The scrum was always going to be key after Ireland conceded seven scrum penalties the last time the two teams met in the Belfield Bowl shortly before Christmas.
In the end it was and had become a liability, and even when the clock was in the red Italy earned a penalty off it and kicked to touch for a stirring finish, the visitors bashing up into the Irish 22 looking for anything to give them the win, replacement hooker Sheahan finally getting hands on a lose ball and kicking it dead.
It was a particularly intriguing first half and Ireland would have jogged into halftime asking themselves what had just happened. All the territory, all the possession, 108 tackles from Italy and 30 from Ireland but the home side 15-17 down.
You could have imagined a furious Murphy in the locker room pleading for calm and poise after they had taken the ball on using their big men Evan O’Connell, Luke Murphy and Alan Spicer to punch holes early on in the Italian defence.
But giving way to a couple of mental errors fuelled the Italians and kept them right in the match.
Jack Murphy’s penalty after four minutes gave Ireland an early lead. It got a bit scrappy for a time but Ireland were the team forcing Italy to do the lion’s share of defending, with the referee Jeremy Rozier talking to Italian captain Jacopo Botturi for his sides mounting penalty count.
Then finally, reward arrived for Ireland, a pop-up pass from Luke Murphy and O’Connell on the end of it for his first try at Under 20 level. Jack Murphy converting for a justifiable 10-0.
But two minutes later a knock-on at the restart and a weak scrum allowed winger Moro Scalabrin to pick the ball and accelerate through the Irish bodies. In fairness the Italian showed some gas, but it was a body blow to Ireland and given their prior work rate almost like a free try. Converted by Martino Pucciariello for 10-7, Ireland again swept forward, with great work from centre Wilhelm de Klerk, finished off by Ben O’Connor’s drift run for 15-7.
But once again calamity struck Ireland and from the restart the ball was spilled loose. Again, the Italian standout wing Scalabrin gathered and ran in for his second try. It was another setback for Ireland but they still led 15-14 until an offside gave Pucciariello a penalty and Italy a 15-17 half-time lead.
Character was the mainstay of Ireland in the second half. The scrum again gave way too often. But a Murphy penalty inched Ireland ahead 18-17. That lead was also shortlived as scorer Scalabrin turned provider with another defence-breaking run and a one-handed offload to lock Piero Gritti for Italy to go ahead 18-22.
That too was just minutes long. By then the game was becoming frantic as bench players entered the game, none making more impact than Sean Edogbo. Ireland finally got the ball moving through their hands and with Edogbo wide right, power and acceleration as well as bumping off the Italian fullback and it was 23-22 for Ireland going into the last six minutes.
Still, it was not over with Italy smelling some weakness in Ireland, at least enough for them to push into the Irish half looking for the winning score. There were mistakes and wonderful tackles and selfless work from Ireland and in the end, they got it done. It’s one takeaway from which Murphy will take great pride, an imperfect Irish performance but one that never died for them, right to the end of a nerve-shredding match.
Scoring sequence – 4 mins J Murphy pen 3-0; 21 mins E O’Connell try, Murphy con 10-0; 24 mins M Scalabrin try, M Pucciariello con 10-7; 29 mins B O’Connor try 17-7; 30 mins M Scalabrin try, M Pucciariello con 15-14; 34 mins; 34 mins M Pucciariello pen 15-17; 60 mins J Murphy pen 18-17; 66 mins P Gritti try 18-22; 74 mins S Edogbo try 23-22.
Ireland: B O’Connor (UCC); F Treacy (Galwegians), W de Klerk (UCD), H Gavin (Galwegians), H McLaughlin (Lansdowne); J Murphy (Clontarf), O Coffey (Blackrock College); A Usanov (Clontarf); S Smyth (Old Wesley), J Boyd (QUB); A Spicer (UCD), E O’Connell (UL Bohemian, capt); J Hopes (QUB), B Ward (Ballynahinch), L Murphy (Shannon).
Replacements: D Sheahan (Cork Constitution) for Smyth 50 mins, P Bell (Sale Sharks) for Boyd 50 mins, B Corrigan (Old Wesley) for Spicer 50 mins, B Howard (Terenure College) for Usanov 62 mins, S Edogbo (UCC) for Murphy 62 mins, T Brophy (Naas) for Coffey 65 mins, S Naughton (Galway Corinthians) for Murphy 68 mins
Italy: M Belloni; M Scalabrin, F Zanandrea, N Bozzo, L Elettri; M Pucciariello, L Casilio; F Pisani, N Gasperini, M Gallorini; T Redondi, P Gritti; C Zucconi, L Bellucci, J Botturi (capt).
Replacements: S Pelliccioli for Redondi 20 mins; D Ascari for Gallorini 75 mins, O D’Alessandro for Botturi 76 mins, M Jimenez for Casilo 75 mins, P de Villiers for Pucciariello 64 mins
Yellow card: C Zucconi 37 mins
Referee: J Rozier (France)
