Ireland 18 Italy 0
Ireland have never lost to Italy in the U-20 Six Nations and that never looked like changing at Dubarry Park last night as Mike Ruddock’s men notched their second victory of the campaign.
They controlled the game from start to finish and showed a great willingness to wide but will be disappointed to have only notched a brace of tries from their wingers.
But the win sets them up well as they head to France next weekend for their final game of the campaign before regrouping for the Junior World Cup in New Zealand in June.
Ireland dominated the opening half and Italy were fortunate just to be 13-0 adrift at the break.
The Irish pack got on top from the outset and at one stage Italy lost three of their own lineouts towards the end of the opening quarter.
Adam Byrne was full of running on the left-wing as Mike Ruddock’s men enjoyed decent weather at the Athlone venue for the first time this season.
But Ireland suffered an early blow when full-back David Busby had to go off injured but their willingness to wide eventually coughed up opportunities.
Ross Byrne, who got them off the mark with a penalty after just 90 seconds, was off target with a couple of penalties.
But the pressure finally paid off after 16 minutes when Ireland were rewarded for going wide after a couple of surges were stopped short, Cian Kelleher spotted a gap and raced over to become the first Irish back to touchdown in this year’s Six Nations campaign.
Byrne added the extras to make it 10-0 but Ireland did not push on from there despite controlling possession.
Byrne made it 13-0 after 20 minutes but Ireland did not score for the remainder of the half with a try for Peter Robb being ruled out after Dan Goggin knocked on over the line with an awkward bounce.
The third quarter was very disjointed with Ireland winger Kelleher and Italian out-half Filippo Buscema binned for handbags, shortly after Buscema had failed to land a penalty during Italy’s best spell in the game.
Ireland got back on top and while Rory Moloney was unable to hold a chip from Ross Byrne with the line at his mercy, Ireland won the scrum and did not leave the 22 without a try.
Again they went wide and created the overlap after a few surges were held, but Adam Byrne got over after being put through by Ross Byrne and Robb to make it 18-0 after 55 minutes.
That killed the game but while Ireland continued to control matters to the end, they were unable to add to their tally.
Ireland: D Busby (Ulster); C Kelleher (Leinster), D Goggin (Munster), P Robb (Leinster), A Byrne (Leinster); R Byrne (Leinster), N McCarthy (Leinster); P Dooley (Leinster), M Abbott (Munster), R Burke (Munster); S O’Brien (Connacht), Ross Molony (Leinster); P Timmins (Leinster), Rory Moloney (Connacht), J O’Donoghue (Munster). Replacements: H Brewer (Leinster) for Busby, 13; O Heffernan (Leinster) for Burke, 40; J Cullen (Munster) for McCarthy, 55; F Taggart (Ulster) Timmins, 62; S McNulty (Munster) for Abbott, 62; D Coulson (Leinster) for Dooley, 62; C McKeon (Leinster) for R Byrne, 68; S Gardiner (Leinster) for O’Brien, 73.
Italy: A Torlai; Y Agbasse, G De Santis, G Manganiello, M Bruno Lorenzo; F Buscema,M Azzolini; D Appiah, A Daniele, S Ferrari; F Scalvi, R Michieletto; M Lazzaroni, S Negri Da Oleggio. Replacements: M Gabbianelli for De Santis, 55; P Buonfiglio for Ferrari, 57; M Archetti for Michieletto, 57; M Gasparini for Torlai, 57; D Zanetti for Scalvi, 57; S Parisotto for Azzolini, 66; C Traore for Appiah, 68.
Referee: C Maxwell-Keys (England).
