Ireland U-20 Men Bow Out Of World Championship Contention

The Ireland Under-20 Men (sponsored by PwC) were held scoreless in the second half as England, aided by a superior scrum, advanced to the World Rugby U-20 Championship final in Cape Town.

2024 WORLD RUGBY UNDER-20 MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL:

Sunday, July 14 –

ENGLAND UNDER-20s 31 IRELAND UNDER-20s 20, DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Scorers: England: Tries: Craig Wright, Ollie Allan, Sean Kerr; Cons: Sean Kerr 2; Pens: Sean Kerr 4
Ireland: Tries: Oliver Coffey, Bryn Ward; Cons: Jack Murphy 2; Pens: Jack Murphy 2
HT: England 22 Ireland 20

Hoping to reach the final for the second year running, Ireland were missing injured captain Evan O’Connell, but his Munster colleague, Brian Gleeson, was a more than able deputy and turned in a talismanic performance.

Willie Faloon’s side struck first, catching England out inside two minutes with a classy try from scrum half Oliver Coffey. They led on four occasions during a keenly-constested opening half between this season’s U-20 Six Nations title rivals.

Bryn Ward converted a bout of forward pressure into a 34th-minute try, and while Jack Murphy contributed 10 points from the tee, England scored at crucial stages to take a 22-20 lead into the break.

Craig Wright and Ollie Allan crossed within six minutes of each other, and scrum half Allan turned provider with a long pass for hugely influential centre Sean Kerr to touch down on the stroke of half-time.

Kerr went on to be England’s match winner, landing a trio of second half penalties to take his haul to 21 points. It was Ireland’s first defeat of the season following an unbeaten run in the U-20 Six Nations and the World Rugby U-20 Championship pool phase.

Friday afternoon’s 3rd place play-off will offer them a chance to bounce back, with New Zealand providing the opposition at the same venue (kick-off 3.30pm Irish time – live on RugbyPass TV).

Speaking after the semi-final loss, stand-in skipper Gleeson said: “We’re very disappointed. We thought we had a good shot coming out. Look, I’m extremely proud of my team, the work we put in all year.

“It’s really tough, but fair play to England, they battled well and good luck to them in the final. They got on top of us in the set piece, but that’s nothing against our lads, who gave it everything.

“They gave it their best, especially in the scrums. They got on top of us, but there’s nothing we can do (now), we can only just review it and try and get better in the future.”

TIME LINE: 1 minute – Ireland try: Oliver Coffey – 0-5; conversion: Jack Murphy – 0-7; 14 mins – England penalty: missed by Sean Kerr – 0-7; 24 mins – England try: Craig Wright – 5-7; conversion: Sean Kerr – 7-7; 29 mins – Ireland penalty: Jack Murphy – 7-10; 30 mins – England try: Ollie Allan – 12-10; conversion: Sean Kerr – 14-10; 34 mins – Ireland try: Bryn Ward – 14-15; conversion: Jack Murphy – 14-17; 37 mins – England penalty: Sean Kerr – 17-17; 38 mins – Ireland penalty: Jack Murphy – 17-20; 40 mins – England try: Sean Kerr – 22-20; conversion: missed by Benjamin Coen – 22-20; Half-time – England 22 Ireland 20; 51 mins – England penalty: Sean Kerr – 25-20; 53 mins – Ireland penalty: missed by Jack Murphy – 25-20; 57 mins – England penalty: Sean Kerr – 28-20; 70 mins – England penalty: missed by Sean Kerr – 28-20; 80 mins – England penalty: Sean Kerr – 31-20; Full-time – England 31 Ireland 20

ENGLAND U-20: Ioan Jones (Gloucester/Minchinhampton RFC); Ben Redshaw (Newcastle Falcons/West Park Leeds RFC), Ben Waghorn (Harlequins/Chipstead RFC), Sean Kerr (Harlequins/Sutton & Epsom RFC), Alex Wills (Sale Sharks/Droitwich RFC); Benjamin Coen (Exeter Chiefs/Teignmouth RFC), Ollie Allan (Leicester Tigers/Hungerford RFC); Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks/Broadstreet RFC), Craig Wright (Northampton Saints/Braintree RFC), Afolabi Fasogbon (Gloucester/Bishop Wand School), Joe Bailey (Exeter Chiefs/Newton Abbot RFC), Junior Kpoku (Racing 92/Saracens Amateurs), Finn Carnduff (Leicester Tigers/Market Harborough RFC) (capt), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints/Buckingham RFC), Nathan Michelow (Saracens/Brentwood RFC).

Replacements used: Kane James (Exeter Chiefs/St. Peters RFC) for Michelow (27 mins), Olamide Sodeke (Saracens/Blackheath RFC) for Bailey (44), Lucas Friday (Harlequins/Bromley RFC) for Allan (54), Toby Cousins (Northampton Saints/Bugbrooke RFC) for Jones, James Halliwell (Bristol Bears/Thornbury RFC) for Fasogbon (both 60), Josh Bellamy (Harlequins/Rosslyn Park FC) for Hall (73). Not used: James Isaacs (Saracens/Hemel Hempstead Camelot RFC), Cameron Miell (Leicester Tigers/Paul Roos Gymnasium School).

IRELAND U-20: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster); Finn Treacy (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Wilhelm de Klerk (UCD RFC/Leinster), Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Hugo McLaughlin (Lansdowne FC/Leinster); Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Oliver Coffey (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster); Ben Howard (Terenure College RFC/Leinster), Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster), Patreece Bell (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby), Alan Spicer (UCD RFC/Leinster), James McKillop (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster), Bryn Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Brian Gleeson (Garryowen FC/Munster) (capt).

Replacements used: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) for Sheahan, Andrew Sparrow (UCD RFC/Leinster) for Bell (both 49 mins), Luke Murphy (Shannon RFC/Munster) for Spicer (54), Emmet Calvey (Shannon RFC/Munster) for Howard (58), Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster) for Edogbo, Tadhg Brophy (Naas RFC/Leinster) for Coffey, Sean Naughton (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht) for J Murphy, Sam Berman (Terenure College RFC/Leinster) for Gavin (all 69).

Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)