Ireland lost out 38-24 to New Zealand in yesterday’s 3^rd/4^th place play off having led 12-7 at the break and scoring two break away tries after soaking up large amounts of New Zealand pressure throughout the opening half.

Unfortunately for Ireland New Zealand had a man sin binned early in the 2^nd half and that seemed to drive them to up the gears and in the middle of the 2^nd half they just went into another gear and that burst eventually saw Ireland’s resistance break and even though Ireland did score two late well deserved tries they were well beaten.

Probably the amount of injuries picked up had an adverse effect on the squad for the semi-final last Sunday and the play off yesterday. Ireland stuck to the game plan and have played an open style which they are suited to playing.

Up front has been an achilles heel for this squad. Even after the big win on day 1 against Italy, the Italians caused issues in the scrum that were seen in evidence over the following 3 weeks. Yes two of those front rows will be back next year barring injury as they were also with the Ireland under 19s this year and it was a steep learning curve for them but it will stand to them I have no doubt.

Players like Jack Murphy, Brian Gleeson, Evan O Connell even though the latter was ruled out of the last two games through an ankle injury look destined for long senior careers even at this early juncture. Several others like Hugh Gavin, William De Klerk and Ben O Connor will be with their respective provinces next season. Hugh Gavin will be in the Connacht senior set up once has had his break and will join up for pre season.

Yes the result yesterday will sting in the short term but it will also be character building interesting to note how many of this year’s under 20 squad will be in a senior green shirt in the next few years like James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale from the class of 2016.

Ireland were overpowered in the past two games and even though they played an open brand of rugby that saw them score plenty of tries, the notes and bolts of forward play has let them down and they have been physically beaten up by the England pack and yesterday by New Zealand now in saying that and in particular against New Zealand, they can count themselves unlucky on occasion at scrum time.

But overall, it will be a tough review for the Irish forwards when they get to review the tournament as a whole. Many questions have been asked in recent times about our supposed lack of quality front row players coming through to challenge the established order. From next season Irish provinces will be not allowed to go into the market for Non Irish qualified front row players.

Are we back in 2012 again, It would appear so, what has happened over the past 12 years. Where is the evidence of all the hard work and due diligence to bring through good quality front rows and make sure the bad days of the like of 2012 are long forgotten.

The IRFU did appoint John Fogarty as national scrum coach but he quickly went up the ranks to Leinster scrum coach and is now looking after the Irish senior men’s forwards as scrum coach. There are a few good young props in the system at this moment though and they will need to see game time at provincial level, guys like Ronan Fox and George Hadden in Munster with Joe Mc Carthy’s younger brother Paddy in the Leinster set up along with Tom Clarkson. You have Sammy Wilson up in Ulster with Jordan Duggan in Connacht.

I am sure I have missed many players but let’s hope the work at IRFU level has begun to try and address the apparent lack of quality props at the top end of the game. Rabah Slimani has come into Leinster on a 1 year deal and that was most likely worked on pre this most recent IRFU dictate from David Humphreys.

It will be fascinating to see if a province needs to bring in an emergency player will they be allowed to look to NIQ players or will Mr Humphreys do what his predecessor did and that was move certain players around the country from one province to another…..

Ireland will play in the third/ fourth place play off tomorrow afternoon after they lost to England and New Zealand lost to France for the 2^nd time in this year’s renewal in the semi-finals.

 Ireland lost out 31-20 and after not having a final group fixture owing to poor weather on the final day of pool play saw Ireland v Australia chalked off and both sides awarded two points and that was enough to see Ireland through to face England in a second successive semi-final at this age group.

New Zealand were beaten by France in the pool phase and they also defeated them in the semi-finals last week. Ireland have made a number of changes to the XV which sees Hugh Gavin and Finn Treacy team up in midfield. Jack Murphy stays at 10, Steve Smyth is in at hooker.

 Ireland will need to perform well up front to stand any hope of beating New Zealand and New Zealand for their part will want to end another campaign in winning fashion. Jonno Gibbes who coached with Joe Schmidt at Leinster leads the Under 20s and as I mention they will want to end the campaign in a positive way given the two losses to France in particular.

Ireland lost to England and unfortunately could not score in the 2^nd half of the semi-final to help them see a way past a very physical England side led by Leicester Tiger Fin Carnduff. He saw game time at senior level with Leicester last season. He alongside Henry Pollock make up 2 thirds of a strong young back row in the mould of Hill, Back and Dallagio.

Ireland have a few men who saw senior action last season with Brian Gleeson, Ben O Connor getting game time with Munster in the URC in the early rounds. It is a chance for this young group to get a win over a strong nation at Under 20 level, they lost to them back in the 2016 JWC final in Manchester. It would be a great finish to the year if they could get the bronze medal.

The way this group has performed this year in commendable and a good finish would be fantastic. Some of these young men go onto full contracts with their respective provinces, others go into academies and more will go back to club rugby for next season.

Willie Faloon and his coaching team have done a good job keeping this team playing the open style seen under Noel Mc Namara and Richie Murphy over the past number of years. Time now to go after another big win at this JWC and end the campaign on a high note…

Some of this group will earn full international honours, more will play at provincial level and some will don there club colours at AIL level for years to come.

Grasp the nettle tomorrow and pick up a win over New Zealand which is still so saunth after even after a number of wins since the Irish women beat them at the 2014 Women’s World Cup in France.

Ireland played their 2^nd game at the Under 20 Junior World Championship against Georgia and after an intense battle, Ireland found a late score from replacement Finn Tracey to put them 20-16 in front with the clock well in the red, Jack Murphy kicked the extra two to see Ireland home 22-16.

Unlike the opener vs Italy, this was a game where Ireland were put under pressure and Georgia well in charge and will count themselves unlucky not to hold on for the win and they will agonise over two missed kicks in the 2^nd half that would have pushed them clear and made it tough for Ireland to get back into the game.

Ireland have plenty to work on in the next few days with Australia on the final day of the pools next Tuesday. They will make a few changes and will look to tighten up at the set piece that like Italy, Georgia put under severe pressure and it will be a way for Australia to see can they work their way into the game after their own loss to Italy.

Georgia used a strong set piece to their advantage and earned numerous penalties along with putting the Irish line out under strain and they also used there ball carrying centres to great effect and this in turn yielded field position which put them in positions to attack Ireland who led 12-6 at half time.

Two tries from Steve Smyth and Hugh Gavin along with one conversion from Sean Naughton had Ireland in control but Georgia plugged away and kicked two penalties to make sure they were in touch at the half.

They came out in the second half and dominated territory and possession and kicked on and gained the lead 13-12 and then kicked another penalty to push further clear 16-12, Ireland fired back to come within one point 16-15. Georgia then missed two penalties that may have seen them far enough ahead to hold out for the win and made it only possible for Ireland to get a draw from the game with any late score they made have gotten.

As it was they managed the final moments in a fashion I have only seen from Ireland teams in the past few years. They stuck to the game plan and although I thought they might be better to try for a drop goal but they moved a tiring Georgian pack around and with genuine discipline in attack they worked the ball until they had the overlap and then they fired the ball out wide for Finn Tracey to gather and dot down in the corner to push them in front 20-16 with no time left for a Georgian reply, Jack Murphy added the extra two to seal a 22-16 win.

This game will remind this Irish side of how unpredictable this age group can be, one moment you can win with plenty to spare and then like yesterday another team can perform well and deserve to win but sport as we see regularly doesn’t do sentiment or deserved wins. Ireland will likely make a few changes and likely revert back to a more familiar 23 for the game against Australia next Tuesday.

It is all to play for in Round 3 of the pool for Ireland, Australia and Italy with Georgia the only ones who have nothing to play for on the last day of the pool….