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 2nd 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 2nd 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.