Ireland U20s off to impressive Six Nations start with seven-try win in Italy

Italy 15Ireland 47

NIGEL CAROLAN’S IRELAND U20s made a promising start to their Six Nations campaign with a seven-try 47-15 victory over Italy in testing conditions in Biella.

Heavy snowfall in the Piedmont area in recent days had left the pitch at Stadio Pozzi Lamarmora something of a mudbath, but Ireland managed to play an entertaining brand of rugby nonetheless.

Ross Byrne was superb at 10 for Ireland. Source: Matteo Ciambelli/INPHO

Indeed, the Italians were willing to run back at Ireland in the first half, scoring two tries of their own before fading away after the break in the face of Ireland’s superior forward power and backline cutting edge.

Out-half Ross Byrne showed his experience at this level with a highly-composed performance, kicking from hand superbly, passing accurately and slotting six of his seven conversions attempts.

Billy Dardis at fullback was electric in his involvements, while Garry Ringrose showed glimpses of his potential at outside centre. In the pack, hooker Zack McCall was busy in open play, while blindside flanker Josh Murphy also had a strong outing.

Indeed, it was difficult to pick out disappointing individual showings on the Irish side, certainly an encouragement for Carolan and his new coaching team.

Having negotiated a potentially tricky fixture in northern Italy, Ireland will now look forward to welcoming France to Dubarry Park next Friday with some confidence.

There was an early setback for Carolan’s side as Italian scrum-half Luca Petrozzi darted inside Rory Moloney’s tackle attempt after a strong maul from his pack. Petrozzi drew in Ireland fullback Billy Dardis and offloaded to Dennis Bergamin for the flanker to dive over under the posts.

Out-half Maicol Azzolini tacked on the easy conversion for a 7-0 lead just two minutes into the tie. Ireland, however, found a swift reply and scored through Josh Murphy following a clever shift drive maul from close range.

The conditions made scrumagging a difficult task. Source: Matteo Ciambelli/INPHO

Ross Byrne slotted the difficult conversion from out on the right, and Ireland began to control the game. Italy did strike for a penalty after the visitors were unluckily caught offside, but Carolan’s men were next over the whitewash.

An outside break and intelligent offload from UCD centre Garry Ringrose allowed Munster flyer Greg O’Shea to cross, with Byrne again adding the two points.

Another superbly-worked maul saw Connacht back row Moloney join the try-scorers, that five pointer coming despite intermittent lineout issues for Ireland. Byrne’s place-kicking excellence continued for a 21-10 Ireland lead.

But Italy were far from discouraged, striding back downfield through powerful hooker Luhandre Luus, then spreading the ball wide to the right where wing Luca Sperandio dotted down.

Ireland would have been disappointed with the defensive effort, as Azzolini missed his conversion attempt.

The half ended with a fourth Irish try, this one an entirely individual effort. Ulster hooker Zack McCall got a strong block on Petrozzi’s box-kick from the edge of the Italian 22, then burst forward to scoop the ball off the ground on the move.

McCall had the pace to finish in comfort, allowing Byrne to continue his 100% success rate from the tee and sending Ireland into the break 28-15 to the good.

Josh Murphy had a busy evening for Carolan’s side. Source: Matteo Ciambelli/INPHO

Things got even better early in the second half as Billy Dardis crossed to score in the 46th minute, benefiting from some excellent handling from Bynre and Joey Carberry – on as a first-half replacement for the injured O’Shea.