{"id":594626,"date":"2026-07-20T06:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/594626\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T06:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T06:45:42","slug":"ireland-under-20s-produce-the-goods-to-fight-off-italy-at-junior-world-championship-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/594626\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland under-20s produce the goods to fight off Italy at Junior World Championship \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Junior World Championship: Ireland under-20s 34 Italy under-20s 26<\/p>\n

Entirely in keeping with a frustrating Under-20 World Championship in Georgia, Ireland<\/a> flirted with trouble in their final game of the tournament, but when it mattered most produced the goods to seal a third win.<\/p>\n

The victory, in a game played in heavy rain in Kutaisi, sealed ninth place in the 16-team tournament for Andrew Browne\u2019s men, who were battling for the lower places after pool-stage losses to England and Argentina.<\/p>\n

They head for home with three successive wins though, and a group of players who will be an awful lot wiser.<\/p>\n

The reigning Triple Crown champions, Ireland led 22-14 at half-time after both sides enjoyed good passages of possession in the opening period.<\/p>\n

Ireland showed patience to hit the front six minutes in after some good offloading and support running ended with captain Josh Neill touching down having worn down Italy\u2019s cover. Daniel Green added the extras for the perfect start.<\/p>\n

But the lead lasted just three minutes as Italy cut the Irish defence with fullback Pietro Celi putting Enoch Opuku-Gyamfi, who was capped at senior level against Chile last season, away for their opening try.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Luke Murtagh in action against Italy’s Jaheim Noel Wilson. Photograph: Vakho Chikvaidze\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Ireland responded well and a tapped penalty ended several phases later ended in a score for hooker Duinn Maguire, Green\u2019s conversion making it 14-7.<\/p>\n

Once again, Ireland soon conceded. Having lost possession as they tried to run out of their 22, prop Erik Merdi pounced to score and Mattia Andretti converted to level.<\/p>\n

A break from Diarmaid O\u2019Connell then created an opening, finished in the right corner by winger Charlie Molony after outhalf Charlie O\u2019Shea went wide.<\/p>\n

Green missed the conversion but stretched the lead to 19-14 with a penalty four minutes from the break after Ireland had failed to hold possession having went to the right corner from an earlier kick.<\/p>\n

The deteriorating weather made conditions extremely difficult after the restart, and while Ireland continued to have an edge, they were unable to increase their lead during a scoreless third quarter. However, a positive for Ireland was the introduction of Connacht\u2019s Luke Murtagh, who arrived in Georgia on Wednesday having recovered from an injury, the tighthead making a notable impression when introduced at the break.<\/p>\n

Italy reduced the margin to three 15 minutes from full-time despite being reduced to 14 after Jaheim Wilson was shown a yellow card, but Molony threaded a neat ball through for outhalf O\u2019Shea to score. Without the conversion, Ireland found themselves six points up with 10 minutes to play.<\/p>\n

There was a late let-off for Ireland when Opoku-Gyamfi had a converted try scratched for a forward pass in the build-up, and there was further woe for Italy when Connacht\u2019s Se\u00e1n Walsh intercepted from deep to wrap up the win.<\/p>\n

There was still time for Italy\u2019s Nikolaj Varotto to pull back a try, but Ireland had sealed their third win of the tournament by then, and with it, ninth place.<\/p>\n

SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 5 MINS: <\/b>Neill try, Green con 7-0; 9: <\/b>Opoku-Gyamfi try, Andretti con 7-7; 16:<\/b> Maguire try, Green con 14-7; 17:<\/b> Meroi try, Andretti con 14-14; 20: <\/b>Molony try 19-14; 37: <\/b>Green pen 22-14; Half-time 22-14<\/b>; 65:<\/b> de Novellis try, Andretti con 22-21; 70: <\/b>O\u2019Shea try 27-21; 77:<\/b> Walsh try, Green con 34-21; 80: <\/b>Varotto try 34-26<\/p>\n

IRELAND:<\/b> D Green; C Molony, R Carney, J O\u2019Leary, D Ryan; C O\u2019Shea, C Barrett; M Doyle, D Maguire, B McClean; J Finn, D McGuire; J Neill (capt), A Lautsou, D O\u2019Connell. Replacements:<\/b> S Walsh (Leinster) for McGuire (27 mins), L Murtagh for McClean (ht), J Deegan for Carney (54), S Walsh (Connacht) for O\u2019Leary, R Handley for Maguire (both 54), L Coffey for Barrett (60), A Cooper for Doyle, C Keane for Lautsou (both 65).<\/p>\n

ITALY:<\/b> P Celi; L de Novellis, G Falchetto, R Casarin (capt), L Rossi; R Fasti, M Andretti; E Mastropasqua, V Pelli, E Meroi; S Fardin, E Opoku-Gyamfi; A Miranda, D Sette, J Wilson. Replacements: <\/b>E Patricio for Pelli (48 mins), F Salvanti for Fardin (50), A Ragusi for Fasti (60), N Varotto for Rossi (62), L Trevisan for Meroi, C Bianchi for Opoku-Gyamfi (both 74).<\/p>\n

Yellow card: <\/b>Wilson (57 mins).<\/p>\n

Referee:<\/b> R Campbell (SCO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Junior World Championship: Ireland under-20s 34 Italy under-20s 26 Entirely in keeping with a frustrating Under-20 World Championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,102575,11,12,15,16,4334,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-594626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby-u20s","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-match-report","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116950960340290606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}