Ireland lost their final match of the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship, in the 7th place play off, 28 – 17 against Australia who they faced for the second time in the competition.
After a grueling tournament Ireland were unable to raise themselves to the heights of their first meeting and they were outscored 3 tries to 1 in a comfortable win for Australia.
Rory Scholes crossed for the only Irish try, the rest of the points coming from the boot of Rory Scannell.
Australia (20) 28
TRY: Harry Parker, Michael Wells, Alex Northam
CON: Luke Burton (2)
PEN: Jake McIntyre, Luke Burton (2)
Ireland (3) 17
TRY: Rory Scholes
PEN: Rory Scannell (4)
Australia dominated the bulk of the first half and took a commanding lead in the first quarter.
Australia’s Jake McIntyre knocked over an early penalty and this was followed up ten minutes later by a closer effort from Luke Burton. The Aussies put a stamp on their first quarter domination with a try Harry Parker, converted by Burton, on the 20th minute.
A try from Michael Wells, converted by Burton, saw Australia rack up a 20 – 0 lead by the 24th minute but Ireland eventually got into the game just before the beak when Scannell knocked over a penalty to take the score to 20 – 3 as the teams changed ends.
A blistering start to the second half saw Scannell add his second penalty just before Scholes went over for an unconverted try on the 42nd minute and it was game on with the score now reading 20 – 11.
By the end of the third quarter it was 23 – 17 as Scannell added two more penalties in reply to one from Burton.
Unfortunately that was as good as it got for Ireland. Australia finished the stronger with Alex Northam finding the line for an unconverted try to seal the game 28 – 17 in Australia’s favour.
AUSTRALIA U20: Jonah Placid, Harry Parker, Lalakai Foketi, Luke Burton, Alex Northam, Jake McIntyre, Waldo Wessels, Pettowa Paraka, Andrew Ready, Oliver Hoskins, Senio Toleafoa, Tom Staniforth, Michael Wells, Mark Baldwin, Curtis Browning (C). Replacements: Silatolu Latu, Allan Alaalatoa, Phil Kite, Jack Dempsey, Patrick Sio, Ben Meehan, Reece Hodge, Ulupano Seuteni.
IRELAND U20: Rory Scholes, Adam Byrne, Thomas Farrell, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton, Steve Crosbie, Luke McGrath (C), Edward Byrne, Bryan Byrne, Chris Taylor, Gavin Thornbury, John Donnan, Daniel Leavy, Josh van der Flier, Conor Joyce. Replacements: George McGuigan, Ryan Furniss, Adam Boland, Sean McCarthy, Peadar Timmins, David Shanahan, Mark Roche, David Panter.
