Ireland U20’s ended the 2012 JWC Pool Stages as the No 6 seeds thanks to a convincing bonus point win over Italy. They now go on to play England again on Sunday 17th June KO 17:00 in the play–offs for 5th place.

Ireland topped the table for a while and looked to be going into the top four play offs for most of the afternoon until South Africa pulled away from England, scoring a bonus point win to put the tournament hosts top of Pool C, knocking Ireland out of the top 4.

Ireland started the game strongly racking up three tries in the opening eight minutes as it looked like they were going to run away with this game.

Ulster’s Chris Farrell and Peter Nelson combined well for Nelson to go over for Ireland’s first try and moments later Nelson broke through the defence again to hack ahead for Farrell to collect. Jack Carty converted both and Ireland Led 14 – 0 after 5 minutes.

The scoring didn’t end there though as a good chase from Conor Finn saw the ball break free for Aaron Conneely to gleefully collect and smash his way to the line. Carty obliged with the extras and Ireland led 21 – 0 after 8 minutes.

Ireland flung the ball about with some confidence but inevitably a loose pass was intercepted by Edoardo Padovani who sprinted 80m to score and added the conversion for good measure. 21 – 7.

Moments later, a turn over from the Italians and a bouncing ball saw Italian scrum half Guido Calabrese scamper through to score and it was game on with the score reading Ireland 21 Italy 12.

Ireland’s confidence took a knock and the game went through a scrappy phase with neither side dominating. Ireland did manage a penalty from Carty to move the score on to 24 – 12 at the break.

The jitters continued in the early phases of the second half but Ireland managed to grab that all important bonus point on the 50th minute when Nelson sent James Rael through after a period of sustained pressure, Carty missed the conversion but Ireland were beginning to dominate as the Italian side began to tire.

Shortly after Jack McGrath took his chance well off the back of a scrum attacking down the blind side with a chip and chase which he collected before beating the cover to score in the corner. A monster conversion from Carty moved the score to 36 -12 after 54 minutes.

Nelson added his second try and Ireland’s sixth ten minutes later with a delightful dummy to open up space. Carty missed from out wide but the expectation was that Ireland would add a few more to their tally.

However, with Farrell pulled off just before Nelson’s second score and Nelson joining him on the side-lines shortly after, the makeshift backline failed to fire with the same accuracy. A strange decision at the time but it would have made little difference to Ireland’s final standings so a good call in the end to rest the players for what promises to be two big games ahead.

IRELAND: Mikey Sherlock. Conor Finn, Peter Nelson, Chris Farrell, Sam Coghlan-Murray, Jack Carty, Luke McGrath, Des Merry, James Rael, Peter Reilly, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson, Aaron Conneely, Josh Van Der Flier, Jack Conan (C). Replacements: Niall Scannell, Tadhg Furlong, Jake Cawley, Tadhg Beirne, Shane Buckley, Kieran Marmion, Cathal Marsh, Stuart Olding.

Ireland finished the pool stages seeded 6th and they will be desperate to maintain or improve that standing come the end of the competition. They now face England again in the positional play offs and, depending on whether they win or lose that one will face either France or Australia in the 5th or 7th Place Play offs.