Scotland U20 5 - 24 Ireland U20: Young Scots blown away

Scotland were unable to match a powerful Ireland side who had conquered the might of England a week earlier and went down 24-5 at a windy Netherdale last night.

Hooker Ewan Ashman impressed for the hosts. Picture: SNS/SRU

In the second round of the Six Nations Under-20 Championship, Ireland played to the blueprint of senior head coach Joe Schmidt and dominated throughout.

Their forwards, who frequently made dents in the Scottish defence, claimed two of the three Irish tries.

For Scotland, who still look to be in a building phase, prop Murphy Walker, hooker Ewan Ashman and skipper Conor Boyle impressed among the forwards while, behind the scrum, Jack Blain looked threatening on the ball.

Ireland, playing with the strong wind at their backs in the first half, made a shaky start to the match by kicking the ball dead but the visitors soon made amends with 
powerful driving forward play which ultimately resulted in a penalty under the posts and an easy three points for stand-off Harry Byrne.

Then, after full-back Jake Flannery had put the Scots on the back foot with a long kick upfield, Ireland attacked the home line ending with hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin burrowing over and Byrne converting.

Scotland came close to scoring from a penalty-created 
lineout, only for Ashman to lose possession over the try line. Scotland’s other chance for points came from a chip and gather by Blain. A brave tackle from Jonathan Wren, however, denied the Heriot’s man, leaving the home side trailing 10-0 at the break.

In the second half, Ireland increased their lead with a try by powerful No 8 John 
Hodnett, converted by Byrne.

A Scotland riposte resulted in a maul try for Boyle only for Ireland to finish strongly with a try by Wren and the conversion by Boyle for their second win of the championship.