Rugby: Scotland Under-18 24 - 28 Ireland Under-18

SCOTLAND finished their Five Nations Under-18 Festival campaign at Llandovery with a defeat to Ireland in a match that swung away from the Scots after a first half in which their incisive running and strong forward play gave them a big advantage.

Scotland deservedly led 17-9 at the break with four penalties from centre Mark Bennett, one from just inside the Scotland half, and a 19th minute try from stand-off Harry Leonard, after Bennett had twice opened up the Ireland defence with powerful running.

But after the interval Ireland produced a rejuvenated performance, dominating the contact area and showing purposeful running behind the scrum.

The result was three tries, two by winger Sam Coghlan-Murray and one for full back Ross Jones to open a 28-17 lead. Then in injury time Scotland regained respectability if not victory with a second try by Leonard and his own conversion goal.

Scotland u18: S Hogg ; H Jones, M Crawley, M Bennett , A McCall Hagen; H Leonard, M McConnell captain; R Hislop, J MacFarlane, A Allen, S Smith , A Redmayne, B Johnstone, A de St Croix, L Seydak. Subs used M Eadie, G Turner, R Sutherland, J Stevenson, A Hall, J Urquhart.

Scorers: Scorers Scotland u18 Tries Leonard (2) Con Leonard Pens Bennett (4) Ireland u18 Tries Coghlan-Murray (2), Jones Cons Jackson (2) Pens Jackson (2) Drop Goal McMaster