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Ireland U20s Produce A Superb 80 Minute Performance To See Off A Dogged Italy

Ireland U20s Produce A Superb 80 Minute Performance To See Off A Dogged Italy
Colman Stanley
By Colman Stanley
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Ireland U20s continued their quest for historic back-to-back Grand Slams with a 44-27 victory away to Italy at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo, in the U20s Six Nations Championship.

Ireland got off to a rapid start this evening, scoring a try through Brian Gleeson after just five minutes.

The tone was set when Prendergast went down the line instead of kicking an easy three points. From the resultant line out, Brian Gleeson came like a train onto the ball and took three Italian defenders with him as he crashed over.

Italy touched down soon after, displaying the power of their maul and scrum, before Ireland scrumhalf Fintan Gunne scored is side's second of the night, after Italian players had stopped playing following a knock-on.

The referee had put her lips to the whistle but did not blow, and Gunne took advantage of the sloppy play from Italy.

One of the highlights from the first half came from Prendergast when he kicked a 50:22 from his own 22, and the superb play from the outhalf lead directly to a close range score from James McNabney.

Prendergast slotted a penalty on the stroke of half-time to maintain his 100% record and give Ireland a 8-27 lead at the break.

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READ HERE: Balls.ie's Greatest Ireland U20s XV Of All-Time

The two sides traded scores in the second 40, with a more competitive Italy outscoring Ireland by three tries to two, and getting the score back to within 10 with ten minutes to play.

Jacopo Botturi, Francois Carlo Mey, and Nicholas Gasperini scored tries for the home side, but it was Mey's superb effort which was the try of the night from either team.

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Hugh Cooney got Ireland's bonus point, barrelling over from close range, before Rory Telfer showed impressive power to finish in the corner with his first touch of the ball in this campaign.

Prendergast also added the extras and another penalty to boot.

Ireland U20s will face Scotland U20s away from home on Friday 10 March in their next game (kick-off 7.15pm).

SEE ALSO: Ireland U20s Coach Dundon Discusses Valuable Session With Senior Squad

ireland u20s aaron dundon six nations 2023

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