Ireland end U20 Six Nations with first Italy loss
Ireland lost four of their five games in the Under-20 Six Nations
- Published
Men's Under-20 Six Nations
Italy (15) 15
Tries: Drago, Caiolo-Serra Cons: Celi Pens: Celi
Ireland (0) 12
Tries: Walker, Wood Cons: Wisniewski
Italy secured a first ever Six Nations win over Ireland at under-20s level with a 15-12 victory in Treviso.
The hosts led 15-0 in the opening quarter after tries from the impressive Alessandro Drago and Alessio Caiolo-Serra despite playing with 14 men at the time of both scores.
Ireland were better in the second half and crossed through Henry Walker and Tom Wood but could not overturn their host's lead.
With one win from their five games, Ireland finished bottom of the table after Scotland secured two bonus points in their defeat by France to finish a point above the Irish.
In damp conditions at the Stadio Monigo, Italy opened the scoring through Pietro Celi's penalty in the early minutes.
A yellow card for Italian hooker Nicolo Corvasce appeared to give Ireland an opportunity to gain a foothold in the game but instead the 14 men scored two quick tries.
The first came when Ireland were turned over at the line-out and a brilliant Italy counter ended with Drago going over in the corner.
The second also came off an Irish turnover. This time it came when Tom Wood was forced to carry the ball over his own line and replacement hooker Caiolo-Serra crashed over shortly after the subsequent scrum.
Second-half comeback attempt comes up short
Ireland were much improved in the second half but could not turn the game around.
Six minutes after the restart, they scored their first points of the evening when, after an Italian offside, Ireland went to the corner and hooker Henry Walker burrowed his way over from close range.
Anthony Miranda was the second Italy player shown a yellow card with the flanker sent to the bin for cynically spoiling Irish ball at the ruck.
Despite losing full-back Daniel Green to injury, this time Ireland made the extra man count.
Showing greater patience in the opposition 22, Neil Doak's side worked the ball across the field before Ciaran Mangan's dummy put Tom Wood through a gap to score.
The conversion brought Ireland within three but, as they continued to struggle with their handling, they could not force the winning score in the closing stages.
Italy: Pietramala; Drago, Zanandrea, Todaro, Faissal; Celi, Beni; Brasini, Corvasce, Vallesi, Midena, Redondi, Miranda, Casartelli, Milano.
Replacements: Caiolo-Serra, Pelliccioli, Bolognini, Opoku-Gyamfi, Bianchi, Bellotto, Fasti, Ioannucci.
Sin bin: Corvasce, Miranda
Ireland: Green; Molony, Mangan, Smyth, O'Leary Kareem; Wood, Logan; Bohan, Walker, Mullan, Ronan, Corrigan, Walsh, Foy, McCarthy.
Replacements: Yarr, Moore, McAllister, Kennelly, Power, O'Connor, Wisniewski, Fahy.
Referee: Katsuki Furuse (JRU)