UNDER-18 FIVE NATIONS Italy 3 Ireland 29: THE IRELAND coaches will debate long and hard over the make-up of the team to play England in Colorno, a small town 30 minutes north of Parma, this Saturday, after this convincing win over Italy in the Under-18 Five Nations at Stadio Aprille yesterday.
The Irish stayed true to their ambition by employing the same high-tempo, ball-in-hand, pleasing-on-the-eye style of rugby that scuppered Wales. The 11 changes in personnel did not alter their approach or attitude.
From early on, the quick thinking of two-try hero Sam Coghlan-Murray was on show. He prevented a lineout and set in motion a series of passes, a surge by centre Tiarnan O’Halloran and three blinding offloads before Chris Colvin was held up over the line.
A miscommunication in midfield from the ensuing five-metre scrum led to James McKinney’s floated pass being picked off by centre Francesco Menon.
The Irish were showing all the creativity, but not quite the composure to go with it.
Outhalf McKinney really should have learned from his first interception mistake when finding himself mugged again, this time by Augusto Cosulich, at the end of the first quarter as Ireland went in search of the lead.
The Italian were struggling to live with the pace of the game and their inclination to disrupt at the breakdown was spotted by referee Luke Pearce. McKinney slotted the penalty from out on the left in the 25th minute.
When Harry Doyle nipped around the side of a scrum to escape the home backrow he looked odds-on to score when chipping fullback Alessandro Tartaglia. The ball took a devilishly high bounce, however, on the hard pitch and Doyle was undone.
It looked as though Italy would survive to the break but they lost the following five-metre scrum to a strike against the head by captain Niall Scannell. For once, Ireland were patient. They rumbled around the side three times. Then, quick hands made Coghlan-Murray the extra man for a sharp try that made it 8-0 at the interval.
On resumption, centre O’Halloran was not held in the tackle and he took full advantage for a gain of 20 metres. Speedster Coghlan-Murray was at his shoulder to accelerate to the line for his second try. McKinney converted from the touchline.
Fullback Doherty’s sound attempt to run the ball out of defence was poisoned by accidental crossing and Italy outhalf Alberto Bonifazi exacted three points from a penalty in the 39th minute.
McKinney’s eye for a gap and lock Shane Buckley’s awareness of the presence of replacement Alex Kelly allowed the centre to steal over for McKinney to shoot the extras. Replacement Aaron Spring peeled away from a maul to lunge for the fourth try.
ITALY: A Tartaglia; T Castello, F Menon, A Cosulich, L Villa; A Bonifazi, V Vignale; M Aluigi, A Lupetti (capt), P Leso, G Duca, L Mammana, M Dell'Acqua, N Luxardo, M Ferro. Replacements: A Furia for Aluigi 41 mins; J Tassaro for Dell'Acqua 56 mins; M Bercich for Leso 61 mins; G Palazanni for Vignale, G Alberghini for Ferro both 68 mins.
IRELAND UNDER-18: F Doherty (Gonzaga); C Colvin (Royal, Armagh), T O'Halloran (Cistercian, Roscrea), B Sargent (Crescent), S Coghlan-Murray (Newbridge); J McKinney (Campbell), H Doyle (Royal, Armagh); R Harrison (Methodist), N Scannell (PBC, Cork) C Carey (Methodist), D O'Mahony (PBC, Cork), S Buckley (Rockwell), E MacMahon (St Michael's), D Doyle (Gonzaga), C Mallon (St Michael's).
Replacements: J Murphy (Blackrock) for MacMahon half-time; J Tracy (Newbridge) for Harrison, A Kelly (St Michael's) for Sargent both 53 mins; A Spring (Sligo Grammar) for Buckley 56 mins; N Annett (Methodist) for Doyle, P Marks (RBAI) for Murphy both 61 mins.
Referee: L Pearce(England).
