Scotland U20s suffered a Six Nations whitewash as they were beaten 36-0 by Ireland in Cork.
It was a mixed night for Kenny Murray’s youngster with some impressive defensive play but they never offered anything in attack and eventually crumbled when down to 14 men and couldn’t keep Ireland out from scoring a bonus point.
It means Scotland have gone through this year’s U20 Six Nations with no win and are left rooted to the bottom of the table.
Scotland had held out for the opening 20 minutes and defended pretty well but they couldn’t stop Ireland as the clock hit the 20 minute mark when Jack Brown lost possession for Scotland.
There was some great play as Bryn Ward broke through and offloaded to Hugo McLaughlin to get over the line for the home side.
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Scotland were putting in arguably their best performance of the U20 Six Nations but they weren’t offering too much in attack despite their ability to stop Ireland from attacking.
The introduction of Robbie Deans meant the young Scots were dominating the scrum and it was a source of frustration from Ireland as they went in just 7-0 up at the break.
Ireland then brought Patreece Bell on and he had an instant impact by helping to win a penalty at a scrum and Jack Murphy put it between the sticks to make it a two score game.
Despite all the defensive work, Scotland were unable to keep Ireland out for much longer and did then get their second try of the match. They were patient in their attack and Evan O’Connell eventually was the man to get over the line but Murphy couldn’t add the extras.
Scotland had a rare moment of attack soon after that but couldn’t get through, and they then ended up down to 14 when substitute Monroe Job was shown a yellow card for cynically stopping a quick tap penalty just two minutes after being introduced off the bench.
Ireland took advantage as Danny Sheahan came off the bench to get over the line after a lineout maul to add to the advantage and take the home side closer to the bonus point they needed to give them a bigger chance to win the tournament.
And they did get the bonus when they took a quick tap penalty and Sean Edogbo was the man who eventually got over the line in the corner.
And there was still time to get another even when the clock was in the red as Sheahan got his second of the night.
Ireland: Ben O’Connor, Finn Treacy, Wilhelm de Klerk (Sean Naughton, 71), Hugh Gavin (Davy Colbert, 56), Hugo McLaughlin, Jack Murphy, Oliver Coffey (Tadgh Brophy, 74), Alex Usanov (Ben Howard, 65), Henry Walker (Danny Sheahan, 65), Jacob Boyd (Patreece Bell, 48), Joe Hopes, Evan O’Connell, Sean Edogbo, Bryn Ward (Billy Corrigan, 61), Luke Murphy (James McKillop, 44)
Tries: McLaughlin (20), O’Connell (60), Sheahan (71, 82), Edogbo (77)
Conversions: Murphy (21, 71, 77, 83)
Penalties: Murphy (50)
Scotland: Jack Brown (Finn Douglas 61), Finlay Doyle, Johnny Ventisei, Findlay Thomson (Kerr Yule, 62), Geordie Gwynn, Andrew McLean, Hector Patterson (Eric Davey, 61) Callum Smyth (Robbie Deans, 24), Jerry Blyth-Lafferty (Marcus Brogan, 66), Callum Norrie (Ryan Whitefield, 66), Euan McVie (Archie Clarke, 62), Ruaraidh Hart, Jonny Morris (Monroe Job, 62), Freddy Douglas, Tom Currie
Read the rules here