Wales U19 do the double over Ireland

U19 INTERNATIONAL

IRELAND 4 WALES 20

By Steve Jenkins at Gormanston Park

Wales U19 completed the double over their Irish counterparts after winning 20-4 at Gormanston Park in Meath near Dublin on Saturday.

Their victory follows the 34-10 score in Llanelli three months ago.

Wales head coach Ant Walker brought in just two returning players who missed that game in Widnes Vikings’ Billy Glover and North Wales Crusaders’ William Mills, both of whom played for Wales in the 2018 U19 European Championships, but he did make a number of position changes.

The Welsh took an early lead through an unconverted try from Newcastle Thunder’s Cai Ellis.

The same player struck again on 23 minutes with Ince Rose Bridge’s Ryan Griffiths landing the extras.

But Ireland did get a try back just before the interval through Longhorns’ Eoin Creeby bringing the score back to 10-4 to the Welsh.

Wales started the second half well when West Wales Raiders’ new recruit Matthew Morgan scored in the corner.

Ireland did well to keep Wales out for a good 20 minutes, but in the end the visitors did break through for a fourth try on 67 minutes with Leigh Miners Rangers’ Will Lynch going over and Griffiths converting.

Walker said: “It was a professional performance from us. “The boys played for the jersey and it showed in our defensive sets.

“We looked in complete control for the 80 minutes, playing at our pace. We bombed a few chances down to basic errors and could have scored a few more points. We are now looking forward to the challenge ahead against England on September 28.”

IRELAND

1. James Reynolds (Galway Tribesmen)
2. Eoin Creaby (Longhorns)
3. Kevin Varga (Longhorns)
4. Cormac Murphy (Longhorns)
5. Jake O’Brien (Longhorns)
6. Josh McNamee (Longhorms)
7. Fiach Millward (Barrow Cudas)
8. Sean O’Sullivan (Barrow Cudas)
9. Sam Cullen (Barrow Cudas)
10. Ronan Michael (Longhorns)
11. James Mulvaney (Longhorns)
12. Alex Duff (Dublin City Exiles)
13. Calum O’Neill (Widnes Vikings)

Subs:

14. Andrew Smyth (Belfast Stags)
15. Jack Williams (Barrow Cudas)
16. Peter Flanagan (Longhorns)
17. Nathan Kieran (Longhorns)
18. Jordan Tapley (Dublin City Exiles)
19. Sam Hemeryck (Longhorns)
20. Jack Mallon (Barrow Cudas)

Tries: Creeby (37)

WALES

1. Finlay Swift (North Wales Crusaders A)
2. George Sheppard (West Wales Raiders)
3. Luis Roberts (Salford Red Devils)
4. Billy Glover (Widnes Vikings)
5. William Lynch (Leigh Miners Rangers)
6. Matthew Morgan (West Wales Raiders)
7. Ryan Griffiths (Ince Rose Bridge)
8. Matthew Jones (West Wales Raiders)
9. Cai Ellis (Newcastle Thunder)
10. James McGurk (Newcastle Thunder)
11. Joshua Palmer (Cardiff Blue Dragons)
12. William Mills (North Wales Crusaders A)
13. Iwan Marsh (North Wales Crusaders A)

Subs:

14. Kieran Lewis (West Wales Raiders)
15. Ieuan Roberts (West Wales Raiders)
16. Adam Young (Aber Valley Wolves)
17. Cadeyrn Hassall (Cardiff Blue Dragons)

Tries: Ellis (2, 23), Morgan (48), Lynch (67)

Goals: Griffiths 2/4

Half-time: 4-10