Fitzgerald On Scoresheet As Ireland U20s Make A Point

All eight Munster players feature as again a single point was enough for Nigel Carolan’s Ireland U20s side, defeating Italy in Prato.

An enthralling game saw Ireland’s U20s once again come out on top with the tightest of margins in this season’s Six Nations, this time defeating Italy 27-26 at the Stadio Enrico Chersoni in Prato.

After a 20-19 victory over Scotland at Broadwood the previous weekend, Ireland were hoping to have it a little easier last Friday as they travelled to Tuscany's second city, Prato, looking to continue a winning start to their Six Nations campaign.

Young Munster’s Calvin Nash returned to the fold after his Munster debut against Edinburgh the weekend before last, joined by teammate Fineen Wycherley, UL Bohemians’ Joey Conway, and Colm Hogan in the starting XV.

A low-scoring opening half saw the Irish lead 6-3 with two penalties off the boot of Jordan Larmour, but after the break the game exploded with both sides trading tries as the score swung one way and then the other.

As a matter of fact with at one stage it was the hosts who held the single point supremacy after Massimo Ceciliani's maul score, but Larmour’s second give the Irish some breathing space, and after Tommy O'Brien's charge-down score, Shannon’s Conor Fitzgerald got what turned out to be a crucial conversion.

Wycherley saw yellow late on in a collapsed maul, and it was then the Italians got a converted score through Alberto Rollero, however Ireland hung on in the closing stages, recording their second consecutive single-point victory to leave them two points behind England in second place.

Next for Nigel Carolan’s men is the visit of France to Donnybrook on Friday 24^th at 8pm, who will be hoping the Italians can trip up England and send the Irish top.

Ireland: Colm Hogan (Dublin University/Munster); Jordan Larmour (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Gavin Mullin (UCD/Leinster), Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster), Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster); Johnny McPhillips (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jonny Stewart (Queen's University/Ulster); Joey Conway (UL Bohemians/Munster), Tadgh McElroy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Charlie Connolly (Dublin University/Leinster), Fineen Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster), Oisin Dowling (Lansdowne/Leinster), Cillian Gallagher (Corinthians/Connacht), Paul Boyle (Lansdowne/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary's College/Leinster).

Replacements used: Jack Regan (UCD/Leinster) for Dowling (half-time), Adam Moloney (Shannon/Munster) for McElroy, Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster) for Gallagher (both 65 mins), Conor Fitzgerald (Shannon/Munster) for McPhillips, Tommy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) for Nash, Jack Lyons (Young Munster/Munster) for Hogan (all 71), Rory Mulvihill (UCD/Leinster) for Conway, Matthew Burke (Corinthians/Connacht) for Connolly (both 79).