Ireland break Georgian hearts as Wales overcome Spain

07/04/2024 11:17 AM

ROUND TWO WRAP: Ireland showed great composure to win at the death against Georgia in Stellenbosch whilst Wales got their first win of their World Rugby Under-20 Championship campaign with a decent victory against Spain.

Ireland opened the scoring as quick as the sixth minute through a try by inside centre Hugh Gavin which was converted by flyhalf Sean Naughton.

Ireland looked to be over again in the ninth minute but the try was ruled out as there was obstruction in the build-up.

Another try came in the 20th minute through hooker Stephen Smyth.

Georgia struck back just before and on the stroke of half-time with back-to-back penalties by flyhalf Luka Tsirekidze.

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Georgia showed great fight in the second half and it paid off as the captain Nika Lomidze went over in the 45th minute to go ahead in the clash.

They had another opportunity to score off a rolling maul five metres from the line but got penalised for obstruction.

Naughton slotted a penalty attempt in the 57th minute before Tsirekidze cancelled it out in the 62nd minute to reclaim the lead.

Two missed penalty attempts came back to haunt Georgia as they looked set to get a famous win over Ireland, but through great composure and execution, Ireland finally broke through the Georgian defence when Treacy went over for the match-winning score off a long pass.

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In the other clash - Wales claimed their first win of the competition with a 31-10 victory over Spain in Athlone.

Wales wasted no time to open the scoring when wing Kodi Stone dotted down for the opening try in the first minute which was converted by Harri Ford.

Spain struck back with a penalty through flyhalf Gonzalo Otamendi after a yellow card was shown to Owen Conquer.

Ford slotted another penalty in the 15th minute with outside centre Elijah Evans crossing the line in the 27th minute which Ford converted.

Scrumhalf Nicolas Infer received a yellow card in the 30th minute but Spain managed it well and scored a try five minutes out from half-time.

That score got cancelled when Wales prop Ioan Emanuel dotted down on the stroke of halftime to take a 24-10 lead into the break.

The second half was a stop-start affair with Spain being held scoreless and Wales struggling to convert opportunities - with only one try coming from Ieuan Davies which earned them a 31-10 victory.

See below for Thursday's scores and scorers!

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Ireland 22-16 Georgia

For Ireland:
Tries: Smyth, Treacy, Gavin
Cons: Murphy, Naughton
Pen: Naughton

For Georgia:
Try: Lomidze
Con: Tsirekidze
Pens: Tsirekidze 3

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Ben O'Connor, 14 Davy Colbert, 13 Sam Berman, 12 Hugh Gavin, 11 Ruben Moloney, 10 Sean Naughton, 9 Oliver Coffey, 8 Luke Murphy, 7 Max Flynn, 6 Sean Edogbo, 5 Evan O'Connell (captain), 4 James McKillop, 3 Andrew Sparrow, 2 Stephen Smyth, 1 Jacob Boyd.
Replacements: 16 Mikey Yarr, 17 Emmet Calvey, 18 Patreece Bell, 19 Alan Spicer, 20 Brian Gleeson, 21 Tadhg Brophy, 22 Jack Murphy, 23 Finn Treacy.

Georgia: 15 Otar Metreveli, 14 Luka Khorbaladze, 13 Luka Kobauri, 12 Giorgi Khaindrava, 11 Luka Keshelava, 10 Luka Tsirekidze, 9 Aleksandre Jigauri, 8 Nika Lomidze, 7 Andro Dvali, 6 Luka Suluashvili, 5 Davit Lagvilava, 4 Temur Tsulukidze, 3 Davit Mchedlidze, 2 Mikheil Khakhubia, 1 Luka Ungiadze.
Replacements: 16 Shota Kheladze, 17 Luka Kotorashvili, 18 Davit Kuntelia, 19 Murtaz Tskhadadze, 20 Tornike Ghaniashvili, 21 Mikheil Kachlavashvili, 22 Luka Takaishvili, 23 Nugzar Kevkhishvili.

Referee: Reuben Keane
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira, Zoe Naude
TMO: Damon Murphy

Wales 31-10 Spain

For Wales:
Tries: I Emanuel, Evans, Davies, Stone
Cons: S Emaunel, Ford 3
Pen: Ford

For Spain:
Try: Guirao
Con: Otamendi
Pen: Otamendi

Teams:

Wales: 15 Matty Young, 14 Harry Rees-Weldon, 13 Elijah Evans, 12 Steff Emanual, 11 Kodi Stone, 10 Harri Wilde, 9 Rhodri Lewis, 8 Owen Conquer, 7 Morgan Morse, 6 Ryan Woodman (captain), 5 Nick Thomas, 4 Jonny Green, 3 Kian Hire, 2 Harry Thomas, 1 Ioan Emanuel.
Replacement: 16 Isaac Young, 17 Jordan Morris, 18 Sam Scott, 19 Osian Thomas, 20 Will Austin, 21 Ieuan Davies, 22 Harri Wilde, 23 Louie Hennessey.

Spain: 15 Lucien Richardis, 14 Julien Burguillos, 13 Alberto Carmona, 12 Yaco Fernandez, 11 Roberto Ponce, 10 Gonzalo Otamendi, 9 Nicolas Infer, 8 Manex Ariceta (captain), 7 Jokin Zolezzi, 6 Nicolas Moleti, 5 Adam LLinares, 4 Pablo Guirao, 3 Aniol Franch, 2 Diego Gonzalez, 1 Hugo Gonzalez.
Replacements: 16 David Gallego, 17 Alberto Gomez, 18 Guido Reyes, 19 Martin Serrano, 20 Valentino Rizzo, 21 Javi Lopez de Haro, 22 Unax Zuriarrain, 23 Gabriel Rocaries.

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Griffin Colby
TMO: Mike Adamson