The U18s Six Nations Festival took place in Parma, Italy last week and Ireland couldn't stop scoring as they ran in 14 tries over three matches.
Neil Doak's side played some very expansive rugby and showed that the future of Irish rugby is in good hands.
It wasn't the perfect start to the tournament that Ireland would've wanted as in their first match they came up against a very strong French team. France raced to an early 12-0 lead but a try from loosehead prop Jamie Conway of Castletroy College looked to potentially spark a comeback. Ireland had a couple more opportunities to score but didn't take them while the French were ruthless.
France began to ran away with it as it wasn't to be for the Ireland U18s against the defending champions as France came out 31-5 winners. Ireland next faced off against Italy and it looked to be more of the same as Italian winger Malik Faissal caught the Italian kickoff and scored after just 8 seconds on the clock to give the hosts the lead.
However Ireland were able to regroup after the early setback and used their maul as a good platform to play off. Fly-half Conor O’Shaughnessy scored in the corner after a good maul got Ireland into the Italian 22 before hooker Conor Magee kept the ball in and scored himself off the back of the maul to give Ireland the lead going into the half-time break.
Ireland really turned the screw on the Italians in the second half and played some excellent attacking rugby. Full back and captain Charlie Molony scored a very nice try off a sumptuous pass from lock Donnacha Maguire before the two Gonzaga teammates linked up for Ireland's fourth try of the afternoon. Scrum-half James O'Dwyer weighted a crossfield kick perfectly into the hands of his school teammate Noah Byrne who ran it in. A fifth try of the day from Jack O'Leary was the icing on the cake as Ireland won 36-10.
Ireland finished off the tournament with a dominant performance against Portugal. Conor O’Shaughnessy was once again pulling the strings from fly-half and Ireland scored some absolutely magnificent tries. The scoring started off early with Ethan Black running in off a Chris Barrett pass which just over 2 minutes on the clock.
Then Ireland's try of the tournament came a few minutes later when the ball was worked to the hands of Josh Gibson off a lineout. The Ulster man weaved through the Portuguese defence before offloading to Byrne who passed it back inside to winger Brian O'Flaherty who gave it off to O'Shaughnessy who was able to stroll in for the phenomenal score.
Ireland had the upper hand throughout the contest and tries from Dylan McNiece and Noah Byrne gave Ireland a bonus point lead going into halftime. Ireland's forwards really began to take centre stage in the second half, scoring three tries from mauls with hookers Luke McLaughlin and Conor Magee getting their names on the scoresheet before Paddy Curry got the final in the corner after a string Irish scrum on the Portuguese 5 metre line as Ireland won 54-0.
Ireland U18s really showed in the last two games what they are made of as well as in a spells during the first half against France. By the end of the week Ireland looked more cohesive and played to their strengths which was their maul and lightning wingers and if they faced France then, things might've played out differently.
Despite not being together that long, they looked to be a well-coached side and played as a unit, especially in the two wins over Italy and Portugal. Hopefully some of these names will be able to pop up next year for the Ireland U20s.
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