Cork trio Danny Sheahan, Ben O’Connor and Sean Edogbo help Ireland U20s to win over Italy

Ireland 55 Italy 15 

CORK’S Danny Sheahan was on target for Ireland as they opened their World Rugby U20 Championship campaign with a 55-15 victory over Italy at the Cape Town Stadium.

All-Ireland U20 winner turned Munster winger Ben O’Connor also played in South Africa alongside Sean Edogbo, who once lined out for Cobh Pirates.

Shehan drove the ball over the goal-line and opened the scoring for Willie Faloon’s side on an afternoon that saw Sam Berman score a hat-trick.

The hooker finished a move by touching down at the corner and making sure Ireland’s first spell inside Italy’s 22 ended with a score.

Lorenzo Elettri hit back in the 5th minute of play and Martino Pucciariello converted to make it 7-5. The fly-half then split the posts with a penalty and his side’s lead grew to 10-5.

Ireland responded with Luke Murphy getting the ball over the goal line and Jack Murphy converted with ease.

Evan O’Connell was the next player to get in and score, and this was followed by a brace from Sam Berman. This helped Ireland go into the break with a commanding 31-10 lead, with their advantage boosted by two Jack Murphy conversions.

The second half started disastrously for Ireland as Edogbo was given a yellow card and Italy got in to score in the 43rd minute. The team hung on, and made sure of the win with Berman completing his hat-trick and Finn Tracey touching down.

Ireland’s next game will be against Georgia at the Danie Craven Stadium on July 4th at 1:00pm (Irish time).

Scorers for Ireland: S Naughton (1 try, 3 cons, one pen), S Berman (3 tries), J Murphy (3 cons), F Treacy, E O’Connell, L Murphy, D Sheahan (1 try each).

Italy: Martino (1 pen and 1 con); Pucciariello (1 pen and 1 con), L Elettri and L Bellucci (1 try each).

IRELAND: B O’Connor; D Colbert, F Treacy, S Berman, H McLaughlin, J Murphy, O Coffey, J Boyd, D Sheahan, P Bell, A Spicer, E O’Connell, S Edogbo, M Flynn, L Murphy.

Replacements: J McKillop for Berman (53); H Gavin for Ward (53), J O’Riordan for Coffey (55), A Sparrow for Bell (56), B Corrigan for Colbert (58), S Smyth for O’Connell (63).

IRALY: M Belloni; M Scalabrin, F Zanandrea, N Bozzo, L Elettri, M Pucciariello, M Jimenez, S Pelliccioli; N Gasperini, D Ascari, M Midena, G Milano, C Zucconi, L Bellucci, J Botturi.

Replacements: S Brisighella for Pucciariello (44); F Pisani for Zucconi (49), T Redondi for Ascari (49), V Sicilano for Gasperini (53), L Casilio for Jimenez (53), P De Villiers for Bozzo (55), N Casartelli for Bellucci (57), F Gentile for Pelliccioli (68).

Referee: Saba Abulashvili (Georgia).