THE HISTORY BOYS
“One of the best championship performances from any Ireland team at any time ”
-THE FRONT ROW UNION
The location made it possible to cover all of Ireland's games, and what a tournament it tourned out to be.
The 2016 U20 Rugby World Championship was held in Manchester in June .
Even more pleasing was the emergence of three Ulster youngsters in Adam McBurney, Johnny McPhillips and Jacob Stockdale who all played dramatic parts in Ireland's progress through the competition.
They were joined half way through by Connal Boomer who featured in their final pool match against Georgia.
Pool A Game 1
Ireland 26 Wales 25
Ireland U20’s staged a remarkable comeback, to overcome a seventeen point defect, beating the reigning Six Nations Champions, Wales, 26 – 25 on Tuesday evening at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.
MCBURNEY
Pool A Game 2
Ireland 33 New Zealand 24
Adam McBurney, Greg Jones and Max Deegan were the try scorers with Bill Johnston adding two penalties and two conversions in the first half and Johnny McPhillips knocking over a conversion and two penalties in the second.
MCPHILLIPS
Pool A Game 3
Ireland 35 Georgia 7
Ireland U20’s qualified as second seeds in the knockout stages of the 2016 World Rugby U20 Championship with a 35 – 7 win against Georgia on Wednesday afternoon at Manchester City Academy Stadium.
BOOMER
SEMI FINAL
Ireland 37 Argentina 7
Ulster’s Jacob Stockdale crossed twice for a brace of tries either side of a wonder try from Max Deegan. Shane Daly wrapped it up with a last minute score, converted by Brett Connon. Johnny McPhillips added 3 cons and 3 pens.
STOCKDALE
FINAL
Ireland 21 England 45
Ireland U20’s fantastic journey in the 2016 World Rugby U20 Championship came to a crashing halt on Saturday evening when they came up against a physical English side at the AJ Bell Stadium, Salford.
DEEGAN