Ireland Under-20s finish World Championship campaign with narrow win over Spain
Ireland
brought their Under-20 World Championship campaign to an end with a fortuitous 38-37 victory over Spain to finish 11th of 12 teams in the tournament.
It took a 79th-minute try from hooker Henry Walker, his second of the game, to rescue the win after their opponents looked like pulling off a shock victory.
Neil Doak's side had led 14-0, with tries from centre Jonny Scott and wing Charlie Molony, but Spain reduced the deficit to 26-15 by half-time, Scott grabbing a second try while the rest of Ireland's points came through the boot of outhalf Tom Wood.
Spain, with several players who play their club rugby at Toulouse, rattled off 10 points in the first five minutes after the interval and added a further two tries between the 58th and 61st minutes. Walker scored his first try seven minutes into the second half to push Ireland out to a 37-33 lead.
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Spain lost Daniel Chico to a yellow card which was upgraded to red, reducing them to 14 men for the last 15 minutes.
Ireland huffed and puffed and had a try disallowed before Walker plunged over the try line at the back of a rolling maul to deny the Spaniards a victory.
Next year's Under-20 World Championship will take place in Georgia with the tournament expanded to 16 teams with the addition of Fiji, Uruguay, the USA and Japan.
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