Battling Ireland claim bonus-point win against Junior Wallabies

IRELAND U20s 30-10 AUSTRALIA U20s

Ireland took a huge step towards the semi-finals of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship after an incredibly hard-fought bonus-point win over Australia in South Africa.

After taking three match points from Saturday's draw with England in their opening Pool B game, Ireland realistically needed to win to have a chance at topping the group, which secures a last-four berth.

After a tight first half, it was Ireland’s dominance up front that decided the game, with three second-half tries coming off the back of powerful scrums and solid lineouts to which the Australians simply had no answer.

The game was played in extremely difficult conditions with the over-worked pitch at the Paarl Gymnasium cutting up badly in spots and making the contest a real battle of attrition.

Ireland’s final pool game comes against Fiji, who play England later today, on Tuesday and a win would likely be enough for top place or the best runner-up spot depending on how other results go.

Australia bossed the opening quarter but somehow trailed despite dominating the possession and territory stats.

After Sam Prendergast got turned over on this own 22 the Junior Wallabies worked the phases before Tim Ryan went over the corner, however, the assistant referee deemed the wing had gone into touch.

Jack Bowen declined the three points and a try looked certain before Andrew Osborne picked off the out-half's risky pass on his own line and ran 70 metres.

Australia's scramble defence went offside and Prendergast kicked Ireland ahead.

The southern hemisphere outfit continued on the front foot, forcing a number of penalties and pushing Ireland off a scrum in midfield.

But a couple of poor lineouts scruppered their chances and it wasn’t until