The Ireland U20's heavy defeat to New Zealand at the World Championships on Thursday constituted their third of the competition and head coach Peter Malone says his side "deserved" to be beaten.
New Zealand turned on the style and beat Ireland 69-3, with all of their points coming without an answer from the Boys in Green. Ireland are within a win in the competition and have lost all of their games.
Speaking after the game, Malone admitted his side weren't good enough.
"It was a tough loss," he said. "We were well beaten by an excellent New Zealand team and deservedly so. We couldn't live with their offloading game.
"They put us to the sword. Hopefully a lot of guys learned about the intensity of international rugby at this level. We have to take that into the next round of games."
Malone explained the defeat would be the perfect example of what new players into the squad can expect from top level international rugby.
"It's one thing to perform at a certain level for club or province, it's another when you step into international rugby against probably the best international team in the world at the moment.
"You have to nail your detail and you have to get the small stuff right. When you make a tackle you have to finish it. So, when we didn't nail those tackles and New Zealand got the ball through, offloaded and put us under massive pressure."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
