The Ireland under 20's team ended their proved to be too strong for Samoa at the 2017 World Rugby Championship, scoring eight tries in a 52-26 win.
Having lost their opening three games, it was vital that the Irish side put in a good performance. Winning this game means that they will be back in the competition next year. A loss would have meant the possibility of missing out in next year's championship and instead playing in a lower ranked tournament, which Ireland have never featured in to date.
The morale-boosting result for Peter Malone's squad will see them compete for ninth place in Sunday's final round, with hosts Georgia providing the opposition.
First half tries from Ronan Kelleher, Peter Cooper, Fineen Wycherley and Oisin Dowling gave Ireland a healthy 26-5 lead going into the second half.
The Samoans had two players sin-binned but came into the game more in the second half, but 31-12 was as close as they were able to get. Calvin Nash's third try of the tournament was followed by efforts from Kelleher (his second), Ciaran Frawley and Caelan Doris, making it eight tries in all as Ireland rebounded well from their three pool defeats.
Out half Conor Dean was impressive from the tee, landing six out of eight kicks.
🎥 Post match: A very happy @IrishRugby captain after a clinical performance at the #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/9c8rYTp1ku
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 13, 2017
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