 | MATCH SUMMARY Wales U21 (10) 32 Tries: M Jones, Czekaj (2), Bishop Cons: M Jones (3) Pens: M Jones (2) Ireland U21 (5) 5 Try: Hennessey |
Wales Under-21s showed the senior side the way by completing the Grand Slam in front of a crowd of 7,000 at The Gnoll. Ospreys fly-half Matthew Jones claimed 17 points as Wales sealed their third full house of wins in six years.
The fly-half got Wales' first try after 16 minutes, but an Oisin Hennessey try put Ireland back in contention.
Wales stepped up the tempo after the break and showed their class with further tries from centre Andrew Bishop and a brace from winger Chris Czekaj.
Said Wales coach Chris Davey: "It's a terrific achievement by the boys.
"We knew we had a talented group of players this year, but they've more than met our expectations.
"It was a difficult evening for them tonight; they wanted to play and really tried to get some expansive rugby going but not everything came together.
"They scored some nice tries along the way and I'm sure we are going to see a lot more from these guys when we get to the World Cup."
Wales Under-21: R Williams (Newport); A Brew (Ospreys), A Bishop (Ospreys), D Hewitt (Cardiff), C Czekaj (Cardiff); M Jones (Ospreys), J Ireland (Newport); S Roberts (Bridgend), D Goodfield (Pontypridd), C Griffiths (Neath), A Wyn-Jones (Swansea), I Evans (Neath), C Davies (Bridgend), J Mills (Scarlets), J Merriman (Hartpury Coll/Gloucester, capt).
Replacements: R James (UWIC), P Osbourne (Cardiff), B Thomson (Newport), T Smith (Neath), A Thomas (Carmarthen Quins), T Riley (Pontypridd), W Evans (Carmarthen Quins).
Ireland Under-21: Denis Hurley; Daniel Riordan, Andrew Trimble, Greg Stafford, Paul McKenzie; Gareth Steenson (capt), David O'Leary; Michael Diffley, Joseph Merrigan, John Andress, Lewis Stevenson, Ryan Caldwell, Brett McNamee, Oisin Hennessy, Stephen Ferris.
Replacements: Eamonn Bracken, Robert Quinn, Mark Melbourne, Chris Henry, Paul Marshall, Barry Keeshan, Geraghty.
Referee: D Changley (SRU)