Andrew Browne\u2019s side just about clung on at the death, but once again it was a misshapen, error strewn display.<\/p>\n
In spite of that, this young Ireland side showed character. Stand-in captain Josh Neill was a standout performer and Daniel Green made pivotal contributions with his unerring accuracy off the kicking tee.<\/p>\n
But while there was no faulting their collective and individual work ethic, a lack of accuracy and composure made for a fraught occasion. Ireland will now face Italy in their final game of the tournament on Saturday (kick-off 5.30pm Irish time) with the winner claiming ninth place. <\/p>\n
Ireland lost captain Sami Bishti in the warm-up while outhalf Charlie O\u2019Shea was ruled out with an ankle issue, on top of Noah Byrne, Tom Wood, Dylan McNeice and James O\u2019Dwyer \u2013 all returned home prematurely with injuries. <\/p>\n
Daniel Ryan got Ireland off to a perfect start when Donnacha McGuire set his team-mate free down the short side from a ruck. The winger had plenty to do, but made a delightful chip and had the pace to regather and beat the Fijian defence to score. <\/p>\n
Ireland received a couple of warnings that Fiji were sharp to pick-and-go through the ruck or on the fringes, and they were caught napping soon after. Scrumhalf Isikeli Bari Ratu finished off a line-break and tagged on the conversion to make it 7-7.<\/p>\n
Ireland regained the lead from a five-metre scrum. On a re-set, number eight Diarmuid O\u2019Connell shot off the back and powered over the line. Green added the conversion.<\/p>\n
![\"Ireland’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/K3GSXS6DOREDNKVDWGVCSUEX7E.jpg\")
Ireland\u2019s Daniel Green in action during the Junior World Championship game against Fiji. Photograph: Levan Verdzeuli\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s lineout, which has suffered malfunctions throughout the tournament, saw them give up wholesale turnovers once again, and then a scrum error when Christopher Barrett knocked on at the base of the ruck deep inside the 22 culminated in a try for Sailosi Taka.<\/p>\n
To compound matters, Joe Finn departed to the sin bin for a high shot soon after, but Ireland limped to the interval with a slender 14-12 lead.<\/p>\n
Centre James O\u2019Leary scored a try, converted by Green, to push Ireland out to a 21-12 lead soon after the restart, but the second half degenerated into a morass of errors as Fiji lost two players to yellow cards and Ireland coughed up one lineout after another.<\/p>\n
Ireland also had two tries chalked off \u2013 the first for a knock-on in the build-up, the second for an illegal block \u2013 and turned down a simple penalty which would have kept the scoreboard ticking, summing up the performance.<\/p>\n
A try from winger Apete Rokosuka following another hatful of Irish mistakes, and the conversion by Netani Lesimaikimatuku brought Fiji within two points with six minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Green\u2019s penalty with 90-seconds left should have eased Ireland to the win, but a final turnover and a yellow card for Harry Waters gave Fiji one last opportunity. They lost out on a technicality; an extra man joined the lineout leaving referee Gonzalo de Achaval to award a free kick.<\/p>\n
The final whistle, two hours and seven minutes after the game started, was a merciful relief. <\/p>\n
SCORING SEQUENCE \u2013 11 MINS: Ryan try, Green con 7-0; 13: Bari Ratu try, Bari Ratu conv 7-7; 21: O\u2019Connell try, Green con 14-7; 34: Taka try 14-12; Half-time: 14-12; 43: O\u2019Leary try, Green con 21-12; 73: Rokosuka try, Lesimaikimatuku con 21-19; 78: Green pen 24-19<\/p>\n
IRELAND: C Molony; J O\u2019Sullivan, J Deegan, J O\u2019Leary, D Ryan, D Green, C Barrett; M Doyle, D Maguire, B McClean; J Finn, D McGuire; J Neill (capt), A Lautsou, D O\u2019Connell. Replacements: H Waters for Ryan (HIA, 17-27 mins), C Keane for Lautsou, S Walsh for McGuire (both 54), R Handley for Maguire (59), S David Walsh for O\u2019Leary (60), A Cooper for Doyle, J Conway for McClean (both 64), Waters for O\u2019Sullivan (66). <\/p>\n
Yellow cards: Finn (38 mins), Waters (79).<\/p>\n
FIJI: T Vuniwaqa Ledua; A Rokosuka, S Taka, F Tuvalu, J Draiva; C Maurice, I Bari Ratu; M Koroi, RO Dasalusalu, R Navunikaba; F Peters, S Turagacoke (capt); I Koroinawai, M Tabuakoto, R Epeli Roseruvakula. Replacements: S Vakauliafa for Navunikaba (HIA, 39-40 mins; 58), S Savenaca for Tabuakoto (46), T Gadolo for Dasalusalu, N Lesimaikimatuku for Maurice (both 61), I Rauluni for Koroi (62), M Nauvasi for Taka (63), RA Naevo for Peters (64), S Qabale for Roseruvakula (69).<\/p>\n
Yellow card: Roseruvakula (58 mins), Tuvalu (68). <\/p>\n
Referee: G de Achaval (ARG).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Junior Championship, ninth-place semi-final: Ireland Under-20s 24 Fiji Under-20s 19 Fiji had never beaten Ireland in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,39220,6398,43],"class_list":["post-548581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby-u20s","tag-match-report","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}