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Ireland's demolition job on USA features two hat-tricks

Ireland on the attack vs USA in the third round of the 2026 World Rugby Junior World Championship. Photo: World Rugby
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Charlie O’Shea and Sean David Walsh both scored hat-tricks as Ireland returned to winning ways in their last World Rugby Junior World Championship Pool C game with a 73-22 demolition of the USA.

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Ireland, who were defeated by England and Argentina in their opening two games, made no mistake against an American side that made 10 changes to the team beaten by England in their second game.

Ireland, who lost Charlie Molony to two second-half yellow cards, needed just 81 seconds to open the floodgates through scrum-half Christopher Barrett and they never looked back.

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O’Shea weaved his way through for his first try after four minutes before Walsh added their third try in the 16th minute after a barnstorming Joe Finn run and offload.

O’Shea, who started the competition as understudy to Tom Wood, grabbed his second try after 28 minutes and completed his hat-trick two minutes later after picking up a loose ball in midfield.

Walsh scored his second try from close range after 33 minutes before three minutes later putting in a monster hit in midfield to turn the ball over, and Rob Carney raced away to give Ireland a 45-3 lead at half-time.

Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
1
11
Tries
3
9
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
91
Carries
92
11
Line Breaks
5
13
Turnovers Lost
12
7
Turnovers Won
0

Molony was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on in the 42nd minute, and Finn Love scored the USA’s first try after the ball was worked out wide two minutes later.

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Adam Cooper added his name to Ireland’s try scorers in the 48th minute before Walsh completed his hat-trick four minutes later even though the final pass looked forward.

USA scrum-half Joseph Sarkees and Ireland replacement Daniel Ryan exchanged tries before Molony picked up his second yellow card for a dangerous challenge in the air.

Leo Keesler-Venables scored with an outrageous dummy, but Ireland had the last laugh four minutes from time with a Jack Deegan try and Dan Green added his ninth conversion.

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NoLongerARuck 1 hour ago
'Rugby needs to be demystified to attract new fans and fresh investment'

The laws are a major part of the equation and the scrum equation remains a mystery to many supporters, administrators, refs and also players. The referee rewards dominance at the scrum, if he sees one side going forward clearly, but it must be straight and the opposition must cause an offence but thats the biggest problem with the scrum laws. Scrums are not perfect and the laws assume ideal conditions. Props are different heights, have different length arms, have different weights and so on. The same applies to the locks that pack in behind them. This is a matter of physics and wheels, changes in angle and shoving across is always going to happen. The refs are guessing at the physics of the whole thing and they have to make a decision in a second on who to reward. Its absolutely crazy. Penalty advantages from scrums are also getting out of control and are too much of a force multiplier. Its not just in games involving South African teams either. Firstly set a minimum height for the scrum to drastically reduce collapses and make it high enough for that purpose. Create bind friendly jerseys for props with bind points on them with specific materials that make binds easier and wont rip, allow for dynamic engagement such as shoving at angles as long as those angles are not extreme and allow props and hookers to pop up if they are under pressure so they wont break their necks trying to stay in. Allow the scrum to transpose into a maul if the guy at the back picks it up and stays bound, at that point require the props to break their bind so the maul forms. Get rid of the useless break foot. Change the penalty from a scrum infringement to a defined advantage that makes more sense rather than a full arm penalty like give a team 10m and play restarts with a free kick to the side with the advantage. When in the opposition 5m give a free play and if they cannot score come back to a free kick to the attacking side. Stop getting refs to ref the physics. Allow clear and obvious fouls to be penalised like breaking binds, clear collapses etc. Reduce uncertainty by understanding scrums are dynamic and will never be perfect and stop trying to legislate for ideal conditions.

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