Ireland won in impressive fashion on Monday evening as they took ion Argentina in the U20 World Championship in Manchester.
Ahead of a barnstorming first half, both sides sang the national anthems with an incredible level of passion, suggesting that the clash which followed would be equally as intense.
While Argentina were clearly psyched up for the game, it was Ireland who got the first score of the game as Jacob Stockdale dotted down after the Pumas failed to deal with a crossfield kick.
Image: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
McPhillips, who was superb in his kicking all day, slotted over the conversion and Ireland began to find their rhythm as they added to the score through a superb piece of play from Man of the Match Max Deegan. As Argentina made inroads into Irish territory, he perfectly read a pass, stepped in to intercept and ran well over 60 yards to touch the ball down.
Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Stockdale added a third try, and with McPhillips converting both efforts, Ireland had a commanding lead of 21-0 before Argentina finally got on to the scoreboard through Juan Cruz Mallia. The two sides headed to the dressing room for the half-time break with the score at 21-7.
Images: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Argentina looked to get back into it in the second half, but Ireland proved to be a step above as McPhillips slotted over a number of penalties to keep stretching his side's lead.
As they professionally saw out the closing stages of the second half, with both sides reduced to 14 men (Ireland with a man in the bin and Argentina's Santiago Pulella having been shown red), Shane Daly intercepted a pass and dove in under the posts to wrap up the match entirely as it finished 37-7.
Images: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
With four wins out of four and a famous victory over New Zealand already under their belts in this tournament to date, Ireland's young guns will be looking forward to the challenge of facing England in the decider, after they beat South Africa 39-17 in their semi-final.
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