Ireland suffered their third loss at the World Under-20 Championship, falling to a 69-3 defeat against New Zealand in Kutaisi.
The Baby Blacks ran in 11 tries in total and Ireland could only muster a solitary penalty, the first score of the game in fact, by Conor Fitzgerald in response.
After defeats to Italy and Scotland, Peter Malone’s side will now face a 9th-12th place play-off with Samoa.
TRY @AllBlacks.
— eirSport (@eirSport) June 8, 2017
45: Ireland 3-43 New Zealand. What a run from Asafo Aumua. The Baby Blacks are unstoppable. #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/ldLAhZrCyh
"Credit to New Zealand, it was a super performance," Malone told eirSport
"We've to hold our hand up, we couldn't live with their pace their offloading game today. We thought we'd upset them with our line-speed but we didn't.
"We're disappointed, we thought we might get a bit closer."
On next week's match four, Malone was confident that the side would regroup.
"It's a massive game for us," he added.
"I think they guys are sharp enough to regroup themselves. We have worked hard but the results have been disappointing."
🎥 Post Match | New Zealand captain, Luke Jacobson speaks to us after a clinical performance against Ireland #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/n3RDMut479
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 8, 2017
IRELAND U-20: Alan Tynan (Young Munster/Munster); Michael Silvester (Dublin University/Leinster), Jack Kelly (Dublin University/Leinster) (capt), David McCarthy (Garryowen/Munster), Liam Coombes (Garryowen/Munster); Conor Fitzgerald (Shannon/Munster), Jonny Stewart (Queen's University/Ulster); Joey Conway (UL Bohemians/Munster), Adam Moloney (Shannon/Munster), Greg McGrath (Lansdowne/Leinster), Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster), Jack Regan (UCD/Leinster), Marcus Rea (Queen's University/Ulster), John Foley (Shannon/Munster), Sean Masterson (Corinthians/Connacht).
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher (UCD/Leinster), Jordan Duggan (Naas/Leinster), Charlie Connolly (Dublin University/Leinster), Fineen Wycherley (Young Munster/ Munster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Jack Stafford (Shannon/Munster), Conor Dean (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster).
