Ireland Under-20 coach Don Givens will sit his players down and demand answers following their third successive defeat at the Toulon tournament in France. In Frejus last night they collapsed to a 2-1 defeat against South Africa, despite taking the lead. And with 2-0 losses to Japan and Italy preceding the latest disappointment, Ireland have just tomorrow's match against Germany to salvage some pride from their trip to France.
"It was a bad performance. I said in the dressing room that we will talk about it in the morning," said Givens. "We couldn't control the ball, we couldn't pass. We were rubbish."
Many of Givens' Under-21 squad were in the Irish Under-16 team who won the European Championship four years ago. He does not believe they have become bad players since that win, and is surprised they are pointless at this stage.
"There were too many individual performances not up to scratch and against a team like South Africa, who aren't the best in the world, we weren't up to scratch," he added.
Filed by Johnny Proby
