WALES coach Allan Lewis is relieved that his young charges will get the chance to experience a clash against a southern hemisphere big gun after earning a World Rugby U20 Championship finale against Australia.

The Welsh youngsters produced their best display of the tournament to beat Ireland 22-12 at the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella on Monday evening thanks to tries by Ospreys full-back Dafydd Howells, Cardiff Blues lock Seb Davies and Scarlets wing Joshua Adams.

Their reward is a fixture against the Aussies, who beat Scotland 31-21, in Viadana for fifth place.

The clash was initially pencilled in for Cremona as the warm-up to the bronze match between France and South Africa and mouth-watering final between holders England and New Zealand but has been shifted so that hosts Italy can take on Samoa at the showpiece occasion.

Nonetheless Lewis, who coordinates the management team of Jason Strange, is excited that his players will get the chance to enjoy an encounter with the Australians after coming up against familiar foes so far.

"We are delighted to have a crack at Australia because other than Japan we have only played Six Nations sides in this tournament," he said.

Wales were hindered by sluggish starts in their Pool One losses to England and France but raced over for a trio of scores inside the first quarter against the Irish.

They had two spells down to 14 men after yellow cards for back row forwards Tom Phillips and Ollie Griffiths but defended stoutly to take the spoils.

"The boys played some superb rugby and deserved to be 22-0 up," said Lewis. "They played some excellent attacking rugby and put width on the ball. Ireland came back through their forwards, but our defence was quite superb throughout the second half.

"The tries were good enough to grace any international field. We arrived at the game confident in our ability to create chances and we showed that against a very proud and determined side.

"The young coaches had encouraged the players to attack with ball in hand when appropriate and there was good evidence of that.

"The only negative was the indiscipline, we made it harder for ourselves by spending 20 minutes with 14 men and we will have to look at that before Saturday."

Saturday's fixtures: ninth-place play-off – Argentina v Japan (10am, Viadana), seventh-place play-off – Ireland v Scotland (midday, Viadana), fifth-place play-off – Wales v Australia (2pm, Viadana), 11th-place play-off – Italy v Samoa (3.30pm, Cremona), bronze match – France v South Africa (5.30pm, Cremona), final – New Zealand v England (7.30pm, Cremona)