Two Changes For Ireland’s Under-20s

There are two enforced changes to the Ireland Under-20 side, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which will take on Scotland at Falkirk Stadium on Friday (kick-off 7.30pm).

There is one personnel change and one positional switch to the Ireland U-20 team that beat England 13-6 at Dubarry Park last time out.

UCD’s Sean O’Brien has suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury which forced him from the field in Athlone and his position at number 8 has been taken by team captain David Pollock, who moves across from the openside position.

Kevin Sheahan, another UCD player who was named on the replacements bench for the French game last month, comes back into the squad and straight into the starting XV at number 7.

UL Bohemians back rower Tommy O’Donnell, who came as O’Brien’s replacement against England, has also been ruled out due to a thumb injury. His place in the matchday 22 has gone to Eoghan Grace of Shannon.

IRELAND UNDER-20 TEAM AND REPLACEMENTS (Falkirk Stadium, U-20 Six Nations, Friday, March 9, kick-off 7.30pm):

15 – Felix Jones (Seapoint/Leinster)
14 – Shane Monahan (Dublin University/Leinster)
13 – Darren Cave (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
12 – Aidan Wynne (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11 – Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster)
10 – Ian Keatley (UCD/Leinster)
9 – Paul O’Donohoe (UCD/Leinster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Richard Sweeney (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
3 – Jamie Hagan (Greystones/Leinster)
4 – Conor McInerney (UCD/Leinster)
5 – Andrew Browne (Galwegians/Connacht)
6 – Thomas Anderson (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 – Kevin Sheahan (UCD/Leinster)
8 – David Pollock (QUB/Ulster) (capt)

Replacements:

16 – Ger Slattery (Young Munster/Munster)
17 – Ruaidhri Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18 – Neilus Keogh (UCC/Munster)
19 – Eoghan Grace (Shannon/Munster)
20 – David Drake (Ballymena/Ulster)
21 – Niall O’Connor (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
22 – Kyle Tonetti (Blackrock College/Leinster)

Management:

Manager – Phil Orr
Coach – Eric Elwood
Assistant Coach – Dan McFarland

U-20 Six Nations – Ireland’s Remaining Fixtures:

Friday, March 9: Scotland U-20 v Ireland U-20, Falkirk Stadium, 7.30pm

Friday, March 16: Italy U-21 v Ireland U-20, Santa Colomba Stadium, Benevento, 2.30pm (local time)