The Ireland Under-20 team (sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers) will have its final outing of the 2008 RBS U-20 Six Nations championship against England in Gloucester on Friday evening.

Coach Eric Elwood has made a single change to the Ireland starting line-up for this game from the side that lost 11-6 to Wales last Friday. In the back-line, Ian Madigan has been promoted from the replacements bench to start at out-half, with Martin Dufficy reverting to the bench.

Commenting on the game, Elwood said: “We were obviously disappointed to come out with a loss last Friday in Dubarry Park in such a tight game. This week we need to improve our accuracy and be as tight as possible in all aspects of our play if we want to come out of Kingsholm with a result on Friday night.

“England obviously have a lot of quality in their side judging by their performances so far and have been, without doubt, the top side in the competition. But a lot of the players in our squad this year have developed really well over the last couple of games and are looking forward to trying to finish the championship with a bang.”  

The game will kick-off at 7.35pm and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports 3.

IRELAND UNDER-20 TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v England U-20s, 2008 RBS U-20 Six Nations, Friday, March 14, Kingsholm, Gloucester, kick-off 7.35pm):

15 – David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)

14 – Sean Scanlon (UCC/Munster)

13 – Eoin O’Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

12 – Conor Cleary (Greystones/Leinster)

11 – Chris Cochrane (Queen’s University/Ulster)

10 – Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)

9 – David Moore (Blackrock College/Leinster)

1 – Paul Karayiannis (Queen’s University/Ulster)

2 – Jason Harris-Wright (Greystones/Leinster)

3 – Ben Barclay (UCD/Leinster)

4 – David Nolan (Galwegians/Connacht)                

5 – Eoin Sheriff (Lansdowne/Leinster)

6 – Kieran Essex (UL Bohemians/Munster)

7 – Paul Ryan (Blackrock College/Leinster) (capt)

8 – Patrick Mallon (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 – Stephen Douglas (Ballymena/Ulster)

17 – Stephen Archer (UCC/Munster)

18 – Ian Nagle (UCC/Munster)

19 – Trevor Conneely (Buccaneers/Connacht)

20 – Ian Porter (Queen’s University/Ulster)

21 – Martin Dufficy (Dublin University/Leinster)

22 – Eamonn Sheridan (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Management

Manager – Phil Orr

Coach – Eric Elwood

Assistant Coach – Dan McFarland