Two Changes For Under-20s’ Final Game

The Ireland Under-20 team (sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers) for Sunday’s 9th-10th place play-off against Scotland (Rodney Parade, kick-off 1pm) has been named. There are two changes to the side for Ireland’s last match at the IRB Junior World Championship.

Head coach Eric Elwood has made two changes to the Ireland team that secured a 9-6 extra-time win over Italy in Wednesday’s play-off in Cardiff.

Ben Barclay returns at tighthead prop, coming in for the benched Stephen Archer, while an ankle injury to Patrick Mallon sees Michael Entwistle promoted to the back row.

Used as a replacement against Italy, Entwistle will start the Scotland game at openside flanker, with Mallon’s absence at number 8 seeing team captain Paul Ryan shift to a blindside role and Kieran Essex is moved to the base of the scrum.

Ciaran Ruddock, son of former Leinster and Wales coach Mike Ruddock, also returns to the matchday 22, having come off the bench in the pool defeat to New Zealand.

The Under-20s are hoping to end the inaugural Junior World Championship on a high with their third win on the trot. In the past week, they have beaten both Tonga and Italy.

No strangers to playing Scotland, Ireland beat their Celtic rivals 17-12 at Dubarry Park in this year’s Six Nations championship, while in a warm-up game for this tournament, played at Ravenhill, Elwood’s charges claimed a 41-27 win over the Scots.

Although there may be a slight change in personnel, these sides also met in last year’s IRB Under-19 World Championship (at Ravenhill again) with Ireland emerging as 13-12 winners.

Looking forward to the Newport encounter, Elwood said: “We know Scotland will be after us because we’ve already beaten them twice this year.

“We beat them in the Six Nations and then in a warm-up match in Belfast so we’re eager to make it a hat-trick.

“As soon as we were knocked out of the pool stages, our goal was to win the final three matches.

“We’re two steps there now and it would be great to finish the tournament on a high.”

IRELAND UNDER-20 TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Scotland U-20s, IRB Junior World Championship, Sunday, June 22, Rodney Parade, Newport, kick-off 1pm):

15 – Niall Morris (Blackrock College/Leinster)

14 – David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)

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

12 – Conor Cleary (Greystones/Leinster)

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

10 – Martin Dufficy (Dublin University/Leinster)

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

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

2 – Jason Harris-Wright (Greystones/Leinster)

3 – Ben Barclay (UCD/Leinster)

4 – Ian Nagle (UCC/Munster)

5 – Eoin Sheriff (Lansdowne/Leinster)

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

7 – Michael Entwistle (Ballymena/Ulster)

8 – Kieran Essex (UL Bohemians/Munster)

Replacements:

16 – Stephen Douglas (Ballymena/Ulster)

17 – Stephen Archer (UCC/Munster)

18 – James Sandford (Queen’s University/Ulster)

19 – Ciaran Ruddock (Neath/Exiles)

20 – David Moore (Blackrock College/Leinster)

21 – Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster)

22 – Jamie Smith (Ballymena/Ulster)

Management:

Manager – Phil Orr

Coach – Eric Elwood

Assistant Coach – Dan McFarland

Ireland IRB Junior World Championship Results:

Argentina Under-20s 17 Ireland Under-20s 9, Friday, June 6, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland Under-20s 10 New Zealand Under-20s 65, Tuesday, June 10, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland Under-20s 45 Tonga Under-20s 27, Saturday, June 14, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland Under-20s 9 Italy Under-20s 6 (after extra-time), Wednesday, June 18, Cardiff Arms Park