Ireland Under-20 head coach Mike Ruddock has made several changes to his squad for Friday night’s RBS U-20 6 Nations encounter with Scotland in Inverness.
There are four changes in personnel to the Ireland team that played against France at Dubarry Park a fortnight ago.
The fit-again Martin Moore comes back into the front row to link up with James Tracy and captain Niall Annett, while Michael Kearney also returns to second row duty alongside Daniel Qualter.
Flanker Shane Buckley has been promoted from the replacements bench along with centre JJ Hanarahan. The pair will be make their first starts of the Championship.
There are five new faces on the bench, including Tadhg Furlong, Cathal O’Flaherty, Mark Dolan and Colm O’Shea. Gareth Quinn McDonogh makes a return to the Under-20 set-up, having been involved last year.
Commenting on the selection, head coach Mike Ruddock said: “We are looking forward to travelling to Inverness and playing Scotland.
“We have a panel determined to do better. We felt we have not been as effective in our defence as we would have hoped and have asked players to look at that and for a positive reaction. If we can achieve that we will see an improvement.”
The Ireland Under-20s are currently fourth in the Six Nations table, two points ahead of Scotland who lost their opening games to France and Wales.
Admission into Friday’s game at Tulloch Stadium is free. Directions to the ground are available here.
IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v Scotland Under-20s, 2011 RBS Under-20 6 Nations Championship, Tulloch Stadium, Inverness, Friday, February 25, kick-off 7.30pm):
15 – Michael Sherlock (Clontarf/Leinster)
14 – Tiernan O’Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)
13 – Alex Kelly (UCD/Leinster)
12 – JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster)
11 – Andrew Boyle (UCD/Leinster)
10 – Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster)
9 – Blane McIlroy (Ballymena/Ulster)
1 – James Tracy (UCD/Leinster)
2 – Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) (capt)
3 – Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster)
4 – Michael Kearney (Clontarf/Leinster)
5 – Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers/Connacht)
6 – Shane Buckley (Garryowen/Munster)
7 – Aaron Conneely (Corinthians/Connacht)
8 – Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Replacements:
16 – David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
17 – Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster)
18 – Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster)
19 – Cathal O’Flaherty (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 – Mark Dolan (Corinthians/Connacht)
21 – Gareth Quinn McDonogh (Shannon/Munster)
22 – Colm O’Shea (Clontarf/Leinster)
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