Ireland U-18 Men Heading To South Africa For International Series

The Ireland Under-18 Men’s team (sponsored by PwC) will take part in an International Series hosted by South Africa in Cape Town and Paarl in August.

The Ireland Under-18s will face South Africa, England, and South Africa ‘A’ in a three-round competition on August 12, 16, and 20.

Following on from the Under-18 Six Nations Festival in Parma in April, this tournament is another development opportunity for young players in a high performance environment.

Similar to past editions, the matches will be hosted at school venues, with Stellenberg High School in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, as well as Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys High School hosting the Under-18 teams on triple-header match days.

Dave Wessels, General Manager of High Performance at SA Rugby, described the forthcoming U-18 International Series as a key component in the development of the country’s top age-group players.

“The international coaches I spoke to during the recent World Rugby U-20 Championship all described the importance of coming over here to test their U-18s against our South African boys,” said Wessels.

“The reason for that is that we have such an incredible pool of schoolboy and age-group players, and they see the annual U-18 series against our boys as an integral part of their preparation and development of their teams.

“Of course, the series is an integral part of the development and growth of our own U-18s. Apart from rewarding the current group of U-18s with an incredible opportunity to gain international experience, it can be considered as the starting point for the new identification cycle of our next group of Junior Springboks.”

The Ireland Under-18 Men’s squad, coached by Michael Hodge, will be announced in due course following a training camp at the IRFU High Performance Centre.

UNDER-18 MEN’S INTERNATIONAL SERIES FIXTURES:

Monday, August 12 (Stellenberg High School)

11.30am: South Africa ‘A’ v Georgia
1.30pm: England v Ireland
3.30pm: South Africa v France

Friday, August 16 (Paarl Gimnasium)

11.30am: England v France
1.30pm: Georgia v South Africa ‘A’
3.30pm: South Africa v Ireland

Tuesday, August 20 (Paarl Boys High School)

11.30am: Ireland v South Africa ‘A’
1.30pm: South Africa v England
3.30pm: France v Georgia