Five Munster Players Named In Ireland U20 Squad

The Ireland U20 squad to play Italy U20 in Donnybrook this Friday 11th March has been named which includes five Munster players.

Head Coach Nigel Carolan has named the same starting pack that were victorious against England in Newcastle last time out, but there are some changes in the backline due to a couple of injuries.

Cork Con centre Shane Daly retains his place in the starting line-up and sees his club colleague, scrum-half John Poland, named on bench.

Paul Kiernan, UCC centre, is also named in the replacements and will be hoping to win his first Ireland U20 cap.

Young Munster prop Ben Betts, who is also uncapped, and Cashel second row Seán O’Connor have also been named in the replacements.

Speaking ahead of the game, Carolan said "we knew that this group of players were very capable of playing winning rugby, but errors had cost us in previous games. While it was satisfying to get the victory away to England over in Newcastle, the important thing now is that we park that win and continue to build and develop as a team.”

“There are a couple of enforced changes to the backs and some new faces amongst the substitutes so it changes things up a bit as we come to the latter stages of the competition.”

“Italy travel to Donnybrook having made England and Scotland work very hard to secure their wins, so I've no doubt they'll be looking to push us hard on Friday night. If we replicate our last peformance, I am confident that we can come away with a successful outcome.”

The match, which is sponsored by Electric Ireland kicks off at 7.35pm and tickets are available from http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Ireland-tickets/artist/1056338

The game will be broadcast live on RTE 2 from 7.30pm.

Ireland U20 v Italy U20.
Donnybrook Stadium, Friday 11th March, 7.35pm.

15. Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons)
14. Hugo Keenan (UCD / Leinster)
13. Shane Daly (Cork Con / Munster)
12. Conor O'Brien (Clontarf / Leinster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins / Ulster)
10. Johnny McPhillips (Queens University / Ulster)
9. Stephen Kerins (Sligo / Connacht)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster)
2. Adam McBurney (Ballymena / Ulster)
3. Conán O'Donnell (Sligo / Connacht)
4. Peter Claffey (Galwegians / Connacht)
5. James Ryan (Lansdowne / Leinster) Captain
6. Cillian Gallagher (Sligo / Connacht)
7. Will Connors (UCD / Leinster)
8. Greg Jones (UCD / Leinster)

Replacements
16. Hugo Kean (St. Mary's / Leinster)*
17. James Bollard (Dublin University / Leinster)
18. Ben Betts (Munster / Young Munster)*
19. Seán O'Connor (Cashel / Munster)
20. Max Deegan (Lansdowne / Leinster)
21. John Poland (Cork Con / Munster)
22. Paul Kiernan (UCC / Munster)*
23. Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's / Leinster)

*Denotes Uncapped at this level