Ireland U20 Side For Scotland Clash Named

The Ireland U20 team to play Scotland U20 in Donnybrook this Friday 18th March has been confirmed and sees Munster and Cashel’s Sean O’Connor named in the starting XV for the first time.

Head Coach Nigel Carolan has made three changes to the starting side that defeated Italy 19-13 last week in Donnybrook and in total four Munster players are included in the matchday 23.

There are two changes to the pack as Dublin University prop James Bollard and Munster-man O'Connor are handed their first starts.

Stephen Kerins has recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the Italy game and returns to scrum-half.

In the subs, Naas prop Adam Coyle will be hoping to make his first U20 appearance. Terenure's Matthew Byrne replaces Terry Kennedy who is involved with the Ireland Sevens this week in Madrid.

The side will again be led by Leinster and Lansdowne lock James Ryan.

Speaking ahead of Ireland's final Six Nations game, Carolan said;

"Unforced errors and an unusually high penalty count meant that we made hard work of the win against a gritty Italy side last Friday night. However, we came away with the result and that's the important thing.

“Scotland are a strong side with a lot of quality players in their team. It will be a tough game on Friday but I'm confident that we can put in a big performance and finish on a winning note.”

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 Scotland U20.
Donnybrook Stadium, Friday 18^th 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. James Bollard (Dublin University / Leinster)
2. Adam McBurney (Ballymena / Ulster)
3. Conán O'Donnell (Sligo / Connacht)
4. Sean O'Connor (Cashel / Munster)
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. Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster)
18. Adam Coyle (Naas / Leinster)*
19. Peter Claffey (Galwegians / Connacht
20. Max Deegan (Lansdowne / Leinster)
21. John Poland (Cork Con / Munster)
22. Paul Kiernan (UCC / Munster)
23. Matthew Byrne (Terenure / Leinster)

*Denotes Uncapped at this level

Not Considered
Conor Kenny (Buccaneers / Connacht) – injured
Jimmy O'Brien (UCD / Leinster) – injured
Jack Power (UCD / Leinster) – injured
Dan Walsh (Cork Con / Munster) – injured
Ben Betts (Young Munster / Munster) –injured
Terry Kennedy – Ireland Sevens