 The Ireland U20 side has been named to face Argentina in the World Rugby U20 Championships Semi-Final at 5.30pm tomorrow evening at the Manchester City Academy Stadium.
Head Coach Nigel Carolan has made a number of changes to the side that defeated Georgia to top Pool A on Wednesday. Front-rowers Andrew Porter, Adam McBurney and Ben Betts all return to the starting XV, as does captain James Ryan, who has recovered from the thigh injury that kept him out of the Georgia match. He will be joined in the second row by Sean O’Connor. The back-row is comprised of Max Deegan at number 8 and flankers David Aspil and Greg Jones. Jones will be making his fourth start of the Championship. Stephen Kerins will wear the number 9 jersey and will be partnered at half-back by Johnny McPhillips, who scored 18 points in last week’s Georgian win. Conor O’Brien and Shane Daly make up the centre partnership and the back three is comprised of Jacob Stockdale at full-back and Matthew Byrne and Hugo Keenan on the wings.
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 Speaking ahead of the Semi-Final, Carolan said; “The players have done really well to get themselves into a World Championship Semi-Final. There’s a great belief amongst this group and they’ve shown what they can do as a team over the course of the last number of games. Argentina are going to present another big test for us. They have a lot of physicality up front as well as pace out wide so we are going to need to be at the top of our game tomorrow.” The match will be broadcast live on TG4 and Sky Sports 3 and will be refereed by Craig Maxwell-Keys of the RFU. Ireland U20 v Argentina U20. 15. Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins / Ulster) 1. Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster) Replacements Ireland U20 World Rugby U20 Championship Results / Fixtures New Zealand 24 – 33 Ireland Ireland 35 – 7 Georgia Semi-Final Play-Offs |
