THREE young Garryowen stars have been named in the Ireland squad for the World Under-20 Championship, which starts this afternoon and continues through until mid-July in South Africa.
Max Clein, Brian Gleeson, and Jack Oliver are joined by locals Ruadhán Quinn of Old Crescent and Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians) in a squad coached by Richie Murphy. Clein and Oliver are both so far uncapped. UCC’s Danny Sheahan is the other Munster representative in the travelling party.
The majority of the 30-man squad were involved in Ireland’s memorable Grand Slam success in the spring.
Ireland have been paired in Pool B alongside England, Australia, and Fiji, with Murphy’s side playing all three of their pool matches at Paarl Gymnasium in the Western Cape.
Ireland open their campaign against Six Nations rivals England on Saturday (12.30pm Irish time), before facing Australia on Thursday next (June 29 at 10am) and Fiji on Tuesday July 4 (12.30pm).
Speaking ahead of the squad’s departure for South Africa, Murphy said: “It has been four years since the last edition of the tournament and we’re looking forward to getting to Cape Town to test ourselves against the world’s best teams.”
“It has been a competitive couple of weeks as the squad have pushed each other in preparation for the tournament and we know we’ll need to grow and evolve as a team from the Six Nations for what will be a challenging couple of weeks against quality opposition in South Africa.”
