The teams have been announced for Ireland U20’s Six Nations match against their Welsh counterparts which takes place on Saturday evening at Parc Eirias. Kick off 18:30, live on S4C/RTE.
It should be the third of three cracking matches against the Welsh but, as with the Women and the Men’s sides the Ulster representation is disappointingly small. Johnny McPhillips, Peter Cooper and Rob Lyttle are all ruled out due to injury. but with a bit of luck they should all be back for the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship in June.
Their absence leaves Jonny Stewart, starting at scrum half, and Marcus Rea, starting as back row replacement, as the only Ulster representatives in the squad this time round.
Ireland U20’s have recorded three wins out of three in the Six Nations but it’s been an abrasive competition for the Irish youngsters. This time round they welcome back Jack Kelly who slots into midfield bumping Tommy O’Brien out to wing and Jordan Larmour to full back.
Fineen Wycherley and Gavin Coombes return up front and the uncapped Greg McGrath and Jack Stanford join the replacements.
Wales have only made one change to the team that beat Scotland with Shane Lewis-Hughes returning for his first appearance this season having recovered from injury. He’s a big unit!
This will be another enticingly close game and, as with the other two, it could go either way. It’ll be interesting to see how my predictions work out this week!
The FRU Predicts: I just like what Nigel Carolan is doing with the U20’s the last couple of seasons. his teams usually find a way to win, so I’m going with Ireland U20’s in this one.
| WALES | IRELAND | |
| Rhun Williams | 15 | Jordan Larmour |
| Corey Baldwin | 14 | Tommy O’Brien |
| Cameron Lewis | 13 | Jack Kelly |
| Keiran Williams | 12 | Ciaran Frawley |
| Ryan Conbeer | 11 | Calvin Nash |
| Ben Jones | 10 | Bill Johnston |
| Dane Blacker | 9 | Jonny Stewart |
| Rhys Carre | 1 | Joey Conway |
| Corrie Tarrant | 2 | Tadgh McElroy |
| Keiron Assiratti | 3 | Charlie Connolly |
| Alex Dombrandt | 4 | Fineen Wycherley |
| Sean Moore | 5 | Oisin Dowling |
| Shane Lewis-Hughes | 6 | Gavin Coombes |
| Will Jones | 7 | Paul Boyle |
| Aled Ward | 8 | Caelan Doris |
| Owen Hughes | 16 | Ronan Kelleher |
| Steff Thomas | 17 | Greg McGrath |
| Chris Coleman | 18 | Matthew Burke |
| Jack Pope | 19 | Jack Regan |
| James Botham | 20 | Marcus Rea |
| Reuben Morgan-Williams | 21 | Jack Stafford |
| Phil Jones | 22 | Conor Fitzgerald |
| Ioan Nicholas | 23 | Colm Hogan |