Ireland’s only successful Six Nations side last weekend have remained largely unchanged for their second round match against Scotland U20 on Friday night at Netherdale, Galashiels. Kick off 7:30 pm. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any live coverage planned at the minute.
Unsurprisingly there are few changes. Cormac Foley, who scored the winner against England, is the only change to the starting line up, coming in at scrum half for the injured Craig Casey. Foley is replaced on the bench by Colm Reilly and Luke Masters comes in for Ryan Lomas as one of the replacement props.
Once again, Banbridge’s David McCann is Ulster’s only representative, as back row replacement, and former Ulster U19 player, John McKee, who is now with Leinster Academy, is also on the bench as replacement hooker.
It was mixed fortunes for the sides on the opening weekend. Ireland upset all predictions with their bonus point win against England and Scotland lost at home to Italy, in what over the years has been the traditional wooden spoon match in this competition. With France beating Wales, the table for this competition looks like this after the first round.
| Team | PL | W | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France U20 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 1 | 5 |
| Italy U20 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 5 |
| Ireland U20 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| England U20 | 1 | 0 | (8) | 0 | 0 |
| Scotland U20 | 1 | 0 | (10) | 0 | 0 |
| Wales U20 | 1 | 0 | (22) | 0 | 0 |
Ireland go into the game as clear favourites, but nothing is certain at this level and team’s performances can change dramatically. Ireland won this fixture last season but Scotland handed out a bit of a thrashing when they last met, in the U20 world Championship over the summer. There is also the chance that Ireland have got their big result and they may not be fully focused for this one!
However, the Irish camp need a good run of form, after two disappointing seasons on the U20 circuit, so I expect they will remain focused and that should be enough to make it two wins from two.
| SCOTLAND U20 | IRELAND U20 | |
|---|---|---|
| Rufus McLean | 15 | Jake Flannery |
| Rory McMichael | 14 | Conor Philips |
| Cameron Anderson | 13 | Liam Turner |
| Robbie McCallum | 12 | David Hawkshaw |
| Jack Blain | 11 | Jonathan Wren |
| Ross Thompson | 10 | Harry Byrne |
| Roan Frostwick | 9 | Cormac Foley |
| Sam Grahamslaw | 1 | Josh Wycherley |
| Ewan Ashman | 2 | Dylan Tierney-Martin |
| Murphy Walker | 3 | Tom Clarkson |
| Cameron Henderson | 4 | Charlie Ryan |
| Ewan Johnson | 5 | Niall Murray |
| Charlie Jupp | 6 | Martin Moloney |
| Connor Boyle | 7 | Scott Penny |
| Cristen van Niekerk | 8 | John Hodnett |
| Angus Fraser | 16 | John McKee |
| Andrew Nimmo | 17 | Michael Milne |
| Euan McLaren | 18 | Luke Masters |
| Ross Bundy | 19 | Brian Deeney |
| Jack Mann | 20 | David McCann |
| Kyle McGhie | 21 | Colm Reilly |
| Nathan Chamberlain | 22 | Sean French |
| Matt Davidson | 23 | Rob Russell |