The Ireland U20 team to play Italy in their third game of the World Rugby U20 Championship has been named. The match kicks off on Wednesday 12th June at 14:30 (UK/IRE) and should be available in Northern Ireland as a live stream.
From an Ulster perspective.
The bad news is that Stewart Moore (Malone) joins Iwan Hughes (Ballynahinch), from the last round, and returns home with a tournament ending shoulder injury. Moore has been one of the stars of Ireland’s campaign scoring two tries, each one extraordinary in it’s own way.
Ulster’s total representation is now down to three and, with Azur Allison completing his return to play protocols, they are all starting against Italy. Allison starts in the back row with Ulster colleague David McCann (Banbridge) and Angus Kernohan (Queen’s) continues as an ever present in the back three having played every minutes of the tournament so far.
The rest of the team.
Unfortunately the impressive John Hodnett (UCD) joins Malone’s Moore on the plane home, they are replaced by Shannon’s Luke Clohessy (Shannon) and David Ryan (UCD) with both the new boys named in the reserves alongside earlier replacements Aaron O’Sullivan (UCD) and Max O’Reilly (Dublin University).
Ronan Watters (St Mary’s College) is following return to play protocols so he sits this one out leaving Ireland with a 27 man squad to choose from.
Noel McNamara has opted to give some of his key players a rest, so captain Charlie Ryan (UCD), Dylan Tierney-Martin (Corinthians), Tom Clarkson (Dublin University), Craig Casey (Shannon) and Jonathan Wren (Cork Constitution) are named in the replacements for the first time this tournament.
Ben Healy (Garryowen) starts his first game at out half with the previous incumbent Jake Flannery (Shannon) starting this one at full back. Previously uncapped Thomas Ahern (Shannon) starts his first game in second row where he joins Ryan Baird (Dublin University) who escaped further punishment following his red card against Australia.
Ireland U20 Squad Stats.
The up to date stats for the starting squad and possible replacements are shown below.
| NO. | PLAYER | CLUB | PROVINCE | CAP | MIN | TRY | PTS |
| 15 | Jake Flannery | Shannon | Munster | 7 | 537 | 1 | 16 |
| 14 | Angus Kernohan | Queen’s University | Ulster | 10 | 582 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Liam Turner | Dublin University | Leinster | 7 | 560 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Cormac Foley | St Mary’s College | Leinster | 6 | 170 | 1 | 5 |
| 11 | Rob Russell | Dublin University | Leinster | 6 | 121 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Ben Healy | Garryowen | Munster | 5 | 205 | 1 | 37 |
| 9 | Colm Reilly | Buccaneers | Connacht | 3 | 50 | 1 | 5 |
| 1 | Josh Wycherley | Young Munster | Munster | 7 | 454 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | John McKee | Old Belvedere | Leinster | 5 | 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Michael Milne | UCD | Leinster | 5 | 63 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Thomas Ahern* | Shannon | Munster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Ryan Baird | Dublin University | Leinster | 4 | 153 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | David McCann | Banbridge | Ulster | 5 | 180 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | Ciaran Booth | Sale Sharks | IQ Rugby | 2 | 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Azur Allison | Ballymena | Ulster | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Declan Adamson | Clontarf | Leinster | 2 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Tom Clarkson | Dublin University | Leinster | 7 | 547 | 1 | 5 |
| 18 | Charlie Ward | Clontarf | Leinster | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Dylan Tierney-Martin | Corrinthians | Connacht | 8 | 476 | 5 | 25 |
| 20 | Charlie Ryan | UCD | Leinster | 12 | 651 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Niall Murray | Buccaneers | Connacht | 7 | 348 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Luke Clohessy* | Shannon | Munster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | |||||||
| 24 | Craig Casey | Shannon | Munster | 5 | 356 | 3 | 15 |
| 25 | Jonathan Wren | Cork Constitution | Munster | 7 | 552 | 2 | 10 |
| 26 | David Ryan* | UCD | Leinster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Aaron O’Sullivan* | UCD | Leinster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Max O’Reilly* | Dublin University | Leinster | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |