TOM TIERNEY HAS announced his Ireland U19 team to face the touring Australia Schools side at Donnybrook on Saturday afternoon [KO 2pm], with Leinster sub-academy hooker John McKee named as captain.
It will be Australia’s third and final fixture of the Irish leg of their UK and Ireland tour, having defeated Munster Schools at Thomond Park last Friday evening, while they face an Ulster selection later on Tuesday.
Ireland will be skippered by McKee, who is joined in the front row by Leinster underage team-mates Harry Noonan and Charlie Ward.
Conor McMenamin of Ulster and Munster’s Paddy Kelly will pack down in the second row with Newbridge College flanker Cian Prendergast, Ciaran Booth — who came through the IQ Rugby programme — and David McCann in the back row.
There’s an all Munster pairing in the half backs with Charlie O’Doherty at scrum-half and Jack Delaney at out-half, while Ulster’s Aaron Sexton — who made his senior debut in pre-season — named on the left wing.
Hayden Hyde, another IQ Rugby player, and Tommy Downes pair up in the centre with Sexton, Andrew Smith and Oran McNulty in the back three.
Ireland U19:
15. Oran McNulty (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Andrew Smith (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
13. Hayden Hyde (Cranleigh School/Harlequins/IQ RUgby)
12. Tommy Downes (Galwegians/Munster)
11. Aaron Sexton (Bangor Grammar/Ulster)
10. Jack Delaney (Crescent College/Munster)
9. Charlie O’Doherty (Newcastle West/Munster)
1. Harry Noonan (Old Wesley/Leinster)
2. John McKee (Old Belvedere/Leinster) Captain
3. Charlie Ward (Clontarf/Leinster)
4. Conor McMenamin (City of Derry/Ulster)
5. Paddy Kelly (Young Munster/Munster)
6. Cian Prendergast (Newbridge College/Leinster)
7. Ciaran Booth (IQ Rugby/Sale Sharks)
8. David McCann (Banbridge/Ulster)
Replacements:
16. Scott Buckley (CBC Cork/Munster)
17. Aaron Hennessy (UL/Munster)
18. Liam Winnett (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19. Brian Deeney (Clontarf/Leinster)
20. Sean O’Brien (Blackrock College/Leinster)
21. Lewis Finlay (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
22. Dylan Prendergast (Ballina/Connacht)
23. Louis Bruce (PBC/Munster).
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