Updated Thursday 21.00
IRELAND HEAD COACH Nigel Carolan has had to make a late change at scrum-half for tomorrow’s U20 Six Nations clash against Italy at Donnybrook.
The starting XV named on Wednesday had already shown several changes from the side which defeated England in Newcastle last time out with injuries forcing Carolan’s hand.
The pack remains unchanged but the late change comes after Stephen Kerins failed to shake off a knee injury. The Sligo man will be replaced by Munster’s John Poland with Niall Saunders coming in among the replacements.
There is a reshuffle in the back line with Brett Connon and Jacob Stockdale set to their make first appearances of the campaign. Stockdale has featured six times for Ulster in the Guinness Pro12 this season, most recently playing 80 minutes in the 32-0 victory over Zebre last week.
His return to the fold is a boost with Jack Power and Jimmy O’Brien both sidelined with hamstring and stress fracture injuries respectively.
There are also a number of uncapped players on the bench with Hugo Kean, Ben Betts and Paul Kiernan all joining the Exile Saunders in hoping to win a first cap against the Italians.
“We knew that this group of players were very capable of playing winning rugby, but errors had cost us in previous games,” Carolan says.
“While it was satisfying to get the victory away to England over in Newcastle, the important thing now is that we park that win and continue to build and develop as a team.
“There are a couple of enforced changes to the backs and some new faces amongst the substitutes so it changes things up a bit as we come to the latter stages of the competition.”
The game kicks-off at 7.35pm and is live on RTÉ2.
Ireland:
15. Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons)
14. Hugo Keenan (UCD / Leinster)
13. Shane Daly (Cork Con / Munster)
12. Conor O’Brien (Clontarf / Leinster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins / Ulster)
10. Johnny McPhillips (Queens University / Ulster)
9. John Poland (Cork Con / Munster)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster)
2. Adam McBurney (Ballymena / Ulster)
3. Conán O’Donnell (Sligo / Connacht)
4. Peter Claffey (Galwegians / Connacht)
5. James Ryan (Lansdowne / Leinster) Captain
6. Cillian Gallagher (Sligo / Connacht)
7. Will Connors (UCD / Leinster)
8. Greg Jones (UCD / Leinster)
Replacements
16. Hugo Kean (St. Mary’s / Leinster)*
17. James Bollard (Dublin University / Leinster)
18. Ben Betts (Munster / Young Munster)*
19. Sean O’Connor (Cashel / Munster)
20. Max Deegan (Lansdowne / Leinster)
21. Niall Saunders (Epsom College / Harlequins)*
22. Paul Kiernan (UCC / Munster)*
23. Terry Kennedy (St. Mary’s / Leinster)
Originally published 14.50, Wednesday
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