THE IRELAND U20s get their World Championship campaign underway on Saturday, with Andrew Browne’s side taking on England, Argentina and the USA across their three pool games in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Ireland go into the tournament on the back of a second place finish in this year’s U20 Six Nations, five points behind Grand Slam winners France, in what was the first campaign under head coach Andrew Browne, who succeeded Neil Doak late last year, having worked as an assistant on Doak’s coaching ticket.
That Six Nations return was a welcome improvement on the struggles of 2025, where Ireland were rock bottom of the table and laboured to a disappointing 11th place finish at the 2025 World Championships in Italy.
And so, this summer holds more promise, even if they have a tricky pool to navigate in a new-look competition.
Now expanded to 16 teams – with Fiji, USA, Japan and Uruguay joining the party – the tournament is operating under a new name, officially going by the World Rugby Junior World Championship.
The four pool winners progress to the semi-finals. Second-placed teams will compete for fifth to eighth place, while third and fourth-placed teams contest rankings from ninth to 12th and 13th to 16th respectively, with seeding based on pool-stage competition points.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on the games (available on Premier Sports and RugbyPass TV) as this is the first international competition to feature the new trial lowering the tackle height at the sternum.
Advertisement
Ireland open their campaign against England on Saturday, who traditionally go deep in these championships. England have made the semi-finals in 12 of their 15 World Championship appearances, but like Ireland, the defending 2024 champions had their own slump last summer, coming in sixth.
Third in this year’s Six Nations, England will be keen to start their championship on a high and get one over on Ireland, who stormed to an impressive 31-21 win in Bath during the Six Nations.
Round two sees Ireland face Argentina, who finished third last year to mark their joint-best return at the competition. Argentina play their early-season rugby in the U20 Rugby Championship, where they finished third following two defeats (48-21 v South Africa and 32-30 v Australia) and one win (25-17 v New Zealand).
Ireland's U20's head coach Andrew Browne. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
With their two most testing fixtures up first, Ireland will aim to close their pool campaign on a high against the USA, who are back in this championship for the first time in over a decade.
Since suffering relegation in 2013, the USA sides have been competing in the second-tier World Rugby U20 Championship, which wasn’t held last year. While the USA head for Georgia this summer, some of their recent contemporaries will be landing in Chile for the U20 Challenger Cup.
Some of this Ireland squad are already becoming familiar names. Captain Sami Bishti is a highly-rated young tighthead.
A Leinter Schools Senior Cup winning captain with Blackrock, Bishti previously represented Ireland at underage level in the hammer throw, and credits current IRFU Performance Pathway Scrum Coach Seamus Toomey (formerly of Blackrock) as a key man in his development. Toomey will again be working closely with the U20s during this window.
Tom Wood was another important figure for Ireland during the Six Nations, starting all five games at out-half, shortly after making his senior debut for Munster.
Son of Ireland legend Tom, Wood comes from strong rugby stock (his grandfather, Gordon, represented Munster and Ireland while Tom’s older brother, Gordon, is also on the books at the province).
Wood has to settle for a place on the bench this weekend, with Munster teammate Charlie O’Shea getting the nod at 10. A replacement in all five Six Nations fixtures, Saturday’s fixture marks the UCC man’s first start for the Ireland 20s.
Flanker Josh Neill was perhaps the story of Ireland’s Six Nations, scoring a try in four in their five fixtures, and offering a dynamic threat around the park. Hard in the tackle and a strong operator in the lineout, this championship offers a platform to showcase his obvious talents, and the exciting prospect of seeing how he fares against Southern Hemisphere opposition.
And that applies across the team. Build on the Six Nations showing, and this could be an exciting couple of weeks for a talented U20s crop.
Ireland U20s pool fixtures:
England v Ireland
Tbilisi, 3.30pm local time/12.30pm Irish time Saturday, 27 June
Argentina v Ireland
Tbilisi, 3.30pm local/12.30pm Irish Thursday, 2 July
Ireland v USA
Tbilisi, 1pm local/10am Irish Tuesday, 7 July
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
19 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Ireland take promising U20s crop to expanded World Championships in Georgia
THE IRELAND U20s get their World Championship campaign underway on Saturday, with Andrew Browne’s side taking on England, Argentina and the USA across their three pool games in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Ireland go into the tournament on the back of a second place finish in this year’s U20 Six Nations, five points behind Grand Slam winners France, in what was the first campaign under head coach Andrew Browne, who succeeded Neil Doak late last year, having worked as an assistant on Doak’s coaching ticket.
That Six Nations return was a welcome improvement on the struggles of 2025, where Ireland were rock bottom of the table and laboured to a disappointing 11th place finish at the 2025 World Championships in Italy.
And so, this summer holds more promise, even if they have a tricky pool to navigate in a new-look competition.
Now expanded to 16 teams – with Fiji, USA, Japan and Uruguay joining the party – the tournament is operating under a new name, officially going by the World Rugby Junior World Championship.
The four pool winners progress to the semi-finals. Second-placed teams will compete for fifth to eighth place, while third and fourth-placed teams contest rankings from ninth to 12th and 13th to 16th respectively, with seeding based on pool-stage competition points.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on the games (available on Premier Sports and RugbyPass TV) as this is the first international competition to feature the new trial lowering the tackle height at the sternum.
Ireland open their campaign against England on Saturday, who traditionally go deep in these championships. England have made the semi-finals in 12 of their 15 World Championship appearances, but like Ireland, the defending 2024 champions had their own slump last summer, coming in sixth.
Third in this year’s Six Nations, England will be keen to start their championship on a high and get one over on Ireland, who stormed to an impressive 31-21 win in Bath during the Six Nations.
Round two sees Ireland face Argentina, who finished third last year to mark their joint-best return at the competition. Argentina play their early-season rugby in the U20 Rugby Championship, where they finished third following two defeats (48-21 v South Africa and 32-30 v Australia) and one win (25-17 v New Zealand).
With their two most testing fixtures up first, Ireland will aim to close their pool campaign on a high against the USA, who are back in this championship for the first time in over a decade.
Since suffering relegation in 2013, the USA sides have been competing in the second-tier World Rugby U20 Championship, which wasn’t held last year. While the USA head for Georgia this summer, some of their recent contemporaries will be landing in Chile for the U20 Challenger Cup.
Some of this Ireland squad are already becoming familiar names. Captain Sami Bishti is a highly-rated young tighthead.
A Leinter Schools Senior Cup winning captain with Blackrock, Bishti previously represented Ireland at underage level in the hammer throw, and credits current IRFU Performance Pathway Scrum Coach Seamus Toomey (formerly of Blackrock) as a key man in his development. Toomey will again be working closely with the U20s during this window.
Tom Wood was another important figure for Ireland during the Six Nations, starting all five games at out-half, shortly after making his senior debut for Munster.
Son of Ireland legend Tom, Wood comes from strong rugby stock (his grandfather, Gordon, represented Munster and Ireland while Tom’s older brother, Gordon, is also on the books at the province).
Wood has to settle for a place on the bench this weekend, with Munster teammate Charlie O’Shea getting the nod at 10. A replacement in all five Six Nations fixtures, Saturday’s fixture marks the UCC man’s first start for the Ireland 20s.
Flanker Josh Neill was perhaps the story of Ireland’s Six Nations, scoring a try in four in their five fixtures, and offering a dynamic threat around the park. Hard in the tackle and a strong operator in the lineout, this championship offers a platform to showcase his obvious talents, and the exciting prospect of seeing how he fares against Southern Hemisphere opposition.
And that applies across the team. Build on the Six Nations showing, and this could be an exciting couple of weeks for a talented U20s crop.
Ireland U20s pool fixtures:
England v Ireland
Tbilisi, 3.30pm local time/12.30pm Irish time
Saturday, 27 June
Argentina v Ireland
Tbilisi, 3.30pm local/12.30pm Irish
Thursday, 2 July
Ireland v USA
Tbilisi, 1pm local/10am Irish
Tuesday, 7 July
Ireland U20s squad:
Forwards (17)
Backs (13):
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Preview Rugby team:ireland U20s