IRELAND UNDER 20s head coach Nigel Carolan has again made four changes to his starting line-up before taking on New Zealand in Pool C of the Junior World Championship.
Carolan also made four changes after the opening day victory over Argentina, but the majority of the side will start their third match in eight days tomorrow.
In all, there are 10 players who started the wins over Argentina and Scotland while loosehead Andrew Porter was introduced as an injury replacement after just eight minutes of game one.
With the spine of Carolan’s side remaining consistent, the changes come on the wing, flanker and in the front row.
Ulster’s Jack Owens is introduced to the wing for his first start of the tournament. The remaining incoming trio all started against the South Americans: Jacob Stockdale completes the back three with Stephen Fitzgerald and Ciaran Gaffney making way. Also recalled are hooker Zach McCall, in place of Sean McNulty, and Connacht’s Rory Moloney who edges out Conor Oliver who scored Ireland’s second try against Scotland.
“This is a big game for both sides, the winner of this will have a guaranteed place in the semi-finals,” Carolan says today.
New Zealand are a good team, so we will need to be brilliant for the full 80 minutes to give ourselves a chance.
“However, in preparation for a tough battle we have recovered well from our last outing and have identified some key areas which we hope we can take advantage of.“
Ireland U20 (v New Zealand: 10 June, KO 19.30)
15. Billy Dardis (UCD/Leinster)
14. Jack Owens (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)
12. Sam Arnold (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
10. Joey Carbery (UCD/Leinster)
9. Nick McCarthy (UCD/Leinster) (Capt)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster)
2. Zack McCall (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
3. Oisin Heffernan (Terenure College/Leinster)
4. David O’Connor (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
5. Alex Thompson (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
6. Josh Murphy (UCD/Leinster)
7. Rory Moloney (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
8. Lorcan Dow (Queen’s University Belfast/Ulster)
Replacements
16. Sean McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
17. Liam O’Connor (Cork Constitution /Munster)
18. Conan O’Donnell (Sligo/NUIG/Connacht)
19. Cian Romaine (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
20. Stephen McVeigh (Buccaneers/ Connacht)
21. Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
22. Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
23. Fergal Cleary (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
