England U20s may have won the ultimate prize but Ireland's young conveyor belt of talent shows no sign of grinding to a halt
It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
They also confirmed that skipper Evan O’Connell, the nephew of Paul O'Connell who last took the field in the July 4 pool win over Georgia, has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament through injury.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
Back-rower Brian Gleeson and captain Evan O’Connell are among those aiming to go one better than last year in South Africa.
The youngster demonstrated he had nerves of steel during the recent age-grade Six Nations, calmly kicking late penalties for the Irish to win away in France in the opening round of a campaign that finished with his team unbeaten in five matches but denied the title due to England having collected an extra bonus point along the way.
The 28-year-old, who has won six caps since making his debut in The Rugby Championship win over Argentina in August 2021, played 20 times for the Stormers this season, whom he joined from Bordeaux in 2022.
Forwards Max Flynn and Mikey Yarr, along with backs Ruben Moloney and Jake O'Riordan are the new names added to the squad that Richie Murphy guided to within a whisker an another U20s Six Nations title.
The Belfast-based province have endured a rollercoaster season and shoud reach the play-offs if they can topple mighty Leinster
The Irish kept alive their hopes of securing a third successive Six Nations age-grade title by scoring a clock-in-the-red try to draw 32-all with title rivals England last Friday at The Rec.