Under 21s Select For Opening Game : Irish Rugby

It's all systems go for the Ireland Under 21 side ahead of their opening IRB World Cup clash with South Africa at Oxford RFC's ground at Iffley Road today (3pm). The pool stages will be played at three venues, Newbury RFC, Henley RFC and Iffley Road, Oxford, with the tournament semi-finals and final taking place at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, on Wednesday, June 25th and Sunday, June 29th respectively. In all, 30 matches will be played over 16 days at the four different venues.

Ireland coach Michael Bradley has named a side that shows four changes from their last international outing - the final game in the championship against England. One of those changes has been forced on Bradley by the withdrawal of John Lyne whose place in the front-row now goes to Jason Moran, (UCD).

The other changes in the pack sees John Muldoon (Galwegians) preferred to Niall Ronan (Lansdowne) in the back-row and Neil McComb Dundee (Highschool) coming into the second row in place of Shane O'Connor.

In the back-line, Glen Telford (Instonians) comes into the centre to partner Barry Murphy (UL Bohemians) with Keith Matthews (UL Bohemians) switching to the right wing which means Richard Lane (UCC) slips down to the bench.

Explaining the changes, manager David Haslett stresses it's very much a question of, "horses for courses because we feel we need a very strong physical presence for this game. For example, in the back row it was a case of two from three at six between Muldoon, Ronan and Potts, with John (Muldoon) getting the nod but I'd expect Niall (Ronan) will be called on at some stage.

The Ireland squad had a 45 minute run-out yesterday at the Oratory School which is located near their Reading hotel. They'll have a light exercise drill this morning before lunch at 11.45 and then set off on the 50 minute journey to the match venue at Iffley Road, Oxford.

Ireland U21 (v South Africa). Iffley Road, Oxford RFC, 3pm.

15. Tommy Bowe - Queens University14. Keith Matthews - UL Bohemians13. Barry Murphy - UL Bohemians12. Glen Telford - Instonians11. John Hearty - Blackrock College10. Michael Rainey - Glasgow Hawks 9. Fiach O'Loughlin - Shannon 1. Jason Moran - UCD 2. Rory Best - Belfast Harlequins 3. Declan Fitzpatrick - Belfast Harlequins 4. David Gannon - UCD 5. Neil McComb - Dundee Highschool

6. John Muldoon - Galwegians 7. Ciaran Potts - St. Mary's College 8. Stephen Keogh - UCC Captain Replacements. 16. Kevin Corrigan - UCD17. Eugene Mc Govern - Old Crescent18. Simon Crawford - UCD19. Niall Ronan - Lansdowne20. Conor O'Loughlin - Buccaneers21. David McAllister - Terenure College22. Richard Lane - UCC.

South Africa. MJ Mentz; A Bock, B Ferreira, L Uys, B Buys; S Swart, E Januarie; JD Moller, D Britz, N Fullard, G Gilfillan, R Skeate, S Burger, H Haupt, J Cronte.

Referee - Rob Debney (Eng).

Felix Jones, who is the visiting coach in Ireland camp this week, spoke to Irish Rugby TV about how 'interesting' and 'valuable' his time in Tokyo has been, and also what the transition from player to coach is like. He retired in October 2015 and is now Munster's back-line and attack coach.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's second Test against Japan, Ireland tour captain Rhys Ruddock said: "We've been happy with the results so far, and there's been bits of the performances we've been really happy with and some bits that we're looking to improve on. Tomorrow marks the last opportunity to go out and do that, so we're all really excited about getting out there now."

Ulster's Luke Marshall, who will return to the Irish midfield in Tokyo on Saturday, is expecting Japan to 'come back pretty hard' following their 50-22 defeat in Shizuoka last weekend.