Irish Schools Begin Four Nations Against Hosts

…Belvedere College centre Eoin O’Malley in action against Gonzaga in February…

Peter Melia’s Ireland Schools side kickstart their Four Nations tilt on Easter Saturday as they take on tournament hosts England at Cheltenham RFC.

The Irish management have made two personnel changes and three positional switches to the team that lost to France in a friendly in Toulon last weekend.

Campbell College’s Jamie Smith moves from outside centre to full-back – in place of Adam Craig. Eoin O’Malley of Belvedere College switches from inside centre to take Smith’s outside centre slot, with St. Michael’s midfielder Conor Cleary coming into the team to take over from O’Malley.

In the back row, Patrick Mallon of St. Michael’s gains a start as blindside flanker. Blackrock College’s Paul Ryan moves to the openside in place of David Johnston, who drops to the replacements bench.

Ireland will be captained by RBAI hooker Stephen Douglas for the clash which kicks off at 2.00pm.

The remaining members of the 26-man Irish squad will all be available as replacements during the game – the tournament rules allow any seven of the remaining 11 to be used.

IRELAND SCHOOLS TEAM (v England Schools):

15. Jamie Smith (Campbell College); 14. Christopher Quinn (Methodist College), 13. Eoin O’Malley (Belvedere College), 12. Conor Cleary (St. Michael’s College), 11. Patrick Brophy (St. Michael’s College); 10. Scott Deasy (PBC Cork), 9. David Moore (Blackrock College); 1. Paul Karayiannis (Royal Belfast Academical Institution), 2. Stephen Douglas (Royal Belfast Academical Institution) (capt), 3. Matthew Nelson (Wallace High School), 4. James Sandford (Royal School Armagh), 5. Brian Cawley (Blackrock College), 6. Patrick Mallon (St. Michael’s College), 7. Paul Ryan (Blackrock College), 8. Kieran Essex (CBC Cork).

Replacements: Stephen Archer (CBC Cork), Andrew Burke (Crescent College), Eamonn Broderick (St. Munchin’s College), Adam Craig (Royal Belfast Academical Institution), Ken Hanley (Crescent College), David Johnston (Methodist College), Patrick McCabe (Belvedere College), David Mongan (Belvedere College), Michael Sherry (Ard Scoil Ris), Jonathan Slattery (Belvedere College), Michael Wilson (Rainey Endowed School).

Coach – Peter Melia (CBC Cork)

Assistant Coach – Paul Barr (PBC Cork)

Manager – Lorcan Balfe (De La Salle Churchtown)

IRELAND’S U-18 FOUR NATIONS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

Saturday, April 15 – England v IRELAND, Cheltenham RFC, 2.00pm

Tuesday, April 18 – IRELAND v Wales, Lydney RFC, 4.00pm

Friday, April 21 – IRELAND v Scotland, Gloucester RFC, 2.00pm