Ireland Under-20 captain Nick McCarthy has been ruled out of the remainder of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship. He damaged his shoulder during the 25-3 defeat to New Zealand and was replaced just before half-time.
Munster scrum half Jack Cullen has been called up to the Ireland Under-20 squad for the remainder of the tournament. Flanker Josh Murphy, one of Ireland’s standout performers in Italy so far, will take over the captaincy responsibilities.
Cullen already has seven Ireland Under-20 caps to his name, including one start, having played in both the 2014 and 2015 U-20 RBS 6 Nations Championships.
The Pool C loss to New Zealand marked Nick McCarthy’s 18th appearance for Ireland at U-20 level across two seasons. The Dublin-born scrum half is a member of the Leinster Academy and played for Leinster ‘A’ in this year’s British & Irish Cup.
Giving his reaction after the New Zealand game, McCarthy admitted: “We’re all very disappointed (to lose) after those two good wins (over Argentina and Scotland) at the start. We played some pretty good rugby at times but just their points came pretty easy.
“Stupid penalties from us gave them some easy pitch position and they capitalised and took their chances well. I think to be fair to our boys we fought hard to the end and we’re really looking forward to playing Wales now in a few days’ time and look to rebound from that.”
The Ireland Under-20s, who won their opening two pool matches in Italy, will play Wales on Monday in the 5th-8th place play-offs at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in Viadana (kick-off 8.30pm local time/7.30pm Irish time).
This website uses cookies.
Read More