Opta Facts: World Rugby U-20 Championship – Ireland v Georgia

The World Rugby Under-20 Championship kicks off in Italy on Sunday, and the Ireland Under-20 Men’s team (sponsored by PwC) have Georgia as their first opponents in Pool C. Stats Perform preview the match with their Opta Facts.

The action in Calvisano gets underway at 6pm local time/5pm Irish time, and there will be live coverage on RugbyPass TV. Tickets can be purchased here, and cover all three games at a venue on a match day.

– Ireland have won three of their four World Rugby U-20 Championship clashes with Georgia (L1). However, their last two wins over the Junior Lelos have both come by margins of just six points, while they lost the last time they faced them in Europe (24-20 in France in 2018)

– Ireland are on a six-match unbeaten run in the pool stages of the World Rugby U-20 Championship (W5, D1), their longest ever such streak

– Ireland reached the semi-finals in both of the last two U-20 Championship tournaments, as many times as in the first 12 editions of the competition combined

– Georgia have won three of their last five U-20 Championship pool fixtures (L2), more than in their previous 13 combined (W2, L11)

– Georgia finished ninth in last year’s U-20 Championship, winning their last three games in the competition

– The Junior Lelos have contested the ninth place final in each of the last three tournaments held in Europe, winning the most recent (39-31 against Scotland in 2018)

– Georgia had the highest dominant carry rate of any team in the 2024 World Rugby U-20 Championship (41.3%), and averaged over five dominant tackles per game more than any other side (21.8)

– Ireland were the only team to move the ball beyond the first receiver on at least a third of their attacking phases at last summer’s tournament in South Africa (41%), while only Argentina (13%) had a lower such rate than Georgia (20%)

– Ireland scored more points per attacking 22-metre entry than any other team in the 2024 U-20 Championship (3.3). However, they had the lowest such rate of any side in this year’s Under-20 Six Nations (1.6)

– Billy Corrigan claimed 33 of Ireland’s lineouts during the 2025 U-20 Six Nations. No player won as many as him on their own team’s throw, while his team-mate, Michael Foy, stole the most opposition lineouts this year (4)

– Foy won 10 turnovers during the recent U-20 Six Nations, the most of any player this year

– Only two other players have hit double digits for turnovers won in a single U-20 Six Nations this decade – Scotland’s Freddy Douglas (13 in 2024), and 2025 British & Irish Lions tourist Jac Morgan (10 in 2020)