Opta Facts: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations – Ireland U-20s v Italy U-20s

Andrew Browne’s Ireland Under-20 squad (sponsored by PwC) will get their first taste of an U-20 Men’s Six Nations night at Virgin Media Park when they entertain Italy on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm). Check out the Opta Facts, provided by Stats Perform, below.

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– Ireland have lost just one of their previous 17 matches against Italy in the Under-20 Men’s Six Nations (W15 D1), however, that defeat came in the final round of last year’s Championship (15-12 in Treviso)

– Ireland’s most recent home victory against the Italians came by a single point (23-22 in February 2024)

– Ireland have lost five of their six games in the U-20 Six Nations since the start of the 2025 edition (W1), after going unbeaten across the 2022, 2023, and 2024 campaigns (W14, D1). They have lost each of their last four, their longest such run since 2015-2016 (L5)

– Ireland suffered a 50-21 defeat to France in last week’s first round, but have not lost their opening two encounters in a campaign since 2016, when they were defeated by Wales and France before going on to win each of their remaining three fixtures

– Italy have won just one of their previous 18 round 2 games in the U-20 Six Nations (L17), a 6-0 win against England in the 2022 edition. However, they have led at half-time in each of their last two such fixtures

– Italy have alternated between wins and losses across their last nine away clashes in the U-20 Six Nations (W4, L5), losing their most recent one 33-24 to England last March

– Ireland (3/3) and Italy (2/2) were the only teams to register a 100% place-kicking success rate across the opening round of the 2026 Championship. Meanwhile, in open play, they had the fewest kicks from hand of any sides last week (Ireland 13, Italy 21)

– Ireland (127) and Italy (126) completed the most tackles across the opening weekend. Italy also had the second best tackle success rate of any team in round 1 (88.7%, behind France’s 92.7%). Ireland had the lowest with 82.5%

– Ireland completed 62% of their rucks in just three seconds or fewer against France in round 1, the highest rate of any team in their U-20 Six Nations opener. Italy restricted Scotland to a 29% rate, the lowest of any side last week

– With a well-taken brace, Ireland’s Christopher Barrett was the only player to score multiple tries during the opening round of this year’s 2026 tournament. He was the first Irish scrum half to score a brace in the Championship since Craig Casey did so against Italy in 2019

– No players completed more tackles in round 1 than Italy’s Christian Brasini or Ireland’s Diarmaid O’Connell (14 each, also France’s Romeo Bonnard Martin). Italy’s Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi ranked just behind them on 13 tackles