Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Wales Under-20s v Ireland Under-20s

Rodney Parade, the home of Dragons RFC, is the venue for the Ireland Under-20 Men’s latest Six Nations encounter, as Neil Doak’s young guns take on Wales tonight in a bid to make it back-to-back victories.

UNDER-20 MEN’S SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 3:

Friday, February 21 –

WALES UNDER-20 MEN (5th) v IRELAND UNDER-20 MEN (4th), Rodney Parade, Newport, 7.45pm (live Virgin Media Three/Virgin Media Play/BBC iPlayer/S4C)

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

Team News: Ireland Under-20 Men’s head coach Doak has made two personnel changes, bringing in centre Eoghan Smyth and prop Tom McAllister to start against their Welsh counterparts in Newport.

Former Ulster Under-19 captain McAllister, who packs down at tighthead prop, will make his first start for the Ireland U-20s after coming off the bench against both England and Scotland.

Cork Constitution’s Smyth swaps back in alongside Connor Fahy, reuniting their centre partnership from the Championship opener, with Munster Academy back Gene O’Leary Kareem held in reserve.

The Connacht Academy’s Éanna McCarthy captains the team from the back row as they look to follow up on their 33-15 bonus point win away to Scotland. Doak’s side are fourth in the table, level on five points with Italy and France above them.

Daniel Green, Charlie Molony, the U-20 Six Nations’ second top try scorer following his hat-trick in Edinburgh, and Ciarán Mangan continue together in the back-three, and Sam Wisniewski and Clark Logan are the starting half-backs for the third game running.

Ballynahinch’s McAllister replaces Alex Mullan in the front row, while Billy Bohan is retained at loosehead, and there are third starts of the tournament for Mahon Ronan, Billy Corrigan, Michael Foy, Bobby Power, and skipper McCarthy at number 8.

Mikey Yarr, who brings experience from last summer’s World Rugby U-20 Championship, is set to make his U-20 Six Nations debut as the replacement hooker.

Munster duo Conor Kennelly and Tom Wood, an Ireland U-18 Schools international last season, are poised to win their first Ireland U-20 caps off the bench.

Paddy Moore, Mullan, David Walsh, Will Wootton, and O’Leary Kareem complete the matchday 23, while Shannon’s Oisin Minogue, a try-scoring replacement against Scotland, unfortunately misses out with an ankle injury.

Speaking ahead of the third round clash in south Wales, Ireland U-20 assistant coach Andrew Browne said: “We previewed Wales’ maul this week, and they’ve got a number of tries from their maul against France and Italy. That’s going to be a big weapon for them.

“Then some really good outside backs. You’ve got the likes of Tom Bowen, who has got a number of Cardiff caps, and you have (Aidan) Boshoff as well. They like to get the ball in their hands as much as they can.”

He added: “We’ve always talked in the past with the 20s about strength in depth, and especially when you get to the World Championship in the summer and not having lads exposed to a high level of rugby.

“You have Tom McAllister coming in at tighthead, who has done really well when he did come on in games, and then you have Mikey Yarr coming onto the bench in the hooker position.

“Tom Wood coming onto the bench too. There’s a few changes there, a few lads in line to get their first cap as well, which will be a nice thing.”

Meanwhile, Wales U-20 Men’s head coach Richard Whiffin has made four changes – including a positional switch for Dan Gemine to the back row – to the team that battled past Italy on a 20-18 scoreline in Treviso.

Bath’s Jack Woods comes in for Scott Delnevo at full-back in the only alteration to the back-line, while Ioan Emanuel, who is also an Academy signing with English Premiership club Bath, returns at loosehead prop in place of Louie Trevett.

As the Welsh youngsters attempt to win back-to-back U-20 Six Nations matches for the first time since 2020, RGC’s Tom Cottle slots into the second row with Gemine moving to blindside flanker.

The Wales U-20 Men have not beaten Ireland since a side boasting the likes of Max Llewellyn, Tom Rogers, Tommy Reffell, and James Botham won in Donnybrook in 2018.

Under-20 Men’s Six Nations Fixtures/Results

Under-20 Men’s Six Nations Table

WALES U-20: Jack Woods (Bath); Aidan Boshoff (Bristol Bears), Osian Roberts (Sale Sharks), Steff Emanuel (Cardiff), Tom Bowen (Cardiff); Harri Wilde (Cardiff), Logan Franklin (Dragons); Ioan Emanuel (Bath), Harry Thomas (Scarlets), Sam Scott (Bristol Bears), Kenzie Jenkins (Bristol Bears), Tom Cottle (RGC), Dan Gemine (Ospreys), Harry Beddall (Leicester Tigers) (capt), Evan Minto (Dragons).

Replacements: Evan Wood (Cardiff Met), Louie Trevett (Bristol Bears), Owain James (Dragons), Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), Caio James (Gloucester), Sion Davies (Cardiff), Harri Ford (Dragons), Elijah Evans (Cardiff).

IRELAND U-20: Daniel Green (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster); Charlie Molony (UCD RFC/Leinster), Connor Fahy (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Eoghan Smyth (Cork Constitution FC/Munster), Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster); Sam Wisniewski (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Clark Logan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster); Billy Bohan (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht), Henry Walker (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Tom McAllister (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Mahon Ronan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Michael Foy (UCC RFC/Munster), Bobby Power (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Éanna McCarthy (Galwegians RFC/Connacht) (capt).

Replacements: Mikey Yarr (UCD RFC/Leinster), Paddy Moore (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Alex Mullan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Conor Kennelly (Highfield RFC/Munster), David Walsh (Terenure College RFC/Leinster), Will Wootton (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby), Tom Wood (Garryowen FC/Munster), Gene O’Leary Kareem (UCC RFC/Munster).

Referee: Morgan White (Hong Kong China)
Assistant Referees: Jérémy Rozier (France), Ru Campbell (Scotland)
TMO: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Watch

The game is live on Virgin Media Three in the Republic of Ireland, while viewers in Northern Ireland/the UK can watch it live on the BBC iPlayer.

Pre-Match Quotes – Andrew Browne (Ireland U-20s): “We were delighted to get the win against Scotland after a tough night in Cork the week before that against England. That kind of gave us a little bit of a boost and then we trained against the Irish senior team last Friday.

“That was brilliant, it was honestly one of our best sessions of the year so far. Just going against quality players, a quality team. A different pace.

“Lads came out of it saying it was obviously really fast and really tough, but they belong there. Which was the real positive thing.

“I think going into this week then, obviously the confidence from the win against Scotland, but then also confidence with that training session against Ireland (has helped). We’re in a pretty good place.”

Richard Whiffin (Wales U-20s): “The boys did a decent job out in Italy, and we were happy with certain aspects of our play against France as well, so we’re given the majority of the squad an opportunity to get a home game under their belts at Rodney Parade.

“We’re also trying to keep combinations and connections high for the reminder of the tournament. I think the boys put everything into the two opening games and we played some really good stuff in patches, and I was really pleased for the boys to get over the line against Italy.

“Any Ireland team are incredibly well coached and well organised, and always have a couple of trick plays up their sleeve.

“So they are a team we certainly won’t be taking lightly. We’ll have to be on our mettle for 80 minutes, but there are also opportunities for us to stamp our game on them.”

Recent Meetings –

2022: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Ireland U-20s 53 Wales U-20s 5, Musgrave Park

2023: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Wales U-20s 27 Ireland U-20s 44, Stadiwm CSM, Colwyn Bay

2024: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Ireland U-20s 43 Wales U-20s 8, Virgin Media Park

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