World Rugby Under-20 Men’s Championship: Ireland U-20s v Scotland U-20s

The Ireland Under-20 Men’s team (sponsored by PwC) have had a win and a defeat in their two encounters with Scotland this year, the loss coming in a recent warm-up fixture. Neil Doak’s side are looking to recapture the form which saw them win 33-15 during the Six Nations.

WORLD RUGBY UNDER-20 MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP – 9TH PLACE SEMI-FINAL:

Monday, July 14 –

IRELAND UNDER-20s v SCOTLAND UNDER-20s, Payanini Centre, Verona, kick-off 6pm local time/5pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV)

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

Team News: Ulster Academy hooker Henry Walker will captain the Ireland Under-20 Men for their first play-off match of the week. Ninth place is the highest finish they can aim for after coming third in Pool C.

After kicking off the U-20 Championship with a 35-28 bonus point win over Georgia, Doak’s youngsters were edged out by host nation Italy (18-16) before being unable to maintain an impressive two-try start against New Zealand, who ran out 69-22 winners.

There are eight personnel changes for the clash with Scotland, including first starts of the tournament for Gene O’Leary Kareem and Sam Wisniewski. The only starting backs retained from the New Zealand game are try-scoring full-back Daniel Green, and centre Ciarán Mangan.

Paidi Farrell, the scorer of a brace on his debut against Georgia, joins O’Leary Kareem and Green in the back-three, Eoghan Smyth slots back in at inside centre, and Clark Logan pairs up at half-back with Wisniewski after they started together against Scotland in this year’s U-20 Six Nations.

Experienced hooker Walker takes on the captaincy role, as part of an unchanged front row with Leinster duo Alex Usanov and Alex Mullan either side of him. This will be Walker’s 13th appearance for the Ireland U-20s, and his tenth start.

Old Wesley’s Mahon Ronan comes in for his eighth international start of the season, packing down with Conor Kennelly. A rejigged back row sees Oisin Minogue, one of try scorers last time out, move to number 8, with Michael Foy and Bobby Power filling the flanker berths.

Regular captain Éanna McCarthy will aim to provide impact off the bench, with Old Belvedere’s Luke McLaughlin also eager for more involvement after making his debut last Wednesday.

Replacement prop Paddy Moore is set to make his U-20 Championship bow after four appearances during the Six Nations. Billy Bohan has received a three-match suspension following his red card against New Zealand – reduced to two games on successful completion of the Coaching Intervention Programme.

Ireland’s matchday 23 is completed by Tom McAllister, Billy Corrigan, Will Wootton, Jonny Scott, a debutant last time out, and Charlie Molony, who scored a hat-trick of tries in a player-of-the-match performance against Scotland five months ago.

World Rugby U-20 Championship Fixtures/Results

IRELAND U-20: Daniel Green (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster); Paidi Farrell (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Eoghan Smyth (Cork Constitution FC/Munster), Gene O’Leary Kareem (UCC RFC/Munster); Sam Wisniewski (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Clark Logan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster); Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Henry Walker (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster) (capt), Alex Mullan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Mahon Ronan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Conor Kennelly (Highfield RFC/Munster), Michael Foy (UCC RFC/Munster), Bobby Power (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Oisin Minogue (Shannon RFC/Munster).

Replacements: Luke McLaughlin (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Paddy Moore (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Tom McAllister (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster), Éanna McCarthy (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Will Wootton (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby), Jonny Scott (Banbridge RFC/Ulster), Charlie Molony (UCD RFC/Leinster).

SCOTLAND U-20: Jack Brown (Edinburgh); Nairn Moncrieff (Edunburgh), Johnny Ventisei (Glasgow Warriors) (co-capt), Kerr Yule (Glasgow Warriors), Fergus Watson (Glasgow Warriors); Matthew Urwin (Glasgow Warriors), Hector Patterson (Edinburgh); Ollie McKenna (Glasgow Warriors), Seb Stephen (Glasgow Warriors), Ollie Blyth-Lafferty (Edinburgh), Dylan Cockburn (Melrose RFC), Bart Godsell (Loughborough University), Oliver Duncan (Edinburgh), Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh) (co-capt), Reuben Logan (Northampton Saints).

Replacements: Joe Roberts (Glasgow Warriors), Ben White (Melrose RFC/Edinburgh), Jake Shearer (Glasgow Warriors), Charlie Moss (Montpellier), Mark Fyffe (University of Edinburgh), Noah Cowan (Brunel University/Ealing Trailfinders), Jack Hocking (Edinburgh), Jed Findlay (Exeter Chiefs).

Referee: Filippo Russo (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Marcus Playle (NZR), Alex Frasson (FIR)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (WRU)
FPRO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)

Pre-Match Quotes – Éanna McCarthy (Ireland U-20s): “The way we started the last game, we had New Zealand on the back foot straight away, but they got an easy try off kick-off and that gave them an easy ‘in’ into the game. They got momentum, and we were on the back foot from then on.

“There’s a lot of learnings to take from that. We can take energy from the way we played in the first 20 minutes. There’s not many teams that can do that to a New Zealand side, so it’s just to take the learnings and take the positives out of it as well.

“The scoreboard didn’t really reflect the game, and that’s the frustrating thing. It’s just a bounce of a ball here and there that’s catching us at the moment, so we’ve got make sure that we execute as best we can against Scotland and get that win.”

Kenny Murray (Scotland U-20s): “Even though we know there is no relegation from the U-20 Championship, we are determined to show our worth in the competition and that we deserve to be here.

“Ireland have played well in the competition so far and are probably unlucky to be in the 9th-12th group, so we know this will be a good contest for us.

“It was a tough pool phase and we’ve picked up a couple of knocks along the way, so a couple of guys have had to swap in and out, but I think the boys are in a good place. I think they are raring to go.

“It will be a tough game, with the temperature forecast at 31 degrees. Our goal is to earn the right to stay in this competition regardless of the opposition. If we win this game then we are into the 9th-10th place play-off, so that is what we’re aiming for.”

Opta Facts –

– Scotland have won their last two meetings with Ireland in the World Rugby U-20 Championship after losing the previous five. Their last win came in a 9th place semi-final (45-29 in June 2018)

– Ireland have lost their last two games in the World Rugby U-20 Championship but have not lost more in succession since four straight defeats in 2018, a run that included that 45-29 play-off loss to Scotland

– Ireland lost 69-22 to New Zealand last Wednesday, their third heaviest defeat in the U-20 Championship and their heaviest since 2017 (69-3 v New Zealand). They have lost their last four knockout fixtures against European teams

– Ireland have made the fewest attacking 22-metre entries of any side in this summer’s tournament (19), yet only South Africa (3.8) and France (3.9) have scored more points per entry than them (3.5). Scotland have conceded the most defensive 22-metre entries (45)

– Ireland have conceded the fewest turnovers of any side in the 2025 U-20 Championship (35). However, Scotland won the most turnovers of any team during the final round of pool stages (9)

– Ireland out-half Tom Wood has put in the most kicks in play of any player in this year’s U-20 Championship (34), and has seen his team retain possession from six of those, the joint-most of any player in the competition, alongside jis team-mate, Will Wootton, and Scotland’s Matthew Urwin

– Scotland hooker Seb Stephen made the most turnover-winning tackles of any player during the pool stages in Italy (3), while Ireland captain Éanna McCarthy tops the competition rankings for jackal turnovers (4)

Recent Meetings –

2023: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Scotland U-20s 7 Ireland U-20s 82, Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow

2024: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Ireland U-20s 36 Scotland U-20s 0, Virgin Media Park

2025: Under-20 Men’s Six Nations: Scotland U-20s 15 Ireland U-20s 33, Hive Stadium, Edinburgh

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