Captain Courageous. A heavily strapped Niall Annett in action for Ireland on Sunday.
There have been three changes to the Irish Under 20 Squad for the Junior World Cup in Italy next month, with Ulster’s Trinity based player Dominic Gallagher being the surprise bolter into the team following a strong display on Sunday against a Leinster Development side.
Gallagher replaces fellow Ulster exile Stephen Leckey who had to withdraw due to injury. Gallagher will be joined by Ulster Academy prop Conor Carey who drops into the squad following the withdrawal of Leinster prop, Martin Moore.
The Ulster pair are joined in the squad by Connacht’s Daniel Qualter who replaces Munster’s Cathal O’Flaherty in second row.
With Finlay Bealham declaring for Ulster this brings the provinces representation to a healthy 9 out of the 26 player squad. Leinster with 10 players, Connacht with 4, Munster with 2 and a solitary Exile make up the rest.
The Ulster contingent should add a wealth of experience to the group, with Quins Niall Annett captaining the team for the second year running and Jackson, Marshall and Gliroy all bringing their Magners League experience from this season to what is a highly anticipated backline.
However, with only one full back in the squad it has been noticed that Luke Marshall has been tried as the last man during the warm up games. While it may be a precautionary move by the coaches they need look no further back than last years JWC as to the dangers of playing your best player out of position! Having watched Ireland’s chances slump last year in Argentina when Spence was moved from centre to wing I hope that the Irish management don’t do too much messing about with young Marshall.
Without unduly discounting Munster’s JJ Hanrahan, the battle between Jackson and McKinney for the out half birth is one that I am particularly looking forward to throughout this series, with both looking particularly sharp throughout the warm up games.
With just over a fortnight to go until the series kicks off on 10th June we’ll be upping our coverage of the tournament from next week.
The revised squad below. [Additions in orange - we'll add their stats as soon as poss!]
|
Full Name
|
CLUB | DOB (AGE) | CM | KG | Position |
| Finlay Bealham | Ulster | 09/10/1991(19) | 186 | 110 | Prop |
| Tadhg Furlong | Leinster | 14/11/1992(18) | 183 | 115 | Prop |
| Conor Carey | Ulster | Prop | |||
| James Tracy | Leinster | 02/04/1991(20) | 184 | 109 | Prop |
| Niall Annett | Ulster | 07/04/1991(20) | 185 | 101 | Hooker |
| David Doyle | Leinster | 27/02/1991(20) | 183 | 101 | Hooker |
| Shane Buckley | Munster | 14/04/1992(19) | 192 | 106 | Lock |
| Iain Henderson | Ulster | 21/02/1992(19) | 199 | 109 | Lock |
| Michael Kearney | Leinster | 29/03/1991(20) | 198 | 102 | Lock |
| Daniel Qualter | Connacht | Lock | |||
| Aaron Connely | Connacht | 23/01/1992(19) | 187 | 96 | Flanker |
| Dominic Gallagher | Ulster | Flanker | |||
| Eoin McKeon | Connacht | 23/06/1991(19) | 188 | 101 | Flanker |
| Jordi Murphy | Leinster | 22/04/1991(20) | 188 | 105 | Flanker |
| Peter Du Toit | Leinster | 05/03/1991(20) | 179 | 86 | Scrumhalf |
| Kieran Marmoin | Exile | 11/02/1992(19) | 179 | 78 | Scrumhalf |
| JJ Hanrahan | Munster | 27/07/1992(18) | 180 | 90 | Flyhalf |
| Patrick Jackson | Ulster | 05/01/1992(19) | 179 | 84 | Flyhalf |
| James McKinney | Ulster | 03/01/1991(20) | 179 | 86 | Flyhalf |
| Alex Kelly | Leinster | 02/10/1991(19) | 183 | 88 | Centre |
| Brendan Macken | Leinster | 19/05/1991(19) | 186 | 96 | Centre |
| Luke Marshall | Ulster | 03/03/1991(20) | 179 | 93 | Centre |
| Andrew Boyle | Leinster | 24/06/1991(19) | 180 | 91 | Wing |
| Craig Gilroy | Ulster | 11/03/1991(20) | 183 | 90 | Wing |
| Tiernan O’Halloran | Connacht | 26/02/1991(20) | 188 | 94 | Wing |
|
Andrew Conway
|
Leinster | 11/07/1991(19) | 182 | 89 | Fullback |
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