Another Man of the Match performance will be needed by Iain Henderson if Ireland are going to be competitive in this one.
The Ireland Under 20 team has been named for their second clash of the RBS 6 Under 20 Nations Championship. The side will take on their French counterparts on Saturday afternoon in Stade Des Alpes, Grenoble.
Coach Mike Ruddock has brought two new faces into the side that won their opening game against Wales, 11 – 6, last weekend in Athlone.
Conor Finn has been brought into the starting XV to replace Barry Daly. Daly received a broken thumb in last week’s clash against Wales and underwent surgery on Sunday for same. He is expected to be out of action for six weeks.
Ulster’s Chris Farrell has been promoted from the bench and joins Patrick Jackson, Iain Henderson and Kyle McCall who all had good games against the Welsh last weekend. Disappointingly though no further Ulster players have been called up to the bench. The team features 3 Munser, 4 Ulster, 6 Connacht and 10 Leinster players.
It’l lbe a big test for the young Irish side who will need to show a vast improvement in their finishing from last weekend’s game and the forwards will need to up their work rate if they are to compete with a big pack.
However if the forwards can gain parity and the backs can click they may be able to cause the home side a few problems.
If things go according to plan we should be able to provide live updaes of this game o nSaturday afternoon so check out the site on the day.
Ireland U20 Team: (15-9) Shane Layden, Conor Finn, Chris Farrell, JJ Hanrahan, Sam Coghlan – Murray, Paddy Jackson, Luke McGrath. (1-8) Kyle McCall, Niall Scannell, Peter Reilly, Iain Henderson, Daniel Qualter, Conor Gilsenan, Aaron Conneely, Jack Conan. (16-23) Des Merrey, James Rael, Diarmuid Higgins, Tadhg Beirne, Jordan Coughlan, Kieran Marmion, Cathal Marsh, Foster Horan.
Ireland Under-20 RBS 6 Nations Fixtures 2012 (All Kick-off Times GMT):
Sat 11th Feb 14:15 France U20 v Ireland U20 Grenoble
Fri 24th Feb 19:05 Ireland U20 v Italy U20 Dubarry Park
Fri 9th Mar 19:05 Ireland U20 v Scotland U20 Dubarry Park
Fri 16th Mar 20:05 England U20 v Ireland U20 Adams Park
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