I must admit that when the Ireland U20’s squad for the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia was announced last week I was a little disappointed.
The squad was missing the exciting Ulster duo of Rob Lyttle and Johnny McPhillips as well as other key players in Bill Johnston, Cillian Gallagher, Jordan Larmour and Tommy O’Brien. These six accounted for around 20% of the game time in the last Six Nations. McPhillips, Johnston and Gallagher added buckets of experience having been involved in last year’s tournament and Larmour and O’Brien were among the leading try scorers in the last Six Nations.
The coaching ticket had also changed during the Six Nations with “FRU Favourite” Nigel Carolan being called into the Connacht senior team. We’d really enjoyed Carolan’s time in charge, particularly last season’s U20 Championship in manchester where they finished second. However, last years forwards coach, Peter Malone, has stepped up and he’s scored . . .
You will need to log in or register to read the rest of this article. If you have not already registered you can click here to register.
In 2022 we added 102,631 new images in 510 galleries with a gallery breakdown of 263 Rugby, 217 Hockey and 30 Athletics. Your registration and subscription will help us to continue.
Thanks.
Corrections, comments or questions?