Ireland U20 continued their preparations for the 2021 Six Nations with a hitout against Leinster A on Friday afternoon.

The game ended as a 14 – all draw as Ireland A staged a second half revival, scoring two tries through Munster players Mark Donnelly and Alex Kendellen. Both tries were converted by Ulster’s Conor Rankin.

I was concerned that the Ulster lads might be pulled following the COVID outbreak at Ravenhill, which saw the cancellation of the Ulster v Scarlets Rainbow Cup game, but it appears they were all included.

Unfortunately, we weren’t permitted to attend and the information is very limited but, as well as Rankin, there is evidence of a couple of other Ulster players involvement. Banbridge’s Ben Carson was in action in the first half as can be seen below.

Former Sullivan Upper player Harry Sheridan, now at Dublin University, appeared to have a busy game featuring in a few of the limited images supplied.

Head coach Richie Murphy, and his Assistant Coaches Denis Leamy and Colm Tucker, used all 32 players across the 80 minutes, maximising the playing opportunities for all of the extended squad following this week’s five-day camp in Dublin.

Ireland will re-assemble on Monday for another week-long camp, before facing Munster ‘A’ at the IRFU High Performance Centre on Friday, 4 June.

Squads

IRELAND U20: Chris Cosgrave (Leinster), Chay Mullins (IQ Rugby), Jamie Osborne (Leinster), Ben Carson (Ulster), Shane Jennings (Connacht), Cian Whooley (Munster), Ben Murphy (Leinster), Jack Boyle (Leinster), Ronan Loughnane (Leinster), Sam Illo (Leinster), Harry Sheridan (Ulster), Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Donnacha Byrne (Connacht), Diarmuid McCormack (Connacht), Daniel Okeke (Munster), Jamie Shanahan (Munster), Conor Rankin (Ulster), Alan Flannery (Munster), Cathal Forde (Connacht), Hubert Gilvarry (Connacht), Aaron Leahy (Munster), James Humphreys (Ulster), Conor McKee (Ulster), George Saunderson (Ulster), Eoin de Buitlear (Connacht), Mark Donnelly (Munster), Jack Kelleher (Munster), Reuben Crothers (Ulster), Oisin McCormack (Connacht), Alex Kendellen (Munster), Oscar Egan (Ulster), Liam Bishop (IQ Rugby).

LEINSTER A: Rob Russell, Donal Conroy, Marcus Kiely, David Hawkshaw (C), Josh O’Connor, Tim Corkery, Cormac Foley, Michael Milne, John McKee, Vakh Abdaladze, Mark Morrissey, Ryan Baird, Martin Moloney, Aaron Coleman, Mark Boyle. Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Marcus Hanan/Temi Lasisi, Greg McGrath, Ruairi Clarke, Will Reilly, Harry Colbert.