It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
They also confirmed that skipper Evan O’Connell, the nephew of Paul O'Connell who last took the field in the July 4 pool win over Georgia, has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament through injury.
They also confirmed that skipper Evan O’Connell, the nephew of Paul O'Connell who last took the field in the July 4 pool win over Georgia, has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament through injury.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
The Irish were impressive 55-15 opening day winners over Italy last Saturday at DHL Stadium and Willie Faloon has now changed four forwards and three backs for Thursday’s clash with Georgia in Stellenbosch.
The Irish were impressive 55-15 opening day winners over Italy last Saturday at DHL Stadium and Willie Faloon has now changed four forwards and three backs for Thursday’s clash with Georgia in Stellenbosch.
Australia felt hard done by in their round two loss to Ireland in Paarl because in the aftermath of their 10-30 defeat, Irish back-rower James McNabney was cited and banned for foul play that happened in the 35th minute that was missed by the officials in real time.
Forwards Max Flynn and Mikey Yarr, along with backs Ruben Moloney and Jake O'Riordan are the new names added to the squad that Richie Murphy guided to within a whisker an another U20s Six Nations title.
The Irish closed out a hard-fought five-try, 36-0 win over Scotland in Cork, their last three tries coming in the closing 10 minutes, and it left England needing to beat world champions France in Pau to take the glory.
The Irish kept alive their hopes of securing a third successive Six Nations age-grade title by scoring a clock-in-the-red try to draw 32-all with title rivals England last Friday at The Rec.