Ryan captains Ireland U-19s for world event

THE Irish rugby squad for next month’s IRB U19 World Championships in Belfast was announced yesterday.

The side will be captained by Paul Ryan of Blackrock College and open the competition against champions Australia on April 5th at Ravenhill.

Ireland Coach Charlie McAleese said: “Hosting the tournament was always an added incentive for many of the boys and the selection process has seen a large number of superb candidates whittled down to the final 26. As always, there are some disappointed players, but the selections were difficult in many of the positions for the final squad.’’