Orr admits Irish face tough task to halt Welsh charge

THE inaugural IRB Junior World Championship, to be held in Wales in June, will be uppermost in the minds of respective Irish and Welsh U20 team coaches Eric Elwood and Patrick Horgan at Dubarry Park, Athlone, tonight (7.30pm).

Horgan has made seven changes from the team that defeated Italy comfortably a couple of weeks ago.

He admitted that it might not necessarily be their strongest team but that the risk was worth it.

He said: “Our selection policy throughout this Six Nations campaign is to give everyone a chance at staking a claim for a place in the Wales squad for the Junior World Cup.

“Jason Tovey had an excellent game at full back against Italy, but so did Daniel Evans against Scotland so it’s a case of everyone getting a fair amount of exposure.

“Nathan Rees has impressed in training and for Cardiff so he has a chance to show what he can do. Rhys Lawrence is in a similar position at hooker where we are likely to only have two places in our 26-man Junior World Championship squad so he deserves a chance.

“I’m sure that the competition generated will benefit the team in the long run,” he said.

Going on, he said: “Ireland, like us, have recorded home wins over Scotland and Italy. They are very powerful up front and have an excellent scrum.

“It’s important we get a win away from home to see the quality we’ve got in this squad.”

In contrast, Elwood has made just two changes, one of them due to injury. James Sandford — an Irish Examiner Junior Sports Star — is ruled out and David Nolan fills his position. Conor Cleary is upgraded from the replacements and will play inside centre.

Irish team manager Phil Orr said: “We’ve won two games and lost to France. Going into the last few minutes we were just four points down and pushing for a winning try. Unfortunately, they hit back right at the end and got a converted try,” he said.

Orr conceded Wales pose a huge challenge and Ireland had a tough run in — with England — who beat France away — last up as Ireland bid for the Triple Crown. “We’ve got to pull out two big performances,” he said.

Familiarity might just do Ireland some good though. This side now seems to have made a home at Dubarry Park and a decent level of support locally. That crowd might be enough to see them to a narrow victory.

IRELAND: D. Kearney (Leinster); S. Scanlon (Munster), E. O’Malley (Leinster), C. Cleary (Leinster), C. Cochrane (Ulster); M. Dufficy (Leinster), D. Moore (Leinster); P. Karayiannis (Ulster), J. Harris-Wright (Leinster), B. Barclay (Leinster); D. Nolan (Connacht), E. Sheriff (Leinster); K. Essex (Munster), P. Ryan (Leinster, captain), P. Mallon (Leinster).

Replacements: S. Douglas (Ulster), S. Archer (Munster), I. Nagle (Munster), T. Connolly (Connacht), I. Porter (Ulster), I. Madigan (Leinster), E. Sheridan (Leinster).

WALES: D Evans (Scarlets); L Halfpenny (Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), G Owen (Ospreys), N Rees (Blues); D Biggar (Ospreys), R Webb (Ospreys); R Bevington (Ospreys), R Lawrence (Ospreys), P Palmer (Blues), J Groves (capt, Blues), H Pugh (Scarlets), J Turnbull (Scarlets), N Cudd (Scarlets), L Phillips (Scarlets).

Replacements: S Hobbs (Blues), R Prosser (Bristol Academy), S Andrews (Blues), A Sweet (Dragons), J Tipuric (Ospreys), L Evans (Blues), R Williams (Scarlets).