Ruddock calls for 80-minute showing

IRELAND U20s coach Mike Ruddock is calling for an 80-minute performance from his players in their final IRB Junior World Championship Pool C fixture, against Scotland in Rovigo tonight (7.10pm, Irish).

After defeats to England and South Africa, Ireland cannot qualify for the semi-finals but victory tonight will secure passage to the play-offs for fifth place.

Ruddock is demanding more consistency and greater concentration from his side who haven’t managed to play to their potential from first whistle to last.

“I think we’ve played quite well. We put it to both England and South Africa. Both of them came off knowing that they’d been in a real battle. South Africa had to dig deep to beat us. We’ve repeatedly shown flashes of good rugby but we’ve just made mistakes at the wrong times to let teams back into the game. But that’s international rugby: if you’re not at the top of your game for 80 minutes you get burned. So we have to learn from that,” he said.

Ruddock has made five changes to the side beaten 42-26 by the Baby Boks in Treviso on Tuesday.

Paddy Jackson reclaims the out-half jersey from James McKinney; Luke Marshall returns at inside centre at the expense of JJ Hanrahan while Andrew Boyle takes over from Craig Gilroy on the left wing. Daniel Qualter makes way for Iain Henderson in the second row, while Dominic Gallagher is preferred to Aaron Connelly in the back row.

IRELAND: T O’Halloran (Connacht); A Conway (Leinster), B Macken (Leinster), L Marshall (Ulster), A Boyle (Leinster); P Jackson (Ulster), K Marmion (Exile); J Tracy (Leinster), N Annett (Ulster; capt), T Furlong (Leinster); M Kearney (Leinster), I Henderson (Ulster); E McKeon (Connacht), D Gallagher (Ulster), J Murphy (Leinster).

Replacements: D Doyle (Leinster), C Carey (Ulster), D Qualter (Connacht), S Buckley (Munster), P du Toit (Leinster), J McKinney (Ulster), C Gilroy (Ulster).