Ruddock spoilt for choice with U20s

The late, great Karl Mullen once summed up Irish rugby as a combination of ‘boot, bollock and bite’ but if there is a dominant theme to sides in green these days it is the strength of their back rows.

Sean O’Brien may be out injured for Joe Schmidt’s first tilt at a Six Nations but the Kiwi is nonetheless stocked with a rake of options at the back of the scrum. So too is his U20s colleague Mike Ruddock.

The next generation kick off their own Six Nations campaign tomorrow night against Scotland and a squad rippling with talent is particularly well served in the back row where seven men must squeeze into three spots. Ruddock will start with Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue and the Leinster pair of Dan Leavy and Peadar Timmins wearing numbers six to eight, but any number of combinations could have been utilised.