Continuity factor bodes well for Nigel Carolan

Ireland U20 preview: Expectations aren’t confined to Joe Schmidt’s Ireland side this next two months.

Tonight, Nigel Carolan’s U20s embark on their own journey at the Stadio Pozzi Lamarmora in Biella, halfway between Turin and Milan and a good seven-hour drive north of the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Carolan has had the benefit of coaching 11 of the players who featured at this grade last year: eight of them in the corresponding tournament 12 months ago and three more who were added to the pool for a Junior World Cup in which Ireland would finish fourth.