Ireland U-20 team to play France U-20 announced

The Ireland U-20 team to play France in their second match of the RBS Six Nations U-20 Championship shows one change from the side that beat Italy in Athlone last Friday.

Fullback Niall Morris has been ruled out of the game due to an ankle injury.

His place has been taken by Sean Scanlon, who moves into the starting team from the replacements. Scanlon’s elevation sees Conor Cleary move onto the bench.

"Last week's match may not have been the prettiest game, but the guys stuck it out and showed great character to get past the Italians in the end," said Ireland coach Eric Elwood.

"We felt that the selection should reflect that level of performance and have gone with an unchanged side, with the exception of Niall’s (Morris) injury.

"Hopefully we will have a drier track to go on this week to allow us move the ball a bit more and not get caught up in playing from ruck to ruck.

“France offer a similar challenge this week in the physical stakes as Italy did, but will no doubt have that bit more pace in attack, so again it is a case of meeting them head on and getting a good start to the game.

"I thought our pack played particularly well last week, so another performance of that calibre is required if we are to compete with the French side”.

The Ireland U-20 team to play France U-20 in the RBS Six Nations U-20 Championship on Friday, February 8 at 6.30pm in Stadium Jacques Fouroux, Auch:

15 – Sean Scanlon (UCC/Munster)

14 – David Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster)

13 – Eoin O’Malley (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

12 – Eamonn Sheridan (Lansdowne/Leinster)

11 – Chris Cochrane (Queens University/Ulster)

10 – Martin Dufficy (Dublin University/Leinster)

9 – David Moore (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)

1 – Paul Karayiannis (Queens University/Ulster)

2 – Stephen Douglas (Ballymena/Ulster)

3 – Ben Barclay (UCD/Leinster)

4 – David Nolan (Galwegians/Connacht)

5 – Eoin Sheriff (Lansdowne/Leinster)

6 – Kieran Essex (U.L. Bohemians/Munster)

7 – Paul Ryan (Captain) (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)

8 – Patrick Mallon (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Replacements

16 – Jason Harris-Wright (Greystones/Leinster)

17 – Stephen Archer (UCC/Munster)

18 – James Sandford (Queens University/Ulster)

19 – Ian Nagle (UCC/Munster)

20 – Kris Green (St Mary’s College/Leinster)

21 – Ian Madigan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)

22 – Conor Cleary (Greystones/Leinster).