Elwood names U-20 Ireland side

Ireland Coach Eric Elwood has made two changes to the starting Ireland U-20 team that faces Scotland at Dubarry Park, Athlone, at 7.35pm on Friday evening.

The two from the side that beat Scotland 17-12 in their last outing at Dubarry Park. Towering second row James Sandford has been ruled out due to injury and his place has been taken by David Nolan, who moves up from the replacements. Local Buccaneers boy Trevor Connelly will take the vacancy on the bench left by Nolan.

In the backline, Conor Cleary moves from the replacements to start the game at inside centre, with Eamonn Sheridan moving to the replacements.

Ireland coach Eric Elwood said, “The last game started very well for us and we really hit a rhythm in all aspects of our play and Scotland were on the back foot in the first half. We were all a little bit disappointed that we did not kick on from there after the break, but as I said before the game, Scotland are a very good side and began to come back into the game in the second half. We dug deep and closed out the win, which was another positive aspect, but overall I was happy with how the guys responded.”

IRELAND U-20 (v Scotland):

15 – David Kearney

14 – Sean Scanlon

13 – Eoin O’Malley

12 – Conor Cleary

11 – Chris Cochrane

10 – Martin Dufficy

9 – David Moore

1 – Paul Karayiannis

2 – Jason Harris-Wright

3 – Ben Barclay

4 – David Nolan

5 – Eoin Sheriff

6 – Kieran Essex

7 – Paul Ryan

8 – Patrick Mallon

Replacements

16 – Stephen Douglas Ballymena/Ulster

17 – Stephen Archer UCC/Munster

18 – Ian Nagle UCC/Munster

19 – Trevor Connelly Buccaneers/Connacht

20 – Ian Porter Queens University/Ulster

21 – Ian Madigan Blackrock College/Leinster

22 – Eamonn Sheridan Lansdowne/Leinster