Ian Keatley praises impact of Ireland’s second-season Under-20s

“It's a 30-man squad and we do want to give a lot of guys a chance,” Keatley said from Ireland’s Cork training base on Wednesday.

Ireland's Assistant Coach Ian Keatley in training. Pic Credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.

Ian Keatley has praised the impact of Ireland’s second-season Under-20s ahead of their return to Cork this Friday night but the back-to-back Grand Slam winners will have to do without one of them, Brian Gleeson, for the home opener with Italy.

New attack coach Keatley, who replaced Mark Sexton in Richie Murphy’s backroom team ahead of the 2024 campaign credited the impact of a quintet of returning players from last season’s campaign for their influence on Ireland’s famous round-one victory over world champions France in Aix-en-Provence last Saturday.