Nigel Carolan has made five changes to the side that lost to New Zealand last week for their second last game against Wales tomorrow. Carolan has chosen to rotate his back three players, resting Billy Dardis completely while Jack Owens drops to the bench.
This means that Connacht's Ciaran Gaffney gets a run at fullback, while Munster's Stephen Fitgerald comes back in at wing. The only other change to the backs is sub scrumhalf Charlie Rock coming in for injured captain Nick McCarthy.
Carolan has also made two changes to the backrow with new captain Josh Murphy becoming the fourth captain of Ireland U20's to come from St. Michael's College in the last three years after McCarthy, Dan Leavy and Luke McGrath. Murphy is joined in a new look backrow with Blackrock teammates Conor Oliver and Nick Timoney, while both Lorcan Dow and Rory Moloney drop to the bench.
Ireland will be looking to reverse a Six Nations loss to Wales who were very up and down in that tournament by crumbling to France and only narrowly beating Italy and Scotland. They were deserved winners against Ireland, and Ireland will have to combat the impressive threat of openside Ollie Griffiths who was outstanding against Ireland in the Six Nations.
It's a very important game for Ireland U20, who will secure a favourable seeding for next year's competition with a win.
Ireland U20 To Play Wales U20, Monday June 15th 7.30 pm
15. Ciaran Gaffney (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Stephen Fitzgerald (Shannon/Munster)
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)
12. Sam Arnold (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
10. Joey Carberry (UCD/Leinster)
9. Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster)
2. Sean McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
3.
3. Oisin Heffernan (Terenure College/Leinster)
4. David O'Connor (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
5. Alex Thompson (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
6. Josh Murphy (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
7. Conor Oliver (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
8. Nick Timoney (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Replacements:
16. Adam McBurney (Ballymena/Ulster)
17. Liam O'Connor (Cork Constitution/Munster)
18. Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/NUIG/Connacht)
19. Lorcan Dow (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
20. Rory Moloney (Buccaneers/Connacht)
21. Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22. Fergal Cleary (Lansdowne/Leinster)
23. Jack Owens (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
