Session with senior squad has Ireland U20s in good fettle
It may have represented a significant step up in intensity, but assistant coach Andrew Browne believes the Ireland U20s have ultimately reaped the benefits of training against the Ireland senior squad.
Fresh from their 33-15 bonus point victory against Scotland in Edinburgh on February 8, the underage international side were put through their paces alongside Simon Easterby’s men at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre in Blanchardstown last Friday.
It has become a common occurrence in recent years for both set-ups to hold a joint session during a Six Nations window and Browne feels it has put the Ireland U20s in a healthy position ahead of their third-round Championship encounter with Wales at Rodney Parade in Newport tomorrow night (kick-off 7.45pm).
“We were delighted to get the win against Scotland after a tough night in Cork the week before that against England. That kind of gave us a little bit of a boost and then we trained against the Irish senior team last Friday, which was brilliant. It was honestly one of our best sessions of the year so far,” Browne remarked.
“Just going against quality players, a quality team. A different pace. Lads came out of it saying it was obviously really fast and really tough, but they belong there. Which was the real positive thing.
“I think going into this week then, obviously the confidence from the win against Scotland, but then also confidence with that training session against Ireland [has helped]. We’re in a pretty good place.”
While head coach Neil Doak has largely kept faith with the side that secured maximum points in a second-round clash with Scotland last Saturday week, Eoghan Smyth and Tom McAllister have been introduced to the Irish starting line-up for tomorrow’s game in place of Gene O’Leary Kareem and Alex Mullan respectively.
Elsewhere, Mikey Yarr, Conor Kennelly and Tom Wood (son of legendary former Munster and Ireland hooker Keith Wood) have been added to the replacements with Connor Magee, Oisin Minogue and Dylan Hicks all missing out on the match day 23 on this occasion.
Although an ankle injury sustained playing club rugby for Shannon has ruled Minogue out of contention, Browne explained the remaining changes are simply about giving players a chance to impress at this level.
“It’s not like the other lads that are dropping out of the starting team or dropping out of the squad deserve to be dropped, they don’t. We’ve always talked in the past with the 20s about strength in depth and especially when you get to the World Cup in June/July and not having lads exposed to a high level of rugby,” Browne added.
“You have Tom McAllister coming in at tighthead, who has done really well when he did come on in games and then you have Mikey Yarr coming onto the bench in the hooker position.
“Tom Wood coming onto the bench. There’s a few changes there, a few lads in line to get their first cap as well, which will be a nice thing.”