Young Munster’s Nash to lead Ireland into battle
Daire Walsh
Munster Academy star Calvin Nash will lead Ireland against France in tonight’s U20 Six Nations international at Donnybrook Stadium (RTE Two, 8pm).
Fresh from his senior provincial debut against Edinburgh in the Guinness PRO12 three weeks ago, the Young Munster winger has been handed the leadership position by head coach Nigel Carolan after Jack Kelly and Cillian Gallagher were ruled out with injuries.
He is joined in the back-three by Jordan Larmour and Ulster’s Rob Lyttle – who is one of five personnel changes from Ireland’s narrow success over Italy a fortnight ago. Lyttle and fit-again Garryowen out-half Bill Johnston replace the injured duo of Kelly and Johnny McPhillips respectively, while Marcus Rea deputises for Sligo native Gallagher in the back-row.
Jack Regan (son of former Offaly hurler Daithi) is handed his first start at this level alongside Oisin Dowling in the second-row, and fresh from his try-scoring exploits against the Italians, Tommy O’Brien forms a new-look midfield partnership with UCD clubmate Ciaran Frawley.
There are also two potential debutants amongst the Irish replacements, with Connacht’s Sean Masterson and Cork Constitution back Alex McHenry – whose father is former European Tour golfer John McHenry – making the step-up to the match-day squad.
With Toulouse lock Florian Verhaeghe leading their charge, the French pack is a potentially explosive one, and Irish scrum coach Conor Twomey is well aware of the threat.
“The same as any other French pack, they’re extremely big and extremely good at set-piece from what we’ve seen. They look to play, and they look to have depth at front-row, and depth in number eight,” Twomey remarked.
“They seem to be attacking at different variants, as they seem to attack wide, and have different shapes off wide.”
Making a definitive assessment of this French team has been difficult, as their impressive victory against Scotland was preceded by a 59-17 hammering away to England. However, having made a series of alterations to their line-up after the English defeat, Twomey believes France’s most recent outing acts as the best gauge.
“I think they made a number of changes, six, seven changes [for Scotland]. We’ve really concentrated on what they’ve done against Scotland, rather than against England, because I think they won’t be the same team. We felt Scotland were a really good team when we played them. They played really good rugby. Probably we were a bit cuter than them on the day, but they’re actually a good side. Beating Scotland, I think they played in front of 13,000 people down in Grenoble as well, which probably helped the French. The French are a good side.”
IRELAND U20: R Lyttle; J Larmour, T O’Brien, C Frawley, C Nash; B Johnston, J Stewart; J Conway, T McElroy, C Connolly; J Regan, O Dowling; M Rea, P Boyle, C Doris.
Replacements: R Kelleher, R Mulvihill, P Cooper, G Coombes, S Masterson, J Lyons, C Fitzgerald, A McHenry.
FRANCE U20: R Buros; F Fartass, PL Barassi, T Dachary, W Iraguha; R Ntamack, A Retiere; K Tougne, E Fourcade, T Laclayat; F Verhaeghe, M Capelli; D Cretin, J Ruaud, A Roumat.
Replacements: L Aouf, F Dufour, GH Colombe, K Geraci, C Woki, B Couilloud, A Fuertes, T Millet.