Penny draws on senior game time to maintain winning way
U20s Six Nations
Daire Walsh
Scott Penny has admitted his surprise at how his Leinster career has taken off in the past few months.
Whereas most people use the Ireland U20s squad as a springboard, the openside flanker featured four times in the PRO14 before making his underage international debut against England at the beginning of this month.
“I didn’t really expect to be getting this much game time with the [Leinster] seniors, maybe one cap this year. With people away with injury and Ireland, I got my opportunities,” Penny said.
“All the senior lads there helped me ease my way in so it wasn’t too nerve-wracking. Stuart [Lancaster] and Ross Molony and the likes of them helped me get into it.”
Penny’s inclusion for Friday’s Six Nations assignment with Italy in Rieti is a significant boost for head coach Noel McNamara who initially anticipated the 19-year-old would be back on provincial duty this week.
Because of the IRFU’s established policy around player welfare, the UCD student is expected to be a mainstay in the U20s back-row for the remainder of the season.
“I probably won’t get that many more opportunities because there’s a certain amount of games you can play – 25 a season – so I’m probably coming up close to that now, with the Six Nations and the World Cup in June.” During a gap week in between the victory over Scotland and the forthcoming test against Italy, the U20s linked up with Joe Schmidt’s senior squad for an open training session at the Aviva Stadium.
Penny saw this as ideal preparation for the visit to Stadio Centro d’Italia.
“It was good to see the pace and the tempo that they bring, it felt like we got a lot out of it. This week, the Italians are going to play really quickly and we got used to that pace on Friday. You’re kind of almost afraid to make mistakes there just because Joe is watching.
“The physicality and clarity they brought to everything was really good for us to learn from. Joe talked to us to say well done on the Six Nations so far and to keep up the good work. If we were doing stuff wrong, he’d call us out. Everyone was looking to show everything they can do and trying to impress Joe,” Penny explained.