JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Ireland v England: Venue:Estadio El Coloso del Parque, Kick Off:6.10, Irish time tonight, On TV:Sky Sports and Setanta Sports
ALLEN CLARKE has made four changes to his Ireland Under-20 side as they look to resurrect their hopes of making the semi-finals by defeating England this afternoon.
Following their agonising opening day defeat to France, the Six Nations champions can get back into the mix if they can beat an English side who hammered hosts Argentina on Saturday.
And while England have wrung the changes, Clarke has opted for a more conservative approach, with injured winger Darren Hudson (shoulder) replaced by Noel Reid, who starts at fullback, with Andrew Conway moving on to the wing.
Brendan Macken comes in for Eoin Griffin in the centre, while Brian Hayes replaces Ben Marshall in the second row.
Ireland will look to repeat their 25-10 Six Nations win at Kingsholm in February which saw them bounce back from a similarly disappointing defeat to France and go on and win the tournament.
Leinster starlet Conway scored two of Ireland’s three tries on that night in Gloucester and has fond memories of facing the English.
And while this afternoon’s opponents are expected to be stronger than they were in February, Conway believes he and his team-mates can still reach the semi-finals.
“That was a brilliant night,” the 18-year old flyer said. “After the French match in the Six Nations we lost a bit of confidence. But the coaches brought us back up, we knew we could still win it. We were on our way to England, every one loves going to play England and there’s no extra need to get up for it.
“My first try was offside so we were pretty lucky with that and the other try was set up brilliantly by Darren Hudson. You’d have to ask the England coach if I’m going to be a marked man, but hopefully there’ll still be a few places to have a go.
“They have a big pack and their backline’s dangerous. They have a few Premiership players in there and are experienced enough. For us we’ve got a few new faces in the backline and positional switches that they wouldn’t have seen before, so hopefully that works well.”
England were slow out of the traps against the hosts on Saturday, before recovering well to win comfortably after a strong second-half display. They will be fresher after coach Mark Mapletoft made a huge 10 changes to his team, with Jonny May – hat-trick hero against Argentina – among those to drop to the bench.
Argentina scored three tries in an impressive first-half performance and Clarke is hoping his side can follow their lead this afternoon.
“We’ll be aiming to attack England in the areas we have identified and obviously Argentina scoring three tries shows you what’s possible if you go at that team,” he said.
“I know England will have improved since the Six Nations, but when we beat them in Kingsholm we weren’t particularly pleased with our performance with ball in hand.
“We took our chances and it will be very much that type of performance that’s required again. We’re going to have to be really switched on in defence and our defensive effort is going to have to be very good.”
IRELAND:N Reid (Leinster); A Conway (Leinster); B Macken (Leinster), N Spence (Ulster), S Zebo (Munster); I McKinney (Ulster), J Cooney (Leinster); J O'Connell (Leinster), N Annett (Ulster), S Maguire (Leinster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), B Marshall (Leinster), R Ruddock (capt) (Leinster), D Ryan (Leinster), P Butler (Munster).
Replacements: D Doyle (Leinster), B Cagney (Munster), B Marshall (Leinster), B O’Hara (Munster), M Heaney (Ulster), D McSharry (Leinster), E Griffin (Connacht).
ENGLAND:T Homer (London Irish); C Wade (Wasps), A Forsyth (Leicester), T Casson (Harlequins), S Smith (Harlequins); R Clegg (Harlequins), C Davies (Stade Francais); L Imolek (Sale), J George (Saracens), M Vunipola (Bristol); G Kruis (Saracens), C Matthews (Harlequins); J Gibson (Lond-Irish), J Rowan (capt, Leeds), Alex Gray (Newcastle).
Replacements:R Buchanan (Harlequins), J Marler (Harlequins), C Green (Leicester), J Wray (Saracens), S Harrison (Leicester), F Burns (Gloucester), J May (Gloucester).
