Richie Murphy will take some of his Grand Slam-winning squad to Italy later this month for a Six Nations Under-20 summer series in which Ireland will face England, France, and South Africa in the pool stage of the tournament.
Pool B consists of Italy, Scotland, Wales and Georgia for an event that is being underwritten financially by World Rugby and the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), who have provided the host cities of Verona and Treviso.
Every team will play four matches, three against their fellow pool rivals and a crossover match based on the final finishing positions, where the winners of Pool A will take on the winners of Pool B etc. It is one of two global tournaments, the other, the Oceania Under-20 tournament, to retain some playing continuity in advance of the return of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship next year; the latter was last played in 2019.
Every game in the tournament will be broadcast live with commentary on the Six Nations Under-20 YouTube channel. While Ireland were Grand Slam champions in the recent Under-20 Six Nations winning all five matches, Murphy will have to plan without a chunk of his squad for the upcoming tournament for a variety of reasons.
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Jack Boyle, Mark Morrissey, Chay Mullins, Aitzol King and Charlie Tector are just some of the players who look set to miss out because of injury, unavailability, and other commitments, including being involved in the Sevens squad for the upcoming Rugby Europe and World Cup qualifying tournaments.
Murphy will bring a 30-man squad to Italy which will include a sizeable representation from the Ireland Under-19 group that drew a recent Test series 1-1 against France in Belfast and Dublin. They may also choose one or two from the Ireland Schools age-grade squad that competed in Marcoussis.
The Irish squad will play a warm-up game against a Munster Development XV in the High Performance Centre (HPC) and a training match against the Andy Farrell’s senior Ireland side the week after next. The Irish 20s squad to travel to Italy will be confirmed after that game.
Pool A: Ireland, England, France, South Africa. Pool B: Italy, Scotland, Wales, Georgia.
Pool A Fixtures (all kick-off times, Irish)
Friday, June 24th: England v South Africa, Payanini Centre, Verona (4.0); Ireland v France, Payanini Centre (7.0).
Wednesday, June 29th: France v England, Payanini Centre (4.0); Ireland v South Africa, Payanini Centre (7.0).
Tuesday, July 5th: France v South Africa, Payanini Centre (4.0); Ireland v England, Payanini Centre (7.0).
Tuesday, July 13th: Crossover matches between pools A and B, Stadio Communale di Monigo, Treviso (TBC).
