In the third place playoff of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship, Ireland will lock horns with New Zealand at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town, this Friday at 3.30pm Irish time. As the side aims to wrap up their campaign on a positive note, their focus will be to overcome New Zealand, even as their memories of the grand finale of this South African championship from a year back stay fresh. That match saw them suffer a substantial loss to France.
Last year’s aspirations of making another grand appearance were dashed due to a 31-20 defeat in the semi-final against England, last Sunday. Nevertheless, the opportunity for Willie Faloon’s team to make their mark remains alive. Faloon, an ex-Ulster and Connacht flanker, who served alongside Richie Murphy in his successful tenure, is making his initial inroads as head coach of the under-20s. Though overcoming New Zealand will pose a challenge, the Kiwis enter this match following a significant 55-31 loss to reigning champions France in the preceding round.
Entrusted to the adept hands of Jono Gibbes, a coach with rich experience from his tenure with Leinster and Ulster, the Baby Blacks too fancy their chances of bagging third place. In the impending match in Cape Town, only Hugh Gavin and alternate captain Brian Gleeson from Ireland’s side have the experience of last year’s conclusive match against France. Evan O’Connell, the usual captain who was on standby last year, missed both the previous semi-final and this third-place playoff owing to injury.
Gleeson, sidelined for four out of five matches that Ireland participated in during the Under-20 Six Nations championship due to an ankle trouble, has since fully recovered. A strong performance from the Munster backrow could significantly uplift Ireland’s chances of securing the third position in the final tournament standings.
Given the brief recovery period post the England match, it’s not surprising that Faloon has chosen to renew his lineup for this event. A fresh start is made up front by the trio of Emmet Calvey, Stephen Smyth, and Alex Mullan. Davy Colbert, who plays on the wing, and Luke Murphy, the lock, accompanied them on board. Each individual is looking forward to bringing their A-game against their rivals from New Zealand.
The Irish squad looks like this: B O’Connor; D Colbert, F Treacy, H Gavin, H McLaughlin; J Murphy, O Coffey; E Calvey, S Smyth, A Mullan; A Spicer, L Murphy; J McKillop, B Ward, B Gleeson (capt). The stands-by are M Yarr, B Howard, A Sparrow, B Corrigan, M Flynn, J O’Riordan, S Naughton, E Graham.
The New Zealand team is: S Coles; K Maxwell, A Tuivailala, X Taele, F Vaenuku; C Grant, D Pledger; S Sanele, V Bason, J Smith; T Allen, C Christie; A Smith, M Lowe, J Lee. A-O Lolofie, S Uamaki, W Martin, T Cribb, J Collins, B O’Donovan, R Simpson, and X Tito-Harris are the replacements.