A draw against Australia enough for Irish U-20s to make World Championship semis, but a loss would be catastrophic
Brian Gleeson will lead the Irish U-20s against Australia on Tuesday. Image: Getty
Australia’s surprising 17-12 loss to Italy last Thursday raised a few eyebrows, and while Ireland are in the driving seat heading into this final pool game at the World Rugby U-20 Championship, this tie remains a winner-takes-all encounter in the battle to reach next Sunday’s semi-finals.
Ireland will make the short distance inland in Cape Town to their third stadium of this tournament when they take on the Junior Wallabies at the Athlone Sports Stadium, the 34,000-capacity ground home to the Cape Town Spurs soccer team, for a game which kicks off at 1.0pm (Irish time) on Tuesday.
Ireland’s last-gasp win over Georgia and Australia’s loss to Italy means a draw will be enough for Willie Faloon’s side to advance.
Australia came from 14-0 down against the Italians and missed a conversion on the hour mark to level the game before Italy sealed the win in a match played at the Athlone Sports Stadium.
Ireland’s 22-16 win over Georgia, snatched with a converted try from replacement winger Finn Treacy after a 25-phase move with the clock in the red, came with a price and skipper Evan O’Connell is out of this clash through injury.
His Munster teammate Brian Gleeson, who came on against Georgia, is coming in the opposite direction from injury and will lead the side against Australia at No 8.
Faloon, having made seven changes for the Georgia game from the side which hammered Italy 55-15, again shuffles his playing roster with 11 starting changes and one positional switch as the Irish management deal with the demands of five competitive games in 21 days.
Four of the changes are at the back, with Treacy getting the nod over Davy Colbert on the right wing, while Wilhelm de Klerk takes over from Italian hat-trick hero Sam Berman in the centre — the pair will be teammates in Ulster next season after former Irish U-20 coach Richie Murphy signed them up after taking charge at Ravenhill.
Hugo McLaughlin takes over from Ruben Moloney on the left wing and Jack Murphy swaps places with Sean Naughton at out-half.
A new pack sees James McKillop move to the back row as Billy Corrigan and Alan Spicer form a new second-row partnership, with the impressive Sean Edogbo providing cover on a 5-3 split bench.
A draw or a win will see Ireland, runners-up last year, book a place in Sunday’s semi-finals back at the DHL Stadium, but defeat will see them battle it out in the mid-placings from fifth to eighth.
Ireland: B O’Connor; F Treacy, W de Klerk, H Gavin, H McLaughlin; J Murphy, O Coffey; E Calvey, D Sheahan, P Bell; B Corrigan, A Spicer; J McKillop, B Ward, B Gleeson (c). Replacements: S Smyth, J Boyd, A Sparrow, S Edogbo, M Flynn, T Brophy, S Naughton, D Colbert.
Australia: S Wilcox; A Saunders, K Pritchard, J McLeod, R Leahy; H McLaughlin-Phillips, D Nelson; L Ieli, O Tuipulotu, N Bloomfield; T MacPherson, O McCrea; A Ekanayake, D Sawers, J Harley. Replacements: B Edwards, N Tiitii, T King, E Doyle, D Thygesen, A Durbidge, B Dickens, B Fakafanua.
Referee: Takehito Namekawa (Japan).
