Sweetnam and McCarthy Start

Darren Sweetnam and Sean McCarthy are named in the starting XV for the Ireland U20s, joining their Munster colleagues Rory Scannell and Ryan Murphy.

Making their first 6 Nations starts, Sweetnam is named on the right wing and Sean McCarthy comes into the side in place of Gavin Thornbury to partner John Donnan in the second row.

Speaking ahead of the game, Ruddock said “Despite the fact that we are missing a few front liners due to injury and unavailability we have still been able to select a strong side.”

“We are looking forward to a very physical encounter against the Italian side.”

“We are obviously looking to build on our win from last week to take us through into the IRB Junior World Championship.”

“We have added some new combinations to the bench as we look towards the summer.”

The Ireland U20s play Italy U20s on Friday March 15th at 7pm at Stadio del Marsi, (6pm Irish time)

Ireland Under 20 Team:
15 – Darragh Leader (Galwegians/Connacht)
14 – Darren Sweetnam (UCC/Munster)
13 – Tom Daly (Lansdowne/Leinster)
12 – Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster)
11 – Rory Scholes (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
10 – Steve Crosbie (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
9 – Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster)
1 – Peter Dooley (Lansdowne/Leinster)
2 – John Andrew (Ballymena/Ulster)
3 – Ryan Furniss (Worcester/Exile)
4 – Sean McCarthy (Shannon/Munster)
5 – John Donnan (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
6 – Conor Joyce (Malone/Ulster)
7 – Josh Van Der Flier (UCD/Leinster)
8 – Ryan Murphy (Dolphin/Munster)

Replacements:
16 – Bryan Byrne (UCD/ Leinster)
17 – Adam Boland (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18 – Brian Scott (UCC/Munster)
19 – Jerry Sexton (St. Mary’s/ Leinster)
20 – Peadar Timmins (UCD/Leinster)
21 – David Shanahan (Clontarf/Leinster)
22 – Eogháin Quinn (Lansdowne/ Leinster)
23 – David Panther (Corinthians/Connacht)

Ireland Under-20 RBS 6 Nations Fixtures and results 2013 (All Kick-off Times GMT):
Fri 1st Feb 19:10 Wales U20 v Ireland U20 17-15
Fri 8th Feb 19:35 Ireland U20 v England U20 16-15
Fri 22nd Feb 19:30 Scotland U20 v Ireland U20 Netherdale 21-20
Fri 8th Mar 19:45 Ireland U20 v France U20, Dubarry Park 22-5
Fri 15th Mar 19:00 Italy U20 v Ireland U20, Stadio del Marsi