Irish Under-20's 2023

Team to face Leinster Development side named:

15. Henry McErlean (Terenure/Leinster)

14. James Nicholson (UCD/Leinster)

13. Hugh Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster)

12. Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)

11. Ike Anagu (La Rochelle/IQ Rugby)

10. Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)

9. Jack Oliver (Garryowen/Munster)

1. George Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster)

2. Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)

3. Paddy McCarthy (DUFC/Leinster)

4. Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD/Leinster)

5. Diarmuid Mangan (UCD/Leinster)

6. James McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster)

7. Ruadhan Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster)

8. Brian Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster)

Replacements:

16. Danny Sheehan (UCC/Munster)

17. Jack Boal (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)

18. Fiachna Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht)

19. Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians/Munster)

20. Jacob Sheehan (UCC/Munster)

21. Fintan Gunne (Terenure/Leinster)

22. Harry West (Buccaneers/Connacht)

23. Rory Telfer (Queen’s University/Ulster)

24. Joe Hopes (Queen’s University/Ulster)

25. John Devine (Corinthians/Connacht)

26. Josh Costello (Shannon/Munster)

Great to see Fintan Gunne on the bench after a long spell injured - serious hype about him on the Leinster side. I'm keen to see Brian Gleeson at 8, as I've only heard good things about him. The 20s look stacked in the back row this year (Diarmuid Mangan, James McNabney, Ruadhan Quinn, Brian Gleeson, Max Dunne).

Most curious to get a look at Ike Anagu on the wing, and see how Sam Prendergast is coming along at 10.

I was at it. Entertaining game at times, with some lovely offloading from both sides, but equally quite disjointed with both sides guilty of forcing things a bit too much at times.

I didn't recognise quite a few of the Leinster Development subs and some of their starting side, but believe a lot of the wider U20s were featuring for them.

Impressive for Ireland for me were Ruadhan Quinn, Sam Prendergast, Brian Gleeson & Gus McCarthy. Fintan Gunne had some nice moments too when introduced. Impressive for Leinster were Aitzol King, Ben Brownlee and (I think) Max Dunne at blindside flanker.

Yeah, Costello's and Ben Murphy's probably looked the most severe - he was only on about 10 mins (Costello). A few guys who've had some injury problems this season like Conor O'Tighearnaigh and Fintan Gunne picked up knocks too. Plenty of others that didn't look overly serious (but very hard to tell).

Final post on this game - both Irish U20s out halves looked good.

Sam Prendergast is a pretty incredible athlete. He's 6ft 3 or possibly bigger, but seems to still have very good footwork, balance and pace. Ireland U20s had a really nice shape to their attack on a couple of occasions when he was there, where he was picking nice options in crowded passing channels. He reminded me a bit of Harry Mallinder (who looked a super player at 20s and won a JWC, but hasn't pressed on since then) in style, in that he's big and rangy but still seems to have a lot of skill and talent to him.

He outplayed Charlie Tector (who albeit was behind a more makeshift pack), but who didn't really shine yesterday.

Harry West (went to school in King's Hospital) brought a real spark to things as well. He made a couple of nice line breaks and took his try well (after a good linebreak from the excellent Fintan Gunne). If I were a Connacht fan I'd be optimistic on West.

Finally, first proper time seeing Fintan Gunne in the flesh and he justified the hype. Electric player - looked to create something almost every time he touched the ball. Some really nice snipes as well, and his pass looked to have good range on it.

It can be hard to tell at this level, but he looks to be a serious prospect.