Ireland have named their squad for the forthcoming U18 6 Nations Festival, hosted by Hartpury College.
Games take place across three matchdays, the first hosted at Hartpury’s Gillman’s Ground on Saturday, the second at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways Stadium on Wednesday 17th April, and the third at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium on Sunday 21st April.
Ireland’s thee games will see them take on France at 2.30pm on Saturday, hosts England at 1.30pm on Wednesday, and Scotland at 11am on the final day of the Festival. All of the games from the Festival will be shown live on FreeSports.
Six players return for Ireland in their 26-man squad that featured last year, Ulster’s Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart, Leinster’s Karl Martin, Chris Cosgrave and Ben Murphy, and Munster’s Alex Kendellen.
Leinster Schools Senior Cup winners, St Michael’s College, are well represented in the squad with Lee Barron, Jack Boyle, Will Hickey, and Cosgrave himself all selected from the victorious school, with Alex Soroka, Karl Martin, Ben Murphy, and Jamie Osborne the other Leinster representatives.
CBC Cork won the Munster Schools Senior Cup and they too are well represented, with Cian Whooley, Harry O’Riordan, Aaron Leahy, and Mark Donnelly all selected alongside Munster’s other representative, Kendellen.
Over in Connacht it was Garbally College that won the Schools Senior Cup and Osin McCormack and Shane Jennings are selected from that side to Peter Smyth’s Ireland U18 squad for the competition. Diarmuid Killcommins, Darragh Murray, Diarmuid McCormack, and Donnacha Byrne are also selected from Connacht.
Meanwhile joining Doak and Stewart from Ulster are Reuben Crothers, Oscar Egan, George Saunderson, Ben Carson, and Conor McKee.
Ireland U18 6 Nations Festival Squad:
Forwards:
Lee Barron (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
Jack Boyle (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
Donnacha Byrne (Summerhill College/Connacht)
Reuben Crothers (Wallace High School/Ulster)
Mark Donnelly (CBC Cork/Munster)
Oscar Egan (Coleraine Grammar School/Ulster)
Will Hickey (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
Alexander Kendellen (PBC Cork/Munster)
Diarmuid McCormack (Clongowes Wood College/Connacht)
Oisin McCormack (Garbally College/Connacht)
Darragh Murray (Colaiste Chiaran/Connacht)
George Saunderson (Sullivan Upper School/Ulster)
Alex Soroka (Belvedere College/Leinster)
Tom Stewart (Belfast Royal Academy/Ulster)
Backs:
Ben Carson (Wallace High School/Ulster)
Chris Cosgrave (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)
Nathan Doak (Wallace High School/Ulster)
Shane Jennings (Garbally College/Connacht)
Diarmuid Killcommins (Coláiste Bhaile Chláir/Connacht)
Aaron Leahy (CBC Cork/Munster)
Conor McKee (Sullivan Upper School/Ulster)
Karl Martin (St. Mary’s School Drogheda/Leinster)
Ben Murphy (Presentation College Bray/Leinster)
Harry O’Riordan (CBC Cork/Munster)
Jamie Osborne (Naas CBS/Leinster)
Cian Whooley (CBC Cork/Munster)
U18 6 Nations Festival Fixtures (all live on FreeSports):
Matchday 1 – Saturday 13th April, Gillman’s Ground, Hartpury College
England v Wales – 12.10pm
Ireland v France – 2.40pm
Scotland v Italy – 5.10pm
Matchday 2 – Wednesday 17th April, Sixways, Worcester Warriors
France v Italy – 11.10am
Ireland v England – 1.40pm
Wales v Scotland – 4.10pm
Matchday 3 – Sunday 21st April, Kingsholm, Gloucester
Scotland v Ireland – 11.10am
England v France – 1.40pm
Italy v Wales – 4.10pm
England U18 6 Nations Festival Squad