Ireland coach Nigel Carolan has made four changes to his side for the World Rugby U20 Championship Pool C decider against New Zealand in Viadana on Wednesday night (7.30pm Irish time).
Queen's University and Ulster winger Jack Owens makes his first appearance of the tournament on the right flank while Jacob Stockdale returns to the starting XV on the left wing.
Up front, Zack McCall returns at hooker and Rory Moloney starts at openside flanker.
Only the four pool winners go through to the semi-finals, with New Zealand currently two points ahead of Ireland thanks to bonus-point wins over Scotland (68-10) and the much tighter affair against Argentina, which they won 32-29.
Speaking ahead of the test Carolan said, “This is a big game for both sides, the winner of this will have a guaranteed place in the semi-finals.
“New Zealand are a good team, so we will need to be brilliant for the full 80 minutes to give ourselves a chance.
“However, in preparation for a tough battle we have recovered well from our last outing and have identified some key areas which we hope we can take advantage of.”
Wednesday night’s game will be broadcast live on TG4.
IRELAND (U20 v New Zealand, World Rugby U20 Championship Pool C, Viadana, Wednesday June 10th, kick-off 7.30pm Irish time): Billy Dardis (UCD/Leinster); Jack Owens (Queen's/Ulster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Sam Arnold (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jacob Stockdale (Queen's/Ulster); Joey Carbery (UCD/Leinster), Nick McCarthy (UCD/Leinster) (Capt); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Zack McCall (Queen's/Ulster), Oisin Heffernan (Terenure College/Leinster); David O'Connor (St Mary's College/Leinster), Alex Thompson (Queen's/Ulster); Josh Murphy (UCD/Leinster), Rory Moloney (Buccaneers/ Connacht), Lorcan Dow (Queen's/Ulster).
Replacements: Seán McNulty (UCD/Leinster), Liam O'Connor (Cork Constitution/Munster), Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/NUIG/Connacht), Cian Romaine (Buccaneers/ Connacht), Stephen McVeigh (Buccaneers/ Connacht), Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Fergal Cleary (Lansdowne/ Leinster).
