Ireland will bid to book a place in the final of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship for the first time in its nine-year history when they take on Argentina in the semi-final at Manchester Academy Stadium today (5.30pm, live on TG4 & Sky Sports 3).
It’s an indication of how far these teams have progressed in this year’s competition that their clash will be preceded by a semi-final for fifth place between Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales and world champions New Zealand.
New Zealand’s only loss was that 33-24 defeat to Ireland but that was enough to send the five-time champions out of the main competition. England and South Africa, the only countries other than New Zealand to win this championship, meet in the other semi-final after the Ireland-Argentina game.
It will be the fourth meeting between Ireland and Argentina in this competition, with honours even at two wins apiece. “Los Pumitas” are coached by Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe, the former Argentine international. It is the second time Argentina have made to the semi-finals, finishing fourth in in 2012.
Argentina come into the game with three wins, having defeated France 24-15, South Africa 19-13 and Japan on a scoreline of 39-20. They have scored eight tries and conceded six for a points difference of 82-48.
Ireland have booked a semi-final spot for only the second time on the back of a 26-25 win over Wales, 33-24 against New Zealand and a 35-7 success over Georgia. Nigel Carolan’s men have scored 10 tries and conceded nine for a points difference of 94-56.
The Irish team shows just one change from the side that defeated New Zealand, with Seán O’Connor from Cashel coming in to the secondrow to partner James Ryan. O’Connor replaces Sligo’s Cillian Gallagher who was injured last time out.
Gallagher is one of three players to have his tournament cut short through injury, with prop Conor Kenny and outhalf Bill Johnston also out.
Team captain Ryan, whose burgeoning reputation has been enhanced in this tournament, has fully recovered from a hip injury picked up against New Zealand.
Carolan has, as expected, reverts to the side that beat New Zealand and is boosted by the fact that most of them will be fresh, having either sat out the Georgia game or played a limited role in it.
“We have prepared very well. It is very demanding competition, five competitive matches in less than three weeks,” said Carolan. “The key to it is recovery and making sure players are not overloading. We made a lot of changes for the Georgian match and that gave some players a break and also brought several more into the intensity of the competition.”
Argentina’s threat does not come from their set-piece, but rather an ability to go wide and diversify their game, and they have been impressive in their three wins to date. But so too have Ireland and the defensive qualities they showed against New Zealand and the attacking capability they displayed against Wales, once they got their set-piece sorted out, could be enough to book a place in next Saturday’s final at AJ Bell Stadium against twice-winners England or a South African side who lifted the trophy when they hosted it in 2012.
IRELAND: J Stockdale ( Ulster); M Byrne (Leinster), S Daly ( Munster), C O'Brien (Leinster), H Keenan ( Leinster); J McPhillips (Ulster), S Kerins ( Connacht); A Porter (Leinster), A McBurney ( Ulster), B Betts (Munster); S O'Connor ( Munster), J Ryan (Leinster); G Jones ( Leinster), D Aspil (Leinster), M Deegan ( Leinster).
Replacements: V O'Brien ( Munster), J Bollard ( Leinster), A Coyle (Leinster), E Mintern (Munster), K Brown ( Munster), N Saunders (Exiles), B Connon (Newcastle Falcons), J O'Brien ( Leinster). Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys ( RFU).
