EXCITING 20-YEAR-old out-half Sam Prendergast is one of four Ireland U20 internationals included in the Leinster squad for their two-game URC trip to South Africa.

The province’s frontline players will remain in Dublin with senior coach Stuart Lancaster to prepare for their Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse in three weekends’ time, with head coach Leo Cullen leading a young 30-man squad to South Africa.

Leinster, who have already secured top spot in the URC, will play the Lions in Johannesburg this weekend before visiting the Bulls in Pretoria for their final regular-season game.

Highly-regarded playmaker Prendergast has been included in the Leinster squad along with three fellow Grand Slam-winning Ireland U20 internationals in scrum-half Fintan Gunne, second row Conor O’Tighearnaigh, and back row Liam Molony.

Prendergast is one of only two out-halves in the Leinster squad along with Charlie Tector, while Gunne will compete with Nick McCarthy and Ben Murphy for game time at scrum-half.

While there are still strong options in the second row and back row even accounting for the absent frontliners, O’Tighearnaigh and Molony will also be hoping for their senior debuts despite not even being in the province’s full academy yet.

There are a handful of Ireland internationals included in the Leinster group in the shape of back rows Will Connors, Rhys Ruddock and Max Deegan, loosehead prop Ed Byrne, and wing Dave Kearney, while Springboks lock Jason Jenkins has also travelled.

Leinster’s travelling squad to South Africa:

Forwards: Jack Boyle, Ed Byrne, Michael Milne, Lee Barron, Tadhg McElroy, Vakhtang Abdaladze, Thomas Clarkson, Temi Lasisi, Brian Deeny, Alex Soroka, Jason Jenkins, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, Liam Molony, Rhys Ruddock, Will Connors, James Culhane, Max Deegan.

Backs: Fintan Gunne, Nick McCarthy, Ben Murphy, Sam Prendergast, Charlie Tector, Ben Brownlee, Liam Turner, Tommy O’Brien, Dave Kearney, Aitzol King, Rob Russell, Chris Cosgrave, Max O’Reilly.