Advertisement

Moloney absence adds to Ireland U20 injury woes as they head for Argentina

Noel McNamara’s men travel to the U20 World Cup without two more of the Grand Slam-winning squad.

NOEL MCNAMARA MUST have hoped that fresh injury trouble would be avoided until at least facing England in Santa Fe on Tuesday. But his Grand Slam-winning squad took off for the World Rugby U20 Championship in Argentina today shorn of more key man.

Martin Moloney with Sacha Zeguer Moloney celebrates against France. Oisin Keniry / INPHO Oisin Keniry / INPHO / INPHO

Already without the likes of out-half Harry Byrne, centre David Hawkshaw and rising Leinster talent Scott Penny, industrious back row Martin Moloney is now also sidelined for a tough Pool B run against England, Australia and Italy.

An ever-present at blindside through the Grand Slam, the Athy man was among the contenders to replace Penny in the number 7 shirt, but a knee injury keeps him off the plane. His replacement in the squad, Sale Sharks’ Ciaran Booth, will travel to Argentina.

Ciaran Booth Ciaran Booth in action for Ireland U18 clubs and schools against Canada last yea. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO

Second row Brian Deeny will also miss out after suffering a training ground ankle injury, bringing an opportunity for  6′ 7″ Munster academy lock Thomas Ahern to make his mark.

In addition to the injured Deeny and Moloney, McNamara has trimmed three names from his initial training squad to hit the 28-man limit, so Ulster duo Callum Reid and Bruce Houston missing out along with Terenure’s Adam LaGrue.

Charlie Ryan will captain the squad having led the Grand Slam-decider against Wales. Munster scrum-half Craig Casey has been named vice-captain.

Noel McNamara Head coach Noel McNamara. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

The group contains seven players who have not yet tasted international U20s rugby; Ahern, Booth, Leinster’s Declan Adamson and Charlie Ward plus Ulster’s Azur Allison, Iwan Hughes and Stewart Moore.

Ireland’s first outing will come against England next Tuesday, 4 June, in Santa Fe (kick-off 19.30 Irish time, eir Sport).

Ireland squad for 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship

Forwards

Declan Adamson (Clontarf/Leinster) *
Thomas Ahern (Shannon/Munster) *
Azur Allison (Ballymena/Ulster) *
Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)
Ciaran Booth (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby) *
Tom Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)
John Hodnett (UCC/Munster)
David McCann (Banbridge/Ulster)
John McKee (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Michael Milne (UCD/Leinster)
Niall Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Charlie Ryan (UCD/Leinster) Captain
Dylan Tierney-Martin (Corinthians/Connacht)
Charlie Ward (Clontarf/Leinster) *
Ronan Watters (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
Josh Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster)

Backs

Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) Vice-Captain
Jake Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
Cormac Foley (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
Sean French (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Ben Healy (Garryowen/Munster)
Iwan Hughes (Ballynahinch/Ulster) *
Angus Kernohan (Queen’s University/Ulster)
Stewart Moore (Malone/Ulster) *
Colm Reilly (Buccaneers/Connacht)
Rob Russell (Dublin University/Leinster)
Liam Turner (Dublin University/Leinster)
Jonathan Wren (Cork Constitution/Munster)

Gavan Casey is joined by Murray Kinsella and Sean Farrell for a review of the 2018/19 season, and cast an eye forward to next year and the Rugby World Cup in Japan.:


The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud

Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:

Close
11 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eddie Hekenui
    Favourite Eddie Hekenui
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 10:08 AM

    Tough blow to lose so many important players. Molony and Penny were two of the stars of the 6 Nations while Byrne and Hackshaw were key playmakers at 10 and 12 with Hacksahw being the captain. I’d fancy Allison to come into the backrow instead of Molony without too much drop off in quality as he might have started if he’d been fit for the 6 Nations. Replacing Penny is nigh on impossible but Healy and French/Moore will do a fine job coming in at 10 and 12. The issue will be the lack of depth now we’re down some big players and guys having so many big games in such a short period of time.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony
    Favourite Anthony
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 10:06 AM

    Its concerning the amount of serious injuries in a young squad like that already

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Exiled Dub
    Favourite Exiled Dub
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 9:43 AM

    One “IQ” player is that a good return should there be more

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Elliott
    Favourite Stephen Elliott
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 10:01 AM

    @Exiled Dub: why should there be more?

    also Iwan Hughes is a IQ rugby product who is with Ulster now.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Quinn
    Favourite Martin Quinn
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 1:06 PM

    I wonder how the other home countries are getting on, say England next week ?? Do we have the worst list ???)

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glenbower
    Favourite Glenbower
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 1:39 PM

    @Martin Quinn: A few injuries and also the unavailability of #10 Marcus Smith because he’s playing for England development XV vs the Barbarians ! A disappointing priority for the rest of the squad, I imagine.

    See https://www.englandrugby.com/news/england-men-u20s-squad-update/

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glenbower
    Favourite Glenbower
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 1:46 PM

    @Martin Quinn: No mention of Australian injuries here:

    https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2019/05/07/world-u20-championships-junior-wallabies-squad

    They beat NZ 24-0 in a final recently !

    3
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glenbower
    Favourite Glenbower
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 1:57 PM

    @Martin Quinn: Italy had to omit 3 injured players who were “more or less important”. See:

    https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=427

    So my guess is that our missing 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 represent the greatest omissions in our group.

    Ah well, cometh the hour, cometh the man …

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eddie Hekenui
    Favourite Eddie Hekenui
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 2:21 PM

    @Martin Quinn: https://u20rugby.wordpress.com if you’re interested keep an eye on this

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Quinn
    Favourite Martin Quinn
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 4:53 PM

    @Glenbower:

    Thanks for that :: Glen

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Quinn
    Favourite Martin Quinn
    Report
    May 29th 2019, 4:55 PM

    @Eddie Hekenui:

    Thanks for that :: EDDIE

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel