O’Shea at 10 for Ireland Under-20s World Cup opener

Munster out-half Charlie O’Shea has been handed the number ten shirt for the Ireland Under-20s Junior World Cup opener with England on Saturday.

O’Shea, who was a replacement for all five of Ireland’s U20 Six Nations games back in the spring, gets the nod ahead of Munster colleague Tom Wood, who offers a versatile bench option.

There’s an all-Cork midfield axis with Christopher Barrett at scrum-half alongside his former schools team-mate O’Shea, while James O’Leary is at inside centre alongside Rob Carney.

A back three of Daniel Ryan, the returning Charlie Moloney and Noah Byrne rounds out the backline.

The squad is captained by tighthead prop Sami Bishti of Leinster who packs down with Max Doyle and Rian Handley in the front-row.

Donnacha McGuire and Dylan McNeice retain their starting shirts in the engine room while Josh Neill, Ben Blaney and Connacht’s Diarmaid O’Connell are the back-row trio.

Head coach Andrew Browne has opted for a 5:3 bench split which features the aforementioned Wood as well as fit again Jack Deegan and scrum-half James O’Dwyer as the backline replacements.

Adam Cooper and Jamie Conway partner Duinn Maguire as the replacement front-rows, while Ulster’s Paddy Woods and Munster’s Alex Lautsou complete the matchday squad.

Ireland: Noah Byrne; Charlie Molony, Rob Carney, James O’Leary, Daniel Ryan; Charlie O’Shea, Christopher Barrett; Max Doyle, Rian Handley, Sami Bishti (capt); Donnacha McGuire, Dylan McNeice; Josh Neill, Ben Blaney, Diarmaid O’Connell.

Replacements: Duinn Maguire, Adam Cooper, Jamie Conway, Paddy Woods, Alex Lautsou, James O’Dwyer, Tom Wood, Jack Deegan.