Bishti is described by past coaches as a mature, articulate and calming presence on the field, the type that players \u201cwill want to play for\u201d given his ability to drive standards. If you need results as confirmation of the claims, well the Dubliner captained Blackrock to their 72 Leinster Senior Schools Cup title last March. So he has the track record to match.<\/p>\n
On the field, Bishti is scaling up from schools to age-grade to senior rugby exactly as Leinster hope. His scrummaging is worth noting, again helped by the Toomey influence. He, like UCD teammate Max Doyle and Christian Foley of Young Munster; are shining bright at set-piece in Division 1A of the Energia All-Ireland League.<\/p>\n
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7 February 2026; Ireland players, from left, Sami Bishti, Max Doyle and Rian Handley during the U20 Six Nations Rugby Championship match between France and Ireland at Stade Amie Giral in Perpignan, France. Photo by Brendan Moran\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Justin Vanstone is the Senior Cup coach at the illustrious Blackrock College, and speaks highly of Bishti.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSami is a selfless, grateful person that has grown into an outstanding leader\u201d, Vanstone told us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to play for him as he offers an incredible support to the group off the pitch and then gives everything for them on the pitch\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n Recommended\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Vanstone also attributes a frustrating few years as the catalyst to the prop\u2019s coming of age. During his Transition Year he missed out of selection, and then spent a period of his 5th year rehabbing a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n But that didn\u2019t deter him.<\/p>\n \u201c[Sami] came back stronger from that. He had a more impressive skill set, profile and competitive streak.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is incredibly humble, but driven\u201d.<\/p>\n 14 November 2025; Sam Bishti of Ireland celebrates during the U20 Challenge Match between Ireland and South Africa at Virgin Media Park in Cork. Photo by Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n Those characteristics are great in a captain, especially after a down year for the Ireland U20s in 2025. You get the sense that in Sami Bishti, Ireland have a tough as nails front-row forward, a leader, a wise head; but also an all-round nice guy that teammates can get behind.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, who can we compare him to, in the way we often do with age-grade talents?<\/p>\n \u201cHe has an excellent engine. Similar in that way to Thomas Clarkson\u201d, said Vanstone.\u00a0<\/p>\n If that is correct then Leinster and Ireland will feel comfortable with Bishti\u2019s rise in the coming years. As for now, it\u2019s a trip to Cork to take on Italy.<\/p>\n Ireland fell at the hands of the Azzurri last year, but they are a rising force to be feared. Although Ireland remain unbeaten at home to Italy in the U20s Six Nations era, this is not an easy game.<\/p>\n Bishti will lead out an Ireland side that remains largely similar from round one, as they look to get their title aspirations back on track ahead of a daunting trip to face Bath in round three.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: ‘He Was Destined’: Josh Neill’s Journey From Rondebosch To The Ireland U20s<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nSEE ALSO: ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ Actor Has Unexpected Past With Ireland U20s Rugby Team<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ireland Under-20s got their 2026 Six Nations campaign off to a disappointing start last Saturday night, falling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,140869],"class_list":{"0":"post-295944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sami-bishti"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}