{"id":518138,"date":"2026-06-25T18:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/518138\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:17:12","slug":"sami-bishti-captains-side-as-ireland-under-20s-name-team-for-england-clash-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/518138\/","title":{"rendered":"Sami Bishti captains side as Ireland under-20s name team for England clash \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland Under-20s v England Under-20s, Avchala Stadium Tbilisi (Saturday, 12.30pm Irish time, live on Premier Sports)<\/p>\n

Familiarity should breed a healthy respect. When these countries met in the Six Nations Championship, Ireland won an entertaining tussle 31-21 at The Rec in Bath, outscoring their hosts by four tries to three.<\/p>\n

Andrew Browne\u2019s Ireland side shows five changes from that clash. Charlie Molony replaces the injured Derry Moloney on the right wing, while Charlie O\u2019Shea is chosen at outhalf with Tom Wood, who made his Munster senior debut in January, named among the replacements.<\/p>\n

Up front Old Wesley\u2019s Rian Handley is promoted to starting hooker in the absence of Lee Fitzpatrick also injured, while Dylan McNiece, who missed that game with a knee issue is back in place of Garryowen\u2019s Joe Finn. Ben Blaney won the run-on role from Billy Hayes by the end of the Six Nations and continues in the seven shirt.<\/p>\n

There are some new faces on the bench in props Adam Cooper and Jamie Conway, set to make their debuts off the bench, so too centre Jack Deegan, Perth-born secondrow Paddy Woods and Shannon flanker Alex Lautsou.<\/p>\n

England head coach, the former Sale, England and Lions hooker Andy Titterell, makes six changes from the game in Bath. Wings Zac Knight and Sam Winters, centre Will Knight and outhalf Hugh Shields are the newcomers in the backline. Prop Alan Poku and flanker Tate Williams are introduced up front with Aiden Ainsworth-Cave moving from the secondrow to the backrow.<\/p>\n

All eight replacements featured in the defeat to Ireland either on the starting side or the bench. England\u2019s only other defeat was to Grand Slam champions France, a narrow 31-28 reverse in La Rochelle in the last game.<\/p>\n

Ireland won four of their five matches in the Six Nations, the sole setback a heavy 50-21 defeat to the French in Perpignan on the opening weekend of the tournament. To their credit Browne\u2019s side grew appreciably in style and substance as the tournament progressed. The challenge is to maintain that momentum in what is a touch opening fixture.<\/p>\n

The nature of the Junior World Championship is the requirement to win all the pool matches to dispense with the mathematical permutations and guarantee a place in the semi-finals proper. Ireland will go on to face an Argentina side that recently beat New Zealand 25-17 and then the USA in the final game.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Josh Neill will start against England. Photograph: Inpho <\/p>\n

Irish captain Sami Bishti has already proven that he possesses the leadership nous to supplement his playing skills while in McNeice, South African-born flanker Josh Neill and number eight Diarmuid O\u2019Connell the pack boasts standout contributors.<\/p>\n

Scrumhalf Christopher Barrett is a try scoring threat as he frequently proved in the Six Nations, so quick over the ground and if can ape that speed in his service to the backline, Ireland have the backs to make the most of decent ball.<\/p>\n

Browne has opted for Rob Carney and James O\u2019Leary in the centre, a vindication of their work to date this season, and avoided the temptation of starting Galway\u2019s Sean Walsh, brilliant against the Springboks in Cork last October and the highly regarded Jack Deegan, both of whom missed the Six Nations through injury.<\/p>\n

There is plenty of zip in the back three, as a fit again Charlie Molony, joins Danile Ryan and the exciting Noah Byrne at fullback. Ireland will have to be close to their best to win and that\u2019s the challenge.<\/p>\n

Ireland: Noah Byrne (Dublin University\/Leinster); Charlie Molony (UCD\/Leinster), Rob Carney (Cashel\/Munster), James O\u2019Leary (UCC\/Munster), Daniel Ryan (Corinthians\/Connacht); Charlie O\u2019Shea (UCC\/Munster), Christopher Barrett (UCC\/Munster); Max Doyle (UCD\/Leinster), Rian Handley (Old Wesley\/Leinster), Sami Bishti (UCD\/Leinster, capt); Donnacha McGuire (UCD\/Leinster), Dylan McNeice (UCD\/Leinster); Josh Neill (Old Wesley\/Leinster), Ben Blaney (Terenure\/Leinster), Diarmaid O\u2019Connell (Corinthians\/Connacht).<\/p>\n

Replacements: Duinn Maguire (UCD\/Leinster), Adam Cooper (Buccaneers\/Connacht), Jamie Conway (Shannon\/Munster), Paddy Woods (Queen\u2019s University\/Ulster), Alex Lautsou (Shannon\/Munster), James O\u2019Dwyer (Old Belvedere\/Leinster), Tom Wood (Garryowen\/Munster), Jack Deegan (Blackrock\/Leinster).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland Under-20s v England Under-20s, Avchala Stadium Tbilisi (Saturday, 12.30pm Irish time, live on Premier Sports) Familiarity should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,39220,43],"class_list":["post-518138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby-u20s","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518138","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=518138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}