\u2018The scenes were incredible\u2019: When Ireland under-20s made history by beating New Zealand<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n9 Stephen Kerins<\/p>\n
The way we tried to play the game with speed and tempo, he suited us down to the ground. He had a whip of a pass and he got the ball in and out. Very quick across the ground. At age-grade, I think he maxed out on what he had. <\/p>\n
1 Andrew Porter<\/p>\n
I think it speaks for itself, both the potential and how it was realised. What a beast of a human being he was then and as he is now. A great performer, very strong-willed and he brought guys with him [in matches] all the time.<\/p>\n
2 Adam McBurney<\/p>\n
Abrasive. Fiery. A natural leader. Demanded a high standard vocally and backed it up with his actions. He had a really strong mindset. <\/p>\n
3 Ben Betts<\/p>\n
Very quiet. Conor Kenny and Conan O\u2019Donnell, two Connacht props, would have probably been rated a bit higher than him, particularly around scrum time. Ben was quite small but very compact. He did a great job considering he was probably third in line going into the World Cup.<\/p>\n
4 Cillian Gallagher<\/p>\n
Cillian was very athletic, a super lineout forward, who had the athleticism to play secondrow and backrow. Unfortunately, a plethora of injuries curtailed his huge potential or his ability to realise his potential.<\/p>\n
5 James Ryan (capt)<\/p>\n
The talisman. Knew again, no more than Andrew Porter and Jacob Stockdale, that he was destined for higher things. A natural captain, he led by example; very detailed and very consistent.<\/p>\n
6 Greg Jones<\/p>\n
A great lineout forward to a point where Peter Malone, our forwards coach wanted to adopt him. His ball-carrying and defence played second fiddle to lineouts, but he could do both. So easy to work with.<\/p>\n
7 David Aspil<\/p>\n
Got more game time when Will Connors picked up an injury in the Six Nations. A natural seven and a groundhog. Not the same level of rugby experience as Connors or Max Deegan, but he did a fine job.<\/p>\n
8 Max Deegan![\"Max](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5EGF76XMNVAZDB2VVAX32AOZ4Y.jpg\")
Max Deegan goes over for Ireland’s third try against New Zealand. Photograph: Dave Howarth\/INPHO <\/p>\n
Max, brilliant. Man of the match against New Zealand then the overall player of the tournament. For anyone who\u2019d seen him play at the time, he was superb. He had the full court game; his ball-carrying, his set-piece was good, his defence was awesome. His play at the back of the scrum was unbelievable. He\u2019s only probably getting the game time now that he probably deserved five years ago. <\/p>\n
16 Vincent O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t play in the Six Nations and made his debut in the Wales match. Played a lot for us off the bench. <\/p>\n
17 James Bollard<\/p>\n
We lost a few props during the Six Nations and he came in through [Trinity coach] Tony Smeeth [on his recommendation]. He did a fine job.<\/p>\n
18 Vakhtang Abdaladze<\/p>\n
Vakh was a big unit, loved a scrum as you would expect for someone born in Georgia. While he wasn\u2019t first choice, he was a really good squad player when called upon. Went from Leinster to Brive.<\/p>\n
19 Sean O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n
He was a five-and-a-half if you were to put a number on his back. He probably wasn\u2019t big enough to be a secondrow or dynamic enough to be a backrow. A very good lineout option, he started the final. <\/p>\n
20 Kelvin Browne![\"'You](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/KBQDGGXF5JG27M4ZZ7KIPBZ5BQ.jpg\")
‘You couldn\u2019t fault Kelvin Browne’s enthusiasm.’ Photograph: Dave Howarth\/INPHO <\/p>\n
Penalty machine. Abrasive. Headstrong. Loved to pick a battle, pick a fight. You couldn\u2019t fault his enthusiasm. Probably a more natural seven [openside]. Best for his abrasiveness, albeit we had to try and channel that into a bit more control at times.<\/p>\n
21 Niall Saunders<\/p>\n
Probably disappointed that he didn\u2019t play more, but we felt at the times when he came on he just lacked a little bit of control. Had a decent pass and a good kicking game, but tended to do his own thing sometimes. We just needed to channel that into what we were looking for more.<\/p>\n
22 Johnny McPhillips<\/p>\n
When he assumed the quarterback position, I thought he grew into it greatly. A real confidence player, who, once he got a run of games and understood what was required, he was able to stick with it. He did a great job with the team. <\/p>\n
23 Jimmy O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n
A box of tricks. Versatile, he brought great spark and an unbelievable skill set that I don\u2019t think any of the others had in the same way. He had the run, kick, pass, that triple threat. Great off the bench. <\/p>\n
The rest of the squad Paul Kiernan (centre)<\/p>\n
He was a very honest player, straight up and down, always gave 100 per cent. He was a little bit behind the likes of centres Conor O\u2019Brien and Shane Daly.<\/p>\n
Terry Kennedy (wing\/fullback)<\/p>\n
He still hates me today for not picking him as much as he thought I should have. He was in good company there with the talent and the competition around him. Terry was a little bit more raw than the other guys. It was great to see him go on and do what he did in the Sevens game. <\/p>\n
Conor Kenny (prop)<\/p>\n
A mountain of a tighthead prop, he did exactly what it said on the tin. He got injured and it was a pity that we lost him early in that World Cup. <\/p>\n
Evan Mintern (secondrow\/backrow)<\/p>\n
Got a bit of game time towards the back end of the World Cup with Cillian Gallagher and Will Connors injured. More of a backrow that played at lock for us. <\/p>\n
Will Connors (flanker)<\/p>\n
Poor divil was injury ridden then and is still injury ridden. Powerful, quick, brave and a great skill set. One of the guys you\u2019d love to see get at least a full season where he\u2019s injury-free. <\/p>\n
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Get the best of our writing in the Irish Times rugby community (\u00a9INPHO\/Henry Simpson\/\u00a9INPHO\/Henry Simpson) <\/p>\n
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From provincial news to coverage of Ireland\u2019s inaugural Nations Championship campaign, you won\u2019t miss an update. Join here: https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/DaV5S7cDxWF0xDDILjarcw<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"15 Jacob Stockdale Great character. Super left foot, howitzer of a boot. He had two years with us.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[75388,21455,61,60,39220,73340,87073,194108,127772,1261,112,28578],"class_list":["post-520908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andrew-porter","tag-hugo-keenan","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby-u20s","tag-jacob-stockdale","tag-james-ryan","tag-jimmy-o-brien","tag-max-deegan","tag-new-zealand","tag-sports","tag-will-connors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520908","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=520908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Hugo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DP5WLETIJFHHXJMO7PRYMRP3WA.jpg\")
Hugo Keenan is tackled by Mitchell Jacobson of New Zealand during the World Rugby U20 Championship game, which was staged in Manchester.