McCarthy under no illusion of 'massive physical battle' Italy will bring
Italy scored a first ever U20 Six Nations victory over Ireland earlier this year when they won 15-12 in Treviso and McCarthy said while they were boosted by their 35-28 opening round win over Georgia, he knows this will be a bigger test.
'Italy are going to bring a different challenge, I suppose a few faster backs, more rugby. I think we just need to build on the Georgia game.
'Italy will be another massive physical battle and they'll have good backs as well but at the same time we just need to concentrate on ourselves,' said the Cork native who is heading into his second year in the Connacht academy.
Ireland top the pool after their bonus point win over Georgia in a game where they had just 41% possession but ran in five tries with winger Paidi Farrell getting a brace and hooker Henry Walker, full-back Charlie Molony and lock Mahon Ronan also scoring.
A key area of improvement for Ireland will need to be discipline. Their concession of 17 penalties, along with a yellow card for prop Alex Mullan, was the most of any side in the opening round.
In contrast, the fewest penalties conceded was by Italy, who coughed up just four in their 14-5 opening round loss to New Zealand.
Ireland, who won nine of 10 lineouts, will look to target that set-piece against an Italian side who lost four of their own throws.
Head coach Neil Doak has made two changes with Will Wootton, younger brother of former Munster player Alex, coming in for Clark Logan at scrum-half, while Alex Usanov gets the nod at tighthead in place of Billy Bohan.
Italy have one previous win over Ireland in this tournament when they won 22-21 in Georgia eight years ago, but the more significant result for this fixture came in this season's Six Nations in Treviso.
Italy raced into a 15-0 lead in the opening eleven minutes and while Walker and Tom Wood hit back for tries for Ireland, Doak's men were unable to avoid defeat in a campaign which saw them finish bottom with just one win over Scotland.
They will be boosted by their opening round win and victory in this one would set up a showdown next Wednesday with New Zealand for one of the semi-final spots.
IRELAND: C Molony; P Farrell, C Mangan, E Smyth, D Moloney; T Wood, W Wootton; A Usanov, H Walker, A Mullan; M Ronan, B Corrigan; M Foy, E McCarthy, L Murphy.
Replacements: M Yarr, B Bohan, T McAllister, C Kennelly, B Power, C Logan, S Wisniewski, D Green.
ITALY: E Todaro; A Drago, F Zanandea, R Casarin, J Ducros; R Fasti, N Beni; S Pelliccioli, N Corvasce, N Bolognini; M Midena, P Gritti; G Milano, C Bianchi, N Casartelli.
Replacements: A Caiolo-Serra, S Mistrulli, L Trevisan, E Opoku Gyamfi, A Miranda, M Bellotto, R Ioannucci, G Pietramala.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
26 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
'Why not try it' - largest GAA competition in UK begins
The largest GAA competition in Britain is under way this weekend, with a record number of participants expected to take part. Over a four day period more than 4,100 juvenile players from schools and clubs across England, Wales and Scotland will take part in a series of games at the Hazelwood Centre sport grounds, home of the London Irish. The GAA All Britain competition was first established 14 years ago. GAA President Jarlath Burns was among those in attendance this afternoon. He said the focus of the competition was on "enjoyment" and "participation" for the players. The GAA in Britain has seen a growth in popularity in recent years, with a 28% increase in youth membership since 2021. "I think the All-Irelands being on network television has really created an explosion of interest and curiosity among English people and British people and we're seeing the benefit of that now", he explained. Several schools across the UK have incorporated Gaelic football and hurling into their PE curriculum, particular those where there is a large Irish population. It has led to some children, with no Irish background taking up the sport. Dylan, 11, explains that he first "found out" what Gaelic football was in Year 5 of school and thought it was "a very good sport". "I thought it was a lot better than football [soccer]. I still do like football but I kind of prefer Gaelic", he said. Maeve, a young competitor from London, said that her goal is to play for Donegal someday as she has family there. "I like to play Gaelic because when I was younger my mum used to play Gaelic so I watched that and then I grew up into liking it", she explained. Cormac Duffy, community development administrator with London GAA, points out that over 3,800 children took part in the competition last year but numbers are expected to exceed 4,100. "We have roughly 390 teams and the guts of 880 games so it's a pretty hectic four days", he said. The GAA All Britain Competition started yesterday and will continue until Thursday.
Irish Daily Mirror
44 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Skipper Craig Casey - real danger in Georgia as Ireland select six debutants
Ireland start two and have a further four new caps on the bench as they open their summer tour against Georgia in Tbilisi this O'Connell takes charge of the side in the absence of Andy Farrell and Simon Easterby while the relatively callow line-up reflects 16 players away on Lions duty and another two injured. Of the sextet Leinster's Tommy O'Brien, just turned 27, has positively starred at provincial level since returning from injury and is a powerhouse right-winger many feel will be both Leinster and Ireland's first-choice next Darragh Murray has just turned 24 and was a surprise selection for the squad in the first place. However, standing 6'7" and weighing in at 115kgs, the Connacht has particularly impressed Paul O'Connell in this are a further four potential news caps on the Michael Milne, 26, completed a Leinster-Munster move last April. A mobile loosehead prop, if the switch came with a promise first-team rugby would help him with international aspiration, it has worked Jack Aungier, 26, made a similar switch from Leinster to Connacht in 2020 and hasn't looked back since. Understudying Finlay Bealham at his province he has nonetheless made 21 appearances (eight starts, 13 sub) this season. Tom Ahern, 25, has been one of the breakthrough youngsters at Munster in recent times and has, notably, been working between second and back-row at his province. Survived a late hamstring scare to make the Ben Murphy, 24, is another to have benefitted from leaving Leinster and his landing at Connacht at the start of the season coincided with a burst of form and a number of Man of the Match Jacob Stockdale is a specifically interesting selection on the left-wing. He needs one more try to move him to Ireland's outright 6th leading all-time the Richard-Cockerill coached Georgia have nine players France-based in their starting line-up with another six playing for Black Lions, a composite side made up from players in Georgia and who have an EPCR invite to play European Challenge Cup rugby."We are expecting Georgia to be probably up the walls with physicality and bring their game to us," says Ireland skipper Craig Casey. "They've got some really big threats."I their no15 David Niniashvilli really is a high class player. To be fair, he's shown it in the Top 14, he showed in Europe out-half is at Castres in the Top 14, the scrum-half at Oyonnax in ProD2."You've got Luka Matkava at no10, who kind of runs the ship for them."Vasil Lobzhanidze at no9, I've seen an awful lot of him. He's played for Georgia since he's been quite young, and he's been at a few World Cups so he kind of runs the show very well, he's kind of their go-to man."I think their right winger, Akaki Tabutsadze, has scored 50 tries in 51 games so they are a high quality back line and, obviously, their forward set the platform for them."They've got a back-row that are going to contest probably every breakdown. They like to do a lot of work in the broken field from their back-three so there's a lot of threats there."We will need to be all over those. I think if we're on our breakdown, we'll have a good day but we'll have to do a lot of work there."So they'll bring their game, I imagine their fans are going to make it a special occasion for them and they'll be delighted to have Ireland over and try and knock us off."Casey is looking forward to captaining Ireland for the first time."It's a special honor, it's class to get that kind of recognition with those type of players so I'm delighted, it is a special day for my family and everyone that has put a lot of work into me."We have got six debutants, hopefully it's a good one opportunity for them in this game and I don't think we've changed anything for them."It's a special week for them and their families. I think it's unbelievable for them to make their first caps. It's a huge opportunity for all of us."It's a massive privilege for us to put on the Irish jersey at any stage. So it's a big week for them, and it's up to the rest of us now to lay down a marker and make it a special one for everyone."Georgia (v Ireland, Tbilisi, 5pm Irish, Virgin TV): 15 Davit Niniashvili; 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 11 Sandro Todua; 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze; 1 Giorgi Akhaladze, 2 Vano Karkadze, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili,5 Lado Chachanidze, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 7 Beka Saghinadze, 8 Tornike Jalagonia,Replacements: 16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Giorgi Javakhia, 20 Ilia Spanderashvili, 21 Mikheil Alania, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Tornike 15 Jimmy O'Brien; 14 Tommy O'Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale; 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey; 1 Jack Boyle, 2 Gus McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 4 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Darragh Murray, 6 Ryan Baird, 7 Nick Timony, 8 Gavin CoombesReplacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Cian Prendergast, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Calvin Nash. IRELAND SUMMER TOUR SCHEDULESaturday, 5th July: Georgia v Ireland, Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi (kick off 9pm local time, 6pm Irish time);Saturday, 12th July: Portugal v Ireland, Estádio Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon (kick off 7pm local, same Irish time)Ireland Men's Squad – Summer Tour 2025, departing for Tbilisi on Wednesday, 2nd July. Player/Club/Province/CapsBacks (14): Shayne Bolton (Connacht)*, Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)(captain)(18), Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster)(24), Nathan Doak (Banbridge/Ulster)*, Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster)(8), Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)*, Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster)(19), Ben Murphy (Clontarf/Connacht)*, Dermot Kilgallon (Munster)*, Jimmy O'Brien (Naas/Leinster)(8), Tommy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)*, Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster)(7), Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)(8), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster)(38) Forwards (18): Tom Ahern (Shannon/Munster)*, Jack Aungier (Lansdowne/Connacht)*, Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)(27), Jack Boyle (UCD/Leinster)(2), Thomas Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)(6), Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster)(2), Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster)(2), Cormac Izuchukwu (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(1), Alex Kendellen (UCC/Munster)*, Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(4), Paddy McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster)*, Michael Milne (UCD/Munster)*, Darragh Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)*, Tom O'Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(16), Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht)(4), Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley/Leinster)*, Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(2), Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster)(3), Scott Wilson (Queens University/Ulster)* *denotes uncapped
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Robbie Keane brings Ireland international to Hungarian side Ferencvaros
Robbie Keane has made a shock swoop for Ireland star Callum O'Dowda as he prepares to steer Ferencvaros in their defence of the Hungarian title. Keane led the club to the championship last season and narrowly missed out on a double, as they lost on penalties in the final to Paksi FC. Ferencvaros confirmed the signing on their official website, stating that O'Dowda had 'been added to the 36-time champions' men's football team.' He is their seventh summer signing and it sees him leave Cardiff City, who were relegated last season to League One. Instead, he can now look forward to Champions League football, with Ferencvaros entering the second qualifying round later this month. There, they will face the winners of Noah of Armenia or Montenegran side Buducnost Podgorica. O'Dowda, capped 32 times, can play at left-back, midfield or on the left-wing. He previously played for Oxford United and Bristol City, before his July 2022 move to Cardiff. He is Keane's first Irish signing of his managerial career, which has also seen him take charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv. The pair played together briefly for Ireland, with O'Dowda's debut coming in May 2016, shortly before Keane hung up his international boots. They worked together again when Keane worked as a coach under Mick McCarthy in 2019.
