Ireland under-20s to open World Rugby Championship campaign against Georgia
Ireland
will play their opening fixture at the World Rugby Under-20 Championship against Georgia on Sunday, June 29th (5pm Irish time).
The game will be the opener of a Pool C double-header at the Stadio San Michele in Calvisano, with New Zealand and Italy playing in the second game (7.30pm).
In their second outing, Neil Doak's side will face against the Italians, on Friday, July 4th at the Stadio Luigi Zaffanella in Viadana.
Ireland will return to Calvisano for their last pool game on Wednesday, July 9th, where they will face the Baby Blacks (5.30pm Irish time).
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The three pool winners and the best runner-up will contest the main semi-finals. Each team will play five matches in total with the side that finishes 12th relegated to the World Trophy competition.
Ireland won their pool in last season's tournament in Cape Town but lost their semi-final to the eventual champions England, and subsequently lost the third-place playoff game against New Zealand.
Ireland have twice reached an Under-20 World Cup final – in 2016 when they lost to hosts England and in 2023 when they were beaten by France.
The current Irish squad finished bottom of the Six Nations, managing just a single victory over Scotland. Doak will hopefully have a stronger hand up front if Alan Spicer, Alex Usanov, Niall Smyth, Emmet Calvey and Luke Murphy, who missed the championship through injury, are back and available to play.
World Rugby also announced the 10 referees and five television match officials (TMOs) that will preside over the tournament, including Ireland's Peter Martin and Leo Colgan.
The selected referees are Tomas Bertazza (Argentina), Ben Breakspear (Wales), Griffin Colby (South Africa), Katsuki Furuse (Japan), Peter Martin (Ireland), Marcus Playle (New Zealand), Jérémy Rozier (France), Filippo Russo (Italy), Lex Weiner (USA) and Morgan White (Hong Kong China).
The TMOs are Leo Colgan (Ireland), Graham Cooper (Australia), Aled Griffiths (Wales), Quinton Immelman (South Africa) and Dan Jones (RFU) with two of them – Colgan and Immelman – also selected for this year's Women's Rugby World Cup in England.
World Rugby Talent ID manager and tournament referee manager, Ireland's Johnny Lacey said: 'The selection of this panel highlights the referees that are coming through our pathway system. We have been working closely with our unions and regions to increase the number of match officials in our pathway into World Rugby competitions.
'We are already starting to see the benefits with our talent identification programme providing four referees for this tournament and we are excited to see what the future holds for the officials involved in our men's and women's pathways.'
The World Championship final will take place in the Stadio Mario Battaglini in Rovigo on Saturday, July 19th (7.30pm Irish time).
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I think it was just after we won the All-Ireland we had them in a league match in Parnell Park and they laid into us in some tune. Brian Dooher might have had his chin split that day,' recalls Harte. 'It was heavy duty stuff really and we had more of that up in Omagh a few years later in the so-called 'Battle of Omagh.' Which I think was much exaggerated really. 'The biggest damage was done that day was a jersey ripped down the middle. I don't think there were any serious blows struck in the melee, but the media highlighted it. 'But we always felt we could beat Dublin. They were a force alright, and they probably missed the boat a few times. They had a decent team at the time. 'What I liked about them was that they were battlers, number one, they never made life easy for you. And I felt the crowd were good; they would get behind them to the hilt. But when they couldn't get the better of us they were very honourable.' Back to the Battle of Omagh. Tyrone got the better of Dublin in that two-game series in 2005. They went on to win their second All-Ireland. Going up to Omagh was to be a test of their manhood. Not an inch. Not even a fraction; that was the message. Alan Brogan went after the Tyrone team doctor, Dr Seamus Cassidy. It all kicked off. Alan Brogan gets involved. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO 'We had felt we weren't taking our lessons on board here and we needed to lay down a marker. If we were to have an ambition of winning an All-Ireland, we had to back it up. We needed to win back-to-back Leinsters and to meet these guys further down the line, we needed to have a little bit more about us,' reasons Caffrey. 'That day, we felt there would be some spark at some stage. We spoke about it in the build-up. We told them how we wanted them to conduct themselves; we didn't want mass sendings off, but we certainly wanted to show intent that we weren't leaving players isolated, we weren't allowing players get picked on. 'And whatever happens, happens.' It was coached, it was fed to the players. He doesn't shy away from that. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't an intent on our part. There was a hard-nosed attitude from us that day. Management laid it down to players and players accepted it that, look, 'this is the first challenge in the lessons of '05. Are we going to take it on a bit, or are we going to be just a nice team?' 'Obviously, the scenes weren't pretty! Privately, I would have been nice and content getting back on that team bus. I'd seen something different in our guys. We were going to partake of the learnings and maybe we can become a hard-nose outfit and it can take us somewhere.' The outrage was everywhere and subject to radio phone-ins and blanket media coverage. But working as a Guard, Pillar had seen a few hairy moments in his time. This wasn't one. Not really. 'A lot of it was, as we would call it, handbags. But rather than having handbags and us coming off second best, we got involved. 'There was nobody injured with a box or a boot that day. We did show a physical intent to our game that hadn't been there previously. For our boys, it was a little investment in the belly for coming down the road afterwards; 'We stood up for ourselves today.'' While it was Brogan that got the thing going that day, Caffrey always described him as a lover, not a fighter. He could find a few of those around town. 'You take a man like Denis Bastick. You wouldn't describe him as one of the greatest midfielders Dublin ever had. But certainly in that period he became an effective midfielder. 'He became one of those dogs in that when there was business to be looked after, Denis Bastick was going to be in the middle of it, because he was a hardy buck. He became an enforcer and a minder out in the pitch.' A quick anecdote about Bastick. Those times must have left a huge impression on him. Many years later, Dublin and Tyrone were playing a Masters final in Ballina, Co Cavan. Tyrone had a late free coming in. Bastick was sent on before it was taken. With the ball on the way to goal, Bastick struck out and caught a Tyrone player. An instant red card. He lasted around half a second. During the Jim Gavin era, when opposition teams were searching around to level the playing field a little, the influence of Hill 16 was analysed. But even before that, Harte was warning his players about how to treat it. 'You always needed to talk to your players about the Hill. It's a boost to them and the idea is, 'Can you tame them long enough that they don't get the chance to sing?'' asked Harte. 'You need to be at Dublin early, don't let them have a chance to get ahead of you because when that swings into action it is definitely a boost. Related Reads 'What a goal. That is one of the great goals we've seen in Croke Park. Magic, magic Mulligan!' 'Not a new issue' - GPA supports Donegal's frustration at short quarter-final turnaround 'We back you no matter what' - Shane Walsh on backing of Galway team mates 'Even the '05 game we played, the replay, we had a decent lead at half time and they came back at us in the second half. It felt like they were sucking the ball over the bar. Shane Ryan kicked a point from 60 yards and you thought to yourself that the crowd just sucked the ball over the bar! 'They came back at us in that game and I remember turning to Tony Donnelly on the line and remarking the effect the crowd were having on the game. You just felt that was happening. 'You had to break the momentum. Mugsy's (Owen Mulligan) goal silenced them a bit and then he silenced them a bit. The stance said it all!' That was Mulligan's goal in the 2005 replay. The goal in the first game has already been well-documented this week. Typical of Harte, while he acknowledges the individual brilliance of Mulligan, he also points to the role played by others. 'Well see, there was a lot of things in that, that people missed. Ultimately it was about Mugsy. It was an individual act on his behalf to get that goal. 'I have watched this numerous times. It started with a Dublin attack. Brian McGuigan blocked down Alan Brogan. Then it came back to Ricey. To Davy, to Stevie O'Neill who controlled the ball so delicately but never got total control of it. Then it was a toe-poke by Sean Cavanagh. Stevie made the pass then. 'When Mugsy got the ball he was the only man inside the Dublin 50 yard line. But Peter Canavan had just came on before that. Enda McGinley was out around the middle of the field and some way involved in the recovery. 'Him and Peter were running there and that's why Mugsy's dummies were bought so much; there was so much attention on who was coming on the inside. 'Peter's presence going into goals, Enda coming all that way, because of the presence of those two players it gave him the ability to sell those wholesale. It was a great finish and he played with great control when he got the ball. It will be remembered as a great individual goal, but it's also reflective of some brilliant team play.' Then came 2008. Dublin had given Wexford a 23-point hammering in the Leinster final. Tyrone were stumbling through the back-door and fetched up in the quarter-final, headlining the Sunday events. Justin McMahon and Diarmuid Connolly. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO 'Diarmuid Connolly came on the scene, I gave him his debut that year,' says Caffrey. 'I just felt offensively we were going to be a different animal. We probably put in our best performance under me in the Leinster final when we gave Wexford an awful trimming. 'And then we got this pissy wet quarter-final weekend. We were the last game on and Tyrone had come through the backdoor and were hardened. We were the right team for them on the day and had a great goal chance early on in the game and we overplayed it. 'They went up the other end and two goal chances, bang-bang. It was one of those days you feel you are a mile off it. 'For me, I felt we weren't making progress and I had to go before I was asked to go. I had been around that dressing room for seven years, manager for four and that's how it ended for me.' Under Pat Gilroy, Dublin kept adding layer upon layer. In 2010 they were more hard-nosed than Tyrone and got the better of them. In 2011, they retired a fleet of frontline players for Tyrone with a trimming. They've been doing it ever since, most notably their 2018 All-Ireland final win. Still, Tyrone came back to win the All-Ireland in 2021. Dublin succeeded them 12 months later. Both teams are in a different place now. Maddening inconsistency has been the story of their seasons so far. We don't know where either team are, until they face each other on Saturday night. They'll bring the very best and very worst out of each other. Again. And again.
