‘Everything just goes up a level’: James McNabney learning at speed with Ireland

Almost all the Ireland team who reached the Under-20 World Cup final in 2023 have broken into provincial rugby, but, with Paddy McCarthy and Gus McCarthy absent, Sam Prendergast is the only full international from that cohort in the squad for the Nations Championship fixtures.

But Prendergast does at least have one team-mate from that final, and the back-to-back under-20 Grand Slams that preceded it, alongside him in Andy Farrell’s 36-man squad: the uncapped Ulster backrower James McNabney.