Ireland Under-20s ready for long-awaited World Cup return

To put the four-year gap between these World Rugby Under-20 Championships into context, you only have to look through some of the names in the Irish squad from their last tournament in 2019.

Among those who played for Ireland at that tournament in Argentina were Ryan Baird and Craig Casey, who may well go on to play in the senior RWC later this year, as well as the likes of Thomas Ahern, John Hodnett, Niall Murray, Dylan Tierney Martin and Stewart Moore.

Of the current Irish senior summer training squad, Jack Crowley, Tom Stewart, Cian Prendergast, Joe McCarthy and Jamie Osborne all missed out on the chances of even playing in a junior World Championship during its Covid-19 hiatus.

The global U20 tournament returns this weekend, with the Cape Town area in South Africa hosting the championship, as Ireland get their campaign under way against England at Paarl Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon (12.30pm Irish time).

For Ireland, the challenge will be replicating their incredible recent Six Nations record into the summer.

The 2023 Six Nations title was their third in five years, and had Covid-19 not seen the 2020 championship abandoned with Ireland holding a 100% record at the time, the IRFU could well be boasting four U20 Grand Slams in five years.

Historically, Ireland have struggled to peak for the U20 World Championship. There have been some impressive campaigns, but two semi-final appearances in 12 years has been a sparse return for the annual event. Since reaching the final in 2016, Ireland have finished ninth, eleventh and eighth in successive years, the last coming when they were Six Nations champions in 2019.

For Richie Murphy, who is bringing Ireland to his first World Championship since being appointed in 2021, improving on