Dominic Gallagher

After beating Wales and Italy, Ireland U18’s would have been licking their lips ahead of their final game of the tournament against England. However, our young lads never got the chance. Seemingly, the English didn’t like the look of the pitch and refused to play, even though all 4 match officials cleared the pitch as playable. This is nothing short of a disgrace in my opinion as the game is not going to be refixed.

However, it is also quite sad. Sad that our lads didn’t get to really show how good they are and sad also that young budding rugby players, in general, are been influenced by such a soft mentality shown by their mentors.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for player safety, but so are referees and their decision on the conditions is all that should matter.

This is not the first time the English have ‘chickened out’. Back in February, their ‘A’ team funked out of an international in Donnybrook. The Six Nations Council will be meeting in May and the issue will be brought up then. Operations Director Jon Davis has said that ‘England’s actions (or lack of!) may have repercussions at Six Nations level’. I hope England do get penalized in some way. For Ireland, it has been an anti-climax but, at the same time, a successful tournament where many rising stars have shined.

IRELAND UNDER-18 SCHOOLS TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v England U-18, Under-18 Five Nations Festival, Colorno, Saturday, April 18, 4pm local time):

15 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)

14 - Tiarnan O’Halloran (Cistercian Roscrea/Leinster)

13 - Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster)

12 - Alex Kelly (St. Michael’s College/Leinster)

11 - Sam Coughlan Murray (Newbridge College/Leinster)

10 - Gareth Quinn McDonagh (Crescent CC/Munster)

9 - Peter du Toit (King’s Hospital/Leinster)

1 - James Tracy (Newbridge College/Leinster)

2 - Niall Annett (Methodist College/Ulster) (capt)

3 - Martin Moore (Castleknock College/Leinster)

4 - David O’Mahony (Presentation College/Munster)

5 - Aaron Spring (Sligo Grammar School/Connacht)

6 - Paddy Marks (RBAI/Ulster)

7 - David Doyle (Gonzaga College/Leinster)

8 - Jordi Murphy (Blackrock College/Leinster)

Replacements (from): Niall Scannell (Presentation College/Munster), Rory Harrison (Methodist College/Ulster), Conor Carey (Methodist College/Ulster), Shane Buckley (Rockwell College/Munster), Colin Mallon (St. Michael’s College/Leinster), Harry Doyle (Royal School Armagh/Ulster), James McKinney (Campbell College/Ulster), Ben Sargent (Crescent CC/Munster), Chris Colvin (Royal School Armagh/Ulster), Ferdia Doherty (Gonzaga College/Leinster).

Management:Manager - Lorcan Balfe; Coach - Paul Barr; Assistant Coach - Kenny Hooks