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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Brian Gleeson with his teammates after Ireland won the Grand Slam
Tipperary’s Brian Gleeson is part of the Ireland squad for Saturday’s U20 World Cup opener in South Africa.
The Loughmore man is listed among the replacements for the game this weekend and is one of two changes from last time out with James Nicholson also on the bench this time. Winger Andrew Osborne and lock Evan O’Connell both come into the starting team for this game.
The last time the sides met was in Cork in the finale of the Six Nations on March 19th and they now meet once more as Richie Murphy’s side play England in Paarl, South Africa. For this tournament Ireland are in Pool B in a challenging group alongside England, Australia and Fiji.
While the news that the Tipperary number eight isn't among the starting fifteen will surprise many, the former Rockwell College star is still expected to play a key part for Ireland at the tournament and this year so far has won two Player of the Match awards in the springtime Six Nations competition.
The up and coming 19-year-old star played a key role for the Ireland Under 20's as they romped to the Grand Slam in spring time and since then, ahead of his trip to South Africa, Brian signed for Munster Rugby and will join the Munster Academy next season.
Saturday’s opener against England gets underway at 12.30pm Irish time.
Ireland U20s:
15. Henry McErlean (Terenure/Leinster)
14. Andrew Osborne (Naas/Leinster)
13. Hugh Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster)
12. John Devine (Corinthians/Connacht)
11. Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)
10. Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)
9. Fintan Gunne (Terenure/Leinster)
1. George Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster)
2. Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(captain)
3. Paddy McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster)
4. Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians/Munster)
5. Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD/Leinster)
6. Diarmuid Mangan (UCD/Leinster)
7. Ruadhan Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster)
8. James McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster)
Replacements:
16. Max Clein (Garryowen/Munster)
17. George Morris (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18. Fiachna Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht)
19. Charlie Irvine (Queen’s University/Ulster)
20. Brian Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster)
21. Oscar Cawley (Naas/Leinster)
22. Matty Lynch (Dublin University/Leinster)
23. James Nicholson (UCD/Leinster).
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