Six Nations action for U/21s

Closest in Ireland?

The Six Nations Under-21 matches continue this weekend. A glance suggests that England and France will win easily but the Ireland-Wales match could be close.

Clearly England and France are heading for a shoot-out.

Results up till now:

Round 1

England vs Wales, 26-18
France vs Scotland, 37-0
Ireland vs Italy, 34-9

Round 2

England vs Italy, 48-3
France vs Ireland, 29-10
Wales vs Scotland, 34-24

Ireland Under-21 vs Wales Under-21 in Athlone on 24 February

Tom Riley, the Pontypridd and Blues Academy centre, has been promoted to the Wales starting line-up. Dafydd Hewitt goes to the bench in a swap of places.

Coach Chris Davey said: "As to the change we have made in the centre, we are well blessed in the midfield and we want to look at all four of the players involved before going to the World Cup in France in June. Dafydd has had two starts and Tom is a quality player and this is his opportunity to see what he can bring to the set-up."

Teams:

Wales Under-21: 15 Jamie Roberts (Cardiff/Blues Academy), 14  Darren Daniel (Llanelli/Scarlets Academy), 13 Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), 12 Tom Riley (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 11 Chris Czekaj (Cardiff Blues),  10 James Hook (Neath/Ospreys Academy), 9 Martin Roberts (Neath/Ospreys Academy),  8 Tom Smith (Captain), (Neath), 7 Rhys Shellard (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 6 Craig Everett (Worcester Academy), 5 Dominic Day (Carmarthen Quins/Scarlets Academy), 4 Alun Wyn Jones (Swansea/Ospreys Academy), 3 Phil Osborne (Newport/Dragons Academy), 2 Duane Goodfeild (Pontypridd/Blues Academy), 1 Rhys Gill (Cardiff/Blues Academy)
Replacements: 16 Ed Shervington (Neath), 17 Ian Jones (Llanelli/Scarlets Academy), 18 Will Jones (Newport/Dragons Academy), 19 Ben Lewis (Swansea/Ospreys Academy), 20 Dafydd Hewitt (Cardiff/Blues Academy), 21 Aled Thomas (Newport/Dragons Academy), 22 Liam Davies (Llanelli/Scarlets Academy)

Ireland: tbc

Date: Friday, 24 February 2006
Kick-off: 19.30
Venue: Athlone RFC
Referee: tbc

France Under-21 vs Italy Under-21 at Alençon on Friday, 24 February 2006

Italy have made two changes. In come Michele Sutto of Benetton Treviso and Simone Lorenzini of HDI UR Capitolina for Valerio Vicerè and Franco Rendace of Antares Benevento, both of whom are injured.

France are without several players who would probably make the side – Yann for, Fabien Alexandre, Laurent Sempere, Florian Cazalot, Laurent Cabarry, Damien Neveu, Thomas Aniès and Julien Jeuvray.

France are without several players who would probably make the side – Yann for, Fabien Alexandre, Laurent Sempere, Florian Cazalot, Laurent Cabarry, Damien Neveu, Denys Drozdz, Leonel Beauxis, Thomas Aniès and Julien Jeuvray.

In fact France have a better side with Chouly and the Auch players available where last time they turned out for their clubs.

Teams:

France Under-21: 15 Maxime Médard (Toulouse), 14 Jacques Boussuge (Montpellier), 13 Thibault Lacroix (Stade Français), 12 Grégory Puyo (Pau), 11 Florian Denos (Auch), 10 Maxime Mermoz (Toulouse), 9 Fabien Cibray (Pau) (captain), 8 Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), 7 Damien Chouly (Brive), 6 Steve Malonga (Biarritz), 5 Yohan Carpentier (La Rochelle), 4 Loic Jacquet,  3 Damien Weber (Stade Français), 2 Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), 1 Yohan Montès (Stade Français).
Replacements: 16 Medhi Merabet (Toulon), 17 Arnaud Heguy (Bayonne), 18 Julien Le Devedec (Toulouse), 19 Nicolas Bontinck (Bourgoin), 20 Christophe Clarac (Auch), 21 John Wisniewski (Toulouse), 22 Arnaud Mignardi (Auch)

Italy Under-21: 15 Riccardo Robuschi (Overmach Parma), 14 Diego Varani (Futura Park Rugby Roma), 13 Matteo Pratichetti (Ghial Calvisano), 12 Michele Sepe (HDI UR Capitolina), 11 Marco Neethling (Overmach Parma), 10 Paolo Buso (Ghial Calvisano), 9 Emmanuel Billot (Carrera Petrarca Padova), 8 Max Castrogiovanni (Ghial Calvisano), 7 Nicola Cattina (Ghial Cattina), 6 Marco Filippucci (Benetton Treviso), 5 Paul Derbyshire (Stade Francais), 4 Alberto Saccardo (Carrera Petrarca Padova, Capitano), 3 Andrea Giazzon (Marchiol San Marco), 2 Lorenzo Giovanchelli (Stade Francais), 1 Andrea Michelini (Modena Rugby)
Replacements: 16 Alberto De Marchi (Orved San Donà), 17 Simone Lorenzini (HDI UR Capitolina), 18 Andrea Barbieri (Consiag I Cavalieri Prato), 19 Michele Sutto (Benetton Treviso), 20 Fabio Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), 21 Enrico Ceccato I (Marchiol San Marco), 22 Enrico Patrizio (Carrera Petrarca Padova)

Date: Friday, 24 February 2006
Kick-off: 19.00
Venue: Alençon, Normandy
Referee: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Touch judges: Graeme Hannah (Scotland), Alan Forrest (Scotland)

Scotland vs England in Falkirk on Friday, 24 February

Engkland would expect to beat Sccotland, but other English folk have thought so in the past and been sent homewards tae think again.

Last year at Franklin's Gardens Scotland won a remarkable 19-17 victory. Four of the team are back again – Garry Law, captain David Blair, Ben Addison and Ian Nimmo.

For Scotland James King comes in at fullback in the place of Iain Kennedy, and Michael Robertson comes off the bench in the place of John Barclay who has suffered concussion

Teams:

Scotland: 15 James King (Border Reivers, Melrose/East of Scotland Institute of Sport), 14 Ben Addison (Stirling County/Central Institute of Sport), 13 Ben Cairns (Edinburgh Gunners, Currie/Scottish Institute of Sport), 12 Garry Law (Border Reivers), 11 Lee Kibble (Border Reivers, Biggar/East of Scotland Institute of Sport), 10 Dave Blair (Sale Sharks)  (captain), 9 Greig Laidlaw (Jed-Forest), 8 Michael Robertson (Hawick), 7 Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh Gunners/Scottish Institute of Sport), 6 Scott Newlands (Heriot’s/East of Scotland Institute of Sport), 5 Ian Nimmo (Leicester Tigers), 4 James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors, Ayr/West of Scotland Institute of Sport), 3 David Young (Leicester Tigers), 2 Sean Crombie (Aberdeen GSFP/Grampian Institute of Sport), 1 Ryan Grant (The Army)
Replacements: 16 Innes Brown (Stirling County/Tayside/Fife Institute of Sport), 17 Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh Gunners, Boroughmuir/East of Scotland Institute of Sport), 18 Calum Forrester (GHA/West of Scotland Institute of Sport), 19 Ross Miller (Melrose), 20 Stephen Biggart (Glasgow Hawks), 21 Iain Kennedy (Glasgow Warriors, Glasgow Hawks/West of Scotland Institute of Sport), 22 Robert Cairns (Boroughmuir)

England: tbc

Date: Friday, 24 February 2006
Kick-off: 19.30
Venue: Falkirk Stadium
Referee: Paulo Ventura
Touch judges: Gianluca Bonacci, Mauro Dordolo
Assessor: Doug Kerr