The Ireland under-20 squad for the Junior World Championship in South Africa has been named.
The 28-man squad named by head coach Mike Ruddock is drawn in Pool B alongside England, Italy and the hosts South Africa.
The core of the squad featured in the recent under-20 Six Nations Championship, which saw Ireland lose out to England in a Grand Slam decider in March.
Seven of the squad featured in the 2011 Junior World Championship.
Ireland U-20 squad for the IRB Junior World Championship, South Africa 2012:
Tadhg Beirne, Shane Buckley, Jake Cawley, Jordon Coghlan, Sam Coghlan Murray, Jack Conan, Aaron Conneely, Barry Daly, Chris Farrell, Tadhg Furlong, Conor Gilsenan, J.J. Hanrahan, Iain Henderson, Foster Horan, Paddy Jackson, Shane Layden,Kieran Marmion, Cathal Marsh, Luke McGrath, Des Merry, Peter Nelson, Alan O'Connor, Stuart Olding, James Rael, Peter Reilly, Niall Scannell, Mikey Sherlock, Josh Van Der Flierk.
Flankers Shane Buckley and Aaron Conneely, second row Iain Henderson and prop Tadhg Furlong will add experience up front.
In the back line, Ruddock can call upon the experience of Paddy Jackson, who recently starred in Ulster’s Heineken Cup semi-final win, JJ Hanrahan and scrum-half Kieran Marmion - who all featured in 2011.
Ruddock said: “We are coming into the IRB Junior World Championship on the back of a relatively successful Six Nations having won four out of five of our matches. This gives us some confidence going into the tournament.
“However, we are in an extremely physical group. We have hosts South Africa up first, followed by the 6 Nations champions England and then the ever improving Italians. It will require a massive effort from our part to overcome such physical size and power but we intend to give it our best shot.”
