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Murphy forced to make two late changes to U20s squad

Richie Murphy's Ireland team face Scotland on Saturday
Richie Murphy's Ireland team face Scotland on Saturday

Richie Murphy has made two injury-enforced changes to his Ireland Under-20s squad ahead of their Six Nations opener against Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday.

Head coach Murphy named his 34-player panel to travel to Wales last week, but hooker Lee Barron and scrum-half Ben Murphy have now been ruled out of the tournament.

Levi Vaughan and Will Reilly, who was involved in the Ireland Under-20s Talent Camp held at the IRFU High Performance Centre last month, have been called up and will travel with the squad from Dublin on Thursday.

Barron and Murphy join hooker Tom Stewart, out-half Cian Whooley and second row Joe McCarthy on the injured list.

Murphy's side get their campaign underway against the Scots before facing Wales on Friday 25 June and England on Thursday 1 July.

Ireland's championship concludes with ties against Italy on Wednesday 7 July and France on Thursday 13 July.

"It's always really unfortunate when a player misses out through injury and it's a double blow to lose Lee and Ben so close to our first game, but it's a great opportunity for the two players coming in now," said Murphy.

"We have prepared really well over a number of five-day camps at the IRFU High Performance Centre and the group is just excited to get over to Cardiff and get stuck into the challenge ahead.

"We know it'll be tough against Scotland but we're looking forward to getting the Six Nations underway."

Watch Scotland v Ireland live on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player this Saturday from 1.40pm

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