Richie Murphy will have to wait another year before he finally gets to bring an Ireland U20 team to a World Championship, but their slate of games in this year's 'Summer Series' would appear to be just as tough on paper.
For the third year in a row, the World Rugby U20 Championship has been scrapped due to Covid-19, with more regionalised competitions created in its place before it returns to its original format in 2023.
The 'Summer Series' will see the Six Nations teams, as well as South Africa and Georgia compete in a mini tournament across the next four weeks, with the eight teams split into two pools of four, ensuring each side has three pool games as well as one final play-off round.
From an Irish point of view, it might not match the World Championship in terms of quantity, but with Ireland joined by France, South Africa and England in their pool, it more than makes up for it in terms of quality.
Add in the searing heat of Italy in the summer, and the sizeable target on the back of the Irish jerseys following their Six Nations Grand Slam, and this year's crop of U20s will be in for a major test.
"It is obviously a very tough group and looking at the French squad, they are particularly strong, they are probably even stronger than they were in the Six Nations and they were a real handful in that," said Murphy (below), after naming his 31-man squad on Friday.
"Beating them over there, everyone I talked to said that was the highlight of the Six Nations, even though it was probably the fixture that we didn't play as well in. Some of that was because France did not let us. We have been watching them over the last while, trying to review and set our lads up the best we can to face that.
"The other issue we are going to have is that it is 34 degrees in Verona this week. Us Irish boys playing in that kind of heat is very different for us. So there are going to be a few challenges."
Arguably the biggest challenge Ireland will have is the turnover of players they have experienced in recent months, with only 14 of the 31-man squad featuring during the Six Nations.
Murphy says the vast majority of those missing Grand Slam winners have been hit with injury, with out-half Charlie Tector suffering a broken ankle, Connacht scrum-half Matthew Devine yet to recover from a knee injury, and Munster full-back Patrick Campbell picking up a knock last week.
"Well, it is very much a new team," he added.
"We've five guys back from that starting XV, probably another maybe five that were in the 23 so those guys know the level that’s needed. Some of the younger guys, U19s obviously, it will be very new for those.
"We haven’t started from scratch, the guys have worked really hard over the last few weeks but it’s going to be a tough opener, let’s put it that way, against France and South Africa within a five-day turnaround.
"The turnover of players is probably a little bit too much for us but it is what it is, we just have to get on with it. We will deal with the players that we have in camp.
"Obviously we are bringing three centres in Daniel Hawkshaw who started against France, we have Fionn Gibbons who started all the games and we have young Dave Dooley who is an U19; he didn't play in the U19s due to injury. He’s learning fast and he has to. Those are the guys we are going to look at in and around the midfield.
"Reuben's been fantastic, he's been a great leader and really grown over the Six Nations. He’s taken responsibility again to try and gel this group."
"You are missing Jude [Postlethwaite], you are missing Ben Carson, you are missing Ben Brownlee but not only that, Daniel Squires from UCC and Munster and Darragh French, both of those picked up injuries as well. We are down the depth chart there. It is a great opportunity for an U19 in Dave Dooley to step up and stake his claim."
There is a welcome piece of consistency in the squad with Reuben Crothers continuing as captain, while Conor O'Tighearnaigh, James McCormick, Aitzol King (below) and Fionn Gibbons are also included having played key roles in the Six Nations win.
"Reuben's been fantastic, he’s been a great leader and really grown over the Six Nations. He’s taken responsibility again to try and gel this group.
"Up to last week, until the lads found out they were in the squad, they were quiet. They’ve started coming out of themselves and in training this week they’ve worked really hard and they’ve started to bond as a group, we’ve done a few things in relation to that.
"So Reuben will lead the team and James McCormick, who is our hooker from the Six Nations and who is an incredible player himself, he’ll go in as vice-captain and the two boys along with a bit of a leaderships group will steer these guys over the next few weeks," the head coach said.
Unfortunately we've been hit over the last two weeks with Covid. I ended up picking up Covid and missed a week's camp.Not only that, then Mark and Willie picked it up as well and they missed the following week."
The Irish squad will fly out to Italy on Tuesday, before Friday's Summer Series opener against France in Verona (7pm Irish time).
And while Murphy will continue to be joined by his backroom team of Mark Sexton (below), Jimmy Duffy and Willie Faloon, preparations have been far from ideal.
"Unfortunately we've been hit over the last two weeks with Covid," said Murphy. "I ended up picking up Covid and missed a week's camp.
"Not only that, then Mark and Willie picked it up as well and they missed the following week. So we've been a little bit hampered in relation to preparation, but in fairness, the guys have adapted well to that and we've kept the show on the road.
"It was interesting. Obviously for conversations, meetings I was dropping in on Zoom. And a lot of the information we were preparing in voice-over format for meetings and stuff like that, and then getting it back into the guys with other coaches in the room, so that if there was stuff that needed to be explained, we were able to do that.
"So we adapted pretty well. The players, I'm sure they would have noticed a difference between us all being there and not, but we tried to make that as seamless as possible.
"There's no doubt we're a little shy on where we'd like to be, but it is what it is, and our job at U20s is about development. It's a great opportunity for these young lads that they're prepared the best they can, and what better test than playing France, South Africa and England. It's a good challenge."
