Four members of Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) have been named in the Irish under-20 squad ahead of the upcoming Six Nations. Jack Dunne, Max Kearney, Michael Silvester and Joe Byrne will all join the Irish camp this week, with the side kicking off the campaign away to France on February 2nd.
After naming the squad, head coach Noel McNamara stated: “It’s an exciting time for the players and the coaching team. There have been some tight calls across the board and it’s great to see that competition for places.”
“The players have all been working hard over the past number of months and we’re confident in the ability of the squad that we have selected”, he said.
11 of the 32-man squad have previously received caps in competitive tournaments. Of the Trinity contingent, full-back Silvester is the only one who has featured at competitive level, making three starts at the under-20 World Rugby Championship in Georgia, as Ireland finished ninth. Forwards Kearney, Byrne and Dunne will relish the opportunity to make their mark, having featured to different degrees during what has been a mixed campaign for DUFC.
It is not the first time DUFC have lost players to international action. Last season, Charlie Connolly, Jack Kelly and Colm Hogan were chosen for the Irish squad, and earlier this year centre Seb Fromm made his senior debut for Germany as one of a raft of emergency replacements, after a dispute between the players and the Deutscher Rugby-Verband (DRV), the German union, resulted in the entirety of the squad going out on strike.
DUFC take on Garryowen in Limerick this weekend, buoyed by an excellent 25-10 victory over St Mary’s in the side’s first game of 2018.
