Under-20 Six Nations: France v Ireland, Stade Aimé Giral, Perpignan, Saturday, 8pm Irish time – Live on RTÉ news channel, RTÉ Player
Sami Bishti oozes a maturity that belies his years. He talks about not only being schooled in Blackrock as a rugby player, but as a person by coaches. A dual-track education process to develop body and mind.
It’s easy to see why he led his school to a Senior Cup triumph and captained every representative age-grade team he’s been on.
Ireland Under-20 head coach Andrew Browne says with a smile: “He’s an impressive young man. We were joking the last day as coaches that if our daughters brought home Sami Bishti, we’d be happy out.
“[It’s] his leadership ability, the way he builds relationships with the players, the way he builds relationships with the coaches. When he speaks, his voice holds weight. Players follow him. So, it was a no-brainer to give him the captaincy.”
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Bishti is the latest propping protege of Séamus Toomey, once of Blackrock, now the IRFU’s performance pathway scrum coach and part of the 20s set-up. He oversaw the development of Thomas Clarkson, Paddy McCarthy and Niall Smyth, to highlight three just in recent seasons. Toomey is a key figure going forward in Irish rugby.
Bishti also represented Ireland in the hammer throw and that explosive power is evident in his rugby. His surname comes from his Libyan grandfather. The Ireland captain explained that his grandad swapped Libya for London. It was in the English capital that his father grew up, before moving to Ireland in 2016 for work purposes.
The young tighthead prop leads an Ireland side that includes three players from last year in wing Derry Moloney, outhalf Tom Wood and secondrow Donnacha McGuire. A fourth, wing Charlie Molony, is missing through injury. Leinster academy hooker Lee Fitzpatrick is also sidelined, as is Connacht centre Sean Walsh and Cahersiveen-born openside flanker Michael O’Sullivan.
Wood and his counterpart on the France team, Luka Keletaona, are the only survivors from the corresponding fixture last season at Musgrave Park, a game the visitors won 22-12. The latest Irish 20s group have a greater capacity for a growth spurt in performance terms.
They demonstrated flashes of quality in losing to South Africa (32-22) earlier in the season before basically bullying Italy upfront in a pre-tournament 29-10 victory at Belfield. They’re going to need that physical robustness against France in the atmospheric Perpignan venue.
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South African-born flanker Josh Neill, who recently linked up with the Leinster academy, scored two tries against Italy and is part of a physical backrow that includes Billy Hayes and Diarmuid O’Connell. Dylan McNeice brings a nice physical edge, one that’s replicated throughout the front five in the pack. They’ll need every ounce of that aggression and intensity.
Christopher Barrett joins Wood at halfback, with the latter a key figure for Ireland. Last season he was one of the few players who wasn’t suffocated by the lack of cohesion. He stepped up and stood out. In doing so, he demonstrated that he appreciates the difference between playing by rote and being able to colour outside the lines of the playbook.
The 6ft4in Walsh is a significant loss based on his outstanding performance against the Junior Springboks, but this Irish backline has oodles of pace and footballing ability, something they didn’t get to unleash against Italy because of weather conditions.
It would be great to see former Dublin minor footballer Noah Byrne, as well as Moloney, Johnny O’Sullivan, James O’Leary and Daniel Ryan get to play with the handbrake off. Saturday night’s protagonists met last year in France at Under-19 level and the series was drawn 1-1.
Kieran Hallett and Michael Hodge, both national age-grade coaches, have joined Browne and Toomey in preparing the team for the tournament. Browne addressed the disappointment of last season, in terms of the Six Nations and World Cup, at the very first meeting.
“It’s important that we also learn from last year a little bit,” he said. “They have that experience of the hurt we felt last year. I had to reference [it]. Derry Moloney spoke and Charlie [Molony] spoke . . . Derry spoke brilliantly about his hurt in the World Cup and what he felt – and that’s what the players remember most from that day – which was brilliant.
“Since then, I haven’t really referenced last year too much. I’ve tried to move on and just create our own story. For those lads, I think any time we probably see ourselves slipping in terms of our standards, habits, behaviours, whatever it might be, I think those lads [from last year] would bring the group back, because they have the experience.”
This year’s group gets a chance to make a statement on the pitch on Saturday night.
FRANCE: A Guillaud; D Cazemajou, A Drault, Q Valentino, M Rates; L Keletaona, N Couillaud; M Frisach, Y Basse, R Pargade; B Veschambre, N Punti; M Marzullo, R Bonnard Martin, T Keletaona.
Replacements: L Gil, L Couturier, M Turpin, A Portat, L Andjissermatchi, A Latrasse, G Kretchmann, J Sengo Kouo.
IRELAND: N Byrne (Dublin University); D Moloney (Blackrock College), J O’Sullivan (Dublin University), J O’Leary (UCC), D Ryan (Galway Corinthians); T Wood (Garryowen), C Barrett (UCC); M Doyle (UCD), R Handley (Old Wesley), S Bishti (UCD, capt); D McNeice (UCD), D McGuire (UCD); J Neill (Old Wesley), B Hayes (Garryowen), D O’Connell (Galway Corinthians).
Replacements: D Maguire (UCD), C Foley (Young Munster), B McClean (Instonians), J Finn (Garryowen), B Blaney (Terenure College), F Callington (Durham University), C O’Shea (UCC), E Black (Old Wesley).
