Ireland under pressure to perform

Ireland's Charlie McAleese and Phil Mooney of Australia with U19 cup

Ireland coach Charlie McAleese spoke of the pressure his young side is under to perform in the IRB U19 World Cup which kicks-off in Belfast on Wednesday.

"Just by the fact that you are at home, does put the host team under a little bit of pressure," said McAleese.

"But the fact that we are at Ravenhill with big home support will help us give a very good account of ourselves.

"But it's a bit different from last season's tournament in Dubai. I now live only 10 minutes down the road."

The tournament, which the IRB has splashed out £2.4m to organise, a sees over 900 players, officials and media representatives from around the world arriving in the province for the tournament which runs from 4-21 April at six different venues around Belfast and Bangor.

There are 12 teams in each Division with Australia defending their crown from last season after defeating New Zealand in the final.

Favourites

As expected the junior All Blacks are down as favourites after losing the last two finals. Romania were relegated from last season's top table and they swap places with Fiji who defeated Tonga in the Division B final.

The first of the 60 games begin with three Division B ties (all 1530 BST). Tonga take on Uruguay at Upritchard Park with Chile facing the Cook Islands at the Dub while Chinese Taipei facing the fancied Italians at Gibson Park.

The Division A contests start the following evening with South Africa getting the ball rolling against a very big Fijian side at Deramore, Argentina tackling Japan at Shaw's Bridge and the powerful New Zealand side facing Wales at Ravenhill (all 1730).

Ireland's first entry is against the current champions Australia who won the title for the first time last season and their coach Phil Mooney is expecting a tough evening's work.

"It's going to be tough against the host nation," said Mooney. "But this tournament is now an integral part of the rugby calendar.

"The Australian Rugby Union view it very seriously. They see it as a stepway to a future professional contract.

"There is terrific opposition with the best players throughout the world at this age level. But the tournament is not also about rugby, it's a life experience."

Paul Ryan (Ireland), Gerrit Jan van Velze (SA) and Brett Gillespie (Aus)

McAleese hopes that his charges will step up to the plate and reach or better their fifth place finish of last season. "Just at the moment it is a strange feeling being here," he said.

"But the squad has settled in well and we have had good preparation time. But the real development starts at the tournament. Hopefully things will turn out all right on the night."

Michael Reid, Ulster Rugby's Chief Executive and Chairman of the organising committee said that it has been 18 months of sheer hard work to get the tournament to this stage.

"It's been non-stop work, but very worthwhile. Hopefully the tournament will send a positive message of Northern Ireland and leave a worthwhile legacy."

The first U19 World Cup was under the FIRA flag back in 1969 when Barcelona was the venue when 16 teams competed.

"Hopefully, the tournament in Belfast will be simply the best," said Reid.

---

Division A fixtures
5 April (1730 BST) South Africa v Fiji, Deramore; New Zealand v Wales Ravenhill; Argentina v Japan, Shaw's Bridge.

(1930) Samoa v England, Shaw's Bridge; Australia v Ireland, Ravenhill; Scotland v France. Deramore.

9 April (1730) (1730) South Africa v France, Ravenhill; New Zealand v Japan, Deramore; Samoa v Wales, Shaw's Bridge.

(1930) Argentina v England, Deramore; Scotland v Ireland Ravenhill; Australia v Fiji, Shaw's Bridge.

13 April (1730) Scotland v Fiji, Shaw's Bridge; New Zealand v England, Ravenhill; Samoa v Japan, Deramore.

(1930) Argentina v Wales, Shaw's Bridge; Australia v France, Deramore; South Africa v Ireland, Ravenhill.

Pool B fixtures
4 April (1730) Tonga v Uruguay, Bangor; Chile v Cook Islands, The Dub; Chinese Taipei v Italy, Gibson Park.

(1930) Romania v Georgia, Bangor; Russia v USA, Gibson Park; Zimbabwe v Canada, The Dub.

8 April (1430) Romania v USA, The Dub; Russia v Canada, Bangor; Tonga v Cook Islands, Gibson Park.

(1630) Chile v Italy, Bangor; Chinese Taipei v Uruguay, The Dub; Zimbabwe v Georgia. Gibson Park.

12 April (1730) Zimbabwe v USA, The Dub; Chile Uruguay Bangor, Bangor; Chinese Taipei v Cook Islands, Gibson Park.

(1930) Tonga v Italy, The Dub; Romania v Canada, Bangor; Russia v Georgia, Gibson Park.