Ireland under-20s forward Alex Soroka has said that the side’s sole focus is the match against England on Thursday night and not any silverware that comes along with it.
The two sides will face off at 8 pm on Thursday in Cardiff, having both won their first two games ahead of their match.
Soroka is not worried about the silverware that will come with a win or the implications that a loss will have.
“We’re just treating it as another rugby game,” said Soroka.
The Leinster prospect has been a huge figure for Ireland at set-pieces and sees the clash with England as a very tough matchup, but an exciting one.
He’s gathered from the video footage studied throughout the week that England are a multi-faceted side.
They can play through teams or play around teams and have some impressive kickers.
“I think it’s pretty exciting for us as a team to play against a team that has that much quality.”
However, the utility forward is confident of his side’s abilities in a head-to-head clash with the England u20s.
The 20-year-old enjoyed his team’s two wins and believes they can play well against their biggest opposition to date on Thursday night.
Their game-by-game approach has helped the side, according to the man starting at lock on Thursday.
“We are just focusing on ourselves, not thinking about other rugby stuff.”
He believes that their set-piece will be able to challenge England’s, even if Ireland does not have the height advantage.
Soroka has studied their lineout and believes that skill and technique will be enough to counter the height advantage.
His time studying and calling the lineouts during the tournaments has proved successful with the side boasting an 88% success rate in their two games.
He believes Ireland can impose their will upon this English side, in one way or another.
“We want to show what we can do.”
