Senior International Matches (Men)

Sat 1st November 2025   - KO  14:00 - The Athletic Grounds at Post Office Road, Featherstone , England
Official: James Vella (England)

Ireland

36

FT

12

Half Time
26 - 6

Wales

Tries

Dan Corcoran (3)
Connor Carr (3,20)
Brendan O'Hagan (18,46)
Oliver Whitford (26)
Aaron Lynch (31)
Lewis Wing (68)

Owen Restall (35)

Goals

Aidan McGowan (2/7)
Harry Rushton (0/1)
Declan O'Donnell (0/1)
Oliver Whitford (0/2)

Matty Fozard (2/2)

Match Preview: Ireland and Wales name men's squads for second clash

Ireland and Wales men play their return senior international at Featherstone Rovers’ Millenium Stadium tomorrow (Saturday) for world ranking points (kick off 2pm, local time). The nations met last weekend with Wales comfortable 24-0 winners on home soil.

Their head coach Paul Berry has made one change to his 19-man squad after last week’s triumph. Hull FC teenager Charlie Thomas is brought in to replace Rhodri Lloyd, who appropriately retired from the game on Welsh soil and marked his final appearance with a try and goal.

Seventeen-year-old Thomas is a product of the Swansea Rams junior system and, if he plays, he will become Wales's second youngest men's international - after Lloyd. Newcastle Thunder’s George Birch could also be in line for a debut after being named as 18th man last week and Curtis Davies, who missed that match through injury, is back in contention.

“We were obviously pleased with last weekend. It was great to have six debutants and to help give Rhodri a fitting end to his career,” said Berry. “But as we’ve said all along, this is part of a long-term plan and while it’s certainly a good start, it is just a start. Saturday is another step on the road to where we want to get to. Ireland will no doubt be much improved from last week. We need to be prepared to meet that challenge as we grow and learn together.”

Ireland have gone with the same squad and are hoping to rectify a disappointing performance at The Knoll. Head coach, Ged Corcoran, commented: “It was a very disappointing start to our autumn two game series with Wales. I congratulate them on that performance and making it a very difficult one for us.

“There has been a lot of self-reflection from myself and my staff. There was a huge focus on honesty, accountability and owning the wrongs after game one. It was great to see where our pathways players are at, and they will also be better for experience.”

Wales Squad
Sam Grice (Castleford Tigers), Connor Davies, Owen Restall (Halifax Panthers), Charlie Newton (Huddersfield Giants), Lloyd McEwan-Peters (Hunslet), Denive Balmforth, Charlie Thomas (Hull FC), Curtis Davies, Huw Worthington, Matt Ross (London Broncos), Sam Bowring (Midlands Hurricanes), Ashton Robinson (Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs), George Birch (Newcastle Thunder), Charlie Glover, Fin Yates (Salford Red Devils), Billy Walkley (Sheffield Eagles), Matty Fozard (Widnes Vikings), Sam Dickenson (Wigan Warriors), Max Clarke (Workington Town)

Ireland squad
Ronan Michael (Bradford Bulls), Daniel Corcoran (Canterbury Bulldogs), Ryan Hogg (Dublin city Exiles), Brandan O’Hagan (Entrance Tigers), Zack McComb (Halifax Panthers), Aidan McGowan, Connor Carr, George King, Harry Rushton (Huddersfield Giants), Lewis Wing (Hull KR), Lachlan Lanskey, Oliver Whitword (Keighley Cougars), Pat Moran (Oldham Roughyeds), Declan O’Donnell (Rochdale Hornets), Will Walker (Sherwood Wolf Hunt), Aaron Lynch (Swinton Lions), Joe Philbin (Warrington Wolves), Lucas Castle (Workington Town)

31 October 2025
6 Aidan McGowan
Full Back
Sam Dickenson 1
2 Lewis Wing
Right Wing
Owen Restall 2
14 Dan Corcoran
Right Centre
Max Clarke 3
4 Aaron Lynch
Left Centre
Lloyd McEwan-Peters 4
5 Connor Carr
Left Wing
Billy Walkley 2
11 Harry Rushton
Stand Off
Denive Balmforth 6
7 Brendan O'Hagan
Scrum Half
Matty Fozard 7
8 George King
Prop
Sam Bowring 8
17 Declan O'Donnell
Hooker
Finley Yates 9
10 Ronan Michael
Prop
Huw Worthington 10
4 Zack McComb
Second Row
Matt Ross 12
12 Lachlan Lanksey
Second Row
Sam Grice 11
13 Patrick Moran
Loose Forward
Connor Davies 13
1 Oliver Whitford
Int 1
Charlie Newton 14
22 Joe Philbin
Int 2
Charlie Glover 15
23 Lucas Castle
Int 3
Ashton Robinson 16
20 Ryan Hogg
Int 4
George Birch 18
7 Will Walker
Reserve 1
Charlie Thomas 20
Match Report: Ireland Men have 36-12 over Wales

In the second game of their series, Ireland men avenged last week’s 24-0 shutout by Wales at the Knoll with a convincing 38-12 victory at Featherstone’s Millenium Stadium. The Wolfhounds ran in eight tries, two in eight first half minutes to young Huddersfield winger Connor Carr.

I’m extremely pleased, I knew the performance was there, we just left it on the bus last week,” enthused Ireland head coach Ged Corcoran. “We spoke about it in depth, and the result is because the lads were determined to fix things up. We’ve got a couple of things in mind for next year, but we need an active schedule for the senior men for the next 36 months and we’ll be talking about that in the next few weeks.”

Ireland made a blistering start, scoring at a point-a-minute in taking a 26-0 lead. They made a number of positional changes and brought players three in – Zac McComb, Pat Moran and Warrington’s Joe Philbin – and it paid off, Dan Corcoran drawing first blood for them after just three minutes as he went in down the left.

Despite the swirling wind, Carr raced onto a superb kick to the left corner to extend the lead and Brendan O’Hagen collected Ronan Michael’s offload to go over between the posts, Corcoran converting.Carr posted his second after fast hands set him free and Olver Whitford sliced through the middle, Swinton’s Aaron Lynch completing the early blitz.

Somewhat against the run of play, Owen Restall’s 40 metre dash down the right got Wales off the mark, Matty Fozard adding a towering conversion which narrowed the gap to 26-6 at the break.

Ireland started the second half strongly as O’Hagen bagged his second shortly after the break, but Wales’ defence improved, with Sam Bowing, Matt Ross and Huw Worthington getting through a huge amount of work and setting the position for hooker Denive Bamforth to show and go for their second score just after the hour.

Ireland had the last word, winger Lewis Wing winning the race to a kick to the line.

“I was really disappointed with the first half, we didn’t get ourselves a chance,” claimed Wales head coach Paul Berry. “We needed half time to have a reset and talk about what we’d practiced. Our inexperience showed and after that we looked much better. We’ve deliberately picked a group of players that are going to be with us for the next three to four years and while the performance wasn’t the best, there’s plenty of positives including two 17-year-olds who did not look out of place.”

1 November 2025