It has been confirmed that Ireland’s Under 19 team will be returning home early from the World Cup following the tragic death of flanker John McCall during their match during New Zealand. The pathologist investigating the death has confimed that the cause of death was cardiac failure.

McCall was a talented young player who recently captained his school to victory in the Ulster School’s Senior Cup. The Under 19’s had been looking forward to matches against Japan and England before this event cast a shadow over the whole tournament.

The IRB has extended it’s sympathies to the McCall family and a minutes silence will be held before all Wednesday’s games as a mark of respect.

Irish Rugby Now! would like to extend it’s condolences to the McCall family also.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2004 at 5:35 pm and is filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.