Academy 2018/2019

[mildlyinterested]

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v England Under-20s, 2019 World Rugby U-20 Championship – Pool B, Club de Rugby Atheneo Immaculada, Santa Fe, Argentina, Tuesday, June 4, kick-off 3.30pm local time/7.30pm Irish time):

15. Iwan Hughes (Ballynahinch/Ulster) *
14. Angus Kernohan (Queen’s University/Ulster)
13. Liam Turner (Dublin University/Leinster)
12. Stewart Moore (Malone/Ulster) *
11. Jonathan Wren (Cork Constitution/Munster)
10. Jake Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
9. Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)
1. Josh Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster)
2. Dylan Tierney-Martin (Corinthians/Connacht)
3. Thomas Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)
4. Charlie Ryan (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
5. Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)
6. David McCann (Banbridge/Ulster)
7. John Hodnett (UCC/Munster)
8. Azur Allison (Ballymena/Ulster) *

Replacements:

16. Declan Adamson (Clontarf/Leinster) *
17. Michael Milne (UCD/Leinster)
18. Charlie Ward (Clontarf/Leinster) *
19. John McKee (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
20. Ronan Watters (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
21. Niall Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)
22. Thomas Ahern (Shannon/Munster) *
23. Ciaran Booth (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby) *
24. Colm Reilly (Buccaneers/Connacht)
25. Cormac Foley (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
26. Ben Healy (Garryowen/Munster)
27. Sean French (Cork Constitution/Munster)
28. Rob Russell (Dublin University/Leinster)

[leinsterforever]

Jack Kelly looked good in the Paris 7s at the weekend, especially versus Australia. Wonder what's happening with him going forward. I'd say Leinster are already one or two senior players heavy in the backs for next season, but it would be a shame to lose out on him without him ever really getting a proper go. In the context of there seemingly being no space for Kelly and Peter Sullivan, and very limited opportunities for JOB and Keenan, I don't really understand the Tomane and Kelleher signings when Lancaster's approach of involving everyone in the squad in training prepares the young players so well.

[mildlyinterested]

he was a standout for the A team in those cara cup games aswell, granted the free jacks are poor and munster A weren't much better.

hopefully JK is back in post 7's and has another go at it for leinster, still just 21.

[leinsterforever]

he was a standout for the A team in those cara cup games aswell, granted the free jacks are poor and munster A weren't much better.

hopefully JK is back in post 7's and has another go at it for leinster, still just 21.

Munster looked badly coached. It's like they were trying to do the right thing in possession, but it wasn't second nature and they had to think before acting and the extra time taken meant there was no longer space when the ball arrived. What's new, I guess? But, yeah, Kelly looked good anyway. He looks a more polished runner compared to his Ireland U20 days when he was a bit gangly and uncoordinated, I thought.

[mildlyinterested]

St. Gerards player who made leinster summer squads:

David Carroll(LH Prop/U19)
Fred Happonen(Hooker/U18)
Stephen Morris(Outhalf/U18)
Thomas O’Connor(Lock/U17)
Oliver Newsome(Fullback/U17)

[riocard911]

he was a standout for the A team in those cara cup games aswell, granted the free jacks are poor and munster A weren't much better.

hopefully JK is back in post 7's and has another go at it for leinster, still just 21.

+1

[johng]

St. Gerards player who made leinster summer squads:

David Carroll(LH Prop/U19)
Fred Happonen(Hooker/U18)
Stephen Morris(Outhalf/U18)
Thomas O’Connor(Lock/U17)
Oliver Newsome(Fullback/U17)

Some really happonen players in there. I'm glad you new some of them!

[hugonaut]

he was a standout for the A team in those cara cup games aswell, granted the free jacks are poor and munster A weren't much better.

hopefully JK is back in post 7's and has another go at it for leinster, still just 21.

+1

I agree. Progress isn't always a straight line. While I haven't been that impressed with Kelly when I've seen him play, he's a young guy and he captained the 'A' side all the way through the Celtic Cup to the trophy early in the season.

I think he lost a lot of confidence during his U20 stint, and no player – especially no back – is going to play well short of confidence. As a forward, you can plow in with more efforts off the ball and get your bad temper out in contact, but as a back you have to keep positional discipline and wait for the ball to come to you a lot more. You have far more time between actions to dwell on mistakes.

That 20s year started very well when he was named captain, but it went downhill from there. He didn't play well in the early games of the Six Nations, then picked up an injury and missed the second half of it. Then he lost the captaincy for the JWC [source: https://www.the42.ie/jack-kelly-ireland ... 9-May2017/ ] - it mightn't be the biggest blow, but it's not great either. He played three matches in that tournament, each in a different position [@ No15 against Italy, @ No14 against Scotland and @ No13 against NZ] and Ireland lost all three of them, including an absolute f*cking mauling against NZ.

Sevens could be just the antidote for him. Leinster's back three depth chart is really strong, so he very likely wouldn't get a lot of gametime here. With the sevens, he'll earn more than double what he was on in the academy [€18k compared to €8k], travel the world and get a load of running rugby under his belt. It should be a great year for him in any scenario, but it could be a big positive in terms of his 15s career as well.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'd like to think he could get his confidence up with ball in hand and that it's a perfect time to play when there's no 15s on, but IMO it's his basics that are the big issue with 15s and don't think 7s will help him in that regard. His positioning, tackling, and rucking just haven't been good enough thus far and I really don't see them improving in 7s. I'd love to see him stick to one position and just play it week in week out at a decent level somewhere, maybe in the championship.

Actually I think I said the same thing last summer and that London Irish would have been a great move for him. I reckon 7s will turn him into Dardis 2.0 but he needs to take a different approach ASAP before he goes down that route completely, unless he's more interested in 7s of course. He really hasn't been any threat at all in the A games I've seen but from the few schools games I saw him play he seemed to have lots more to his game than just his pace and the lines he ran, so I don't think he was just one of those schools players who stood out because of how impressive he was physically and hope he can get back to being heavily involved from the back.

The England team that played on Sunday had a fullback who played for Newcastle and I've just checked and he's signing for Sale because of relegation. I don't know a thing about the state of the rest of their squad but if there's a gap there then that could be a great move for them. They may have been relegated but they were a decent team, pretty well organised and started well in the Champions Cup.

[mildlyinterested]

i'm not sure how his tackling and rucking won't improve playing 7's where he will be required to a lot of both.

[leinsterforever]

I thought some of Ireland's 7s games at the weekend were very physical and technical in the ruck and tackle.

[Peg Leg]

St. Gerards player who made leinster summer squads:

David Carroll(LH Prop/U19)
Fred Happonen(Hooker/U18)
Stephen Morris(Outhalf/U18)
Thomas O’Connor(Lock/U17)
Oliver Newsome(Fullback/U17)

Some really happonen players in there. I'm glad you new some of them!

You'll be needung your hat sir. I thought you usually abstained in the off season?

[mildlyinterested]

review of leinster players against England u20:

Tom Clarkson - continued his form from 6 nations, played 78 minutes and looked comfortable in scrum and active around the field too. 8/10
Charlie Ryan - sparked the team from a slow start with a blockdown of a kick, typically industrious, played the full game. 8/10
Ryan Baird - got through a mountain of work, with some big carries and hits in defence, stole at least 1 lineout. played 73 minutes. 8/10
Liam Turner - played the full game, starting at 13 and moving to 12. Had a few decent breaks and was solid in defence. 7/10
--
Ronan Watters - came on at 6 for an injured Allison after 24 minutes, had some good carries and work in defence. 7/10
Michael Milne - came on at after 70 minutes, had a very active 10 minutes, causing a knock on, carrying strongly and doing well in the scrum. 8/10
John McKee - came on after 73 minutes, hit his lineouts and tackled well. 7/10
Charlie Ward - came on after 78 minutes and was part of 1 big scrum. N/A

[mildlyinterested]

Cathal Purcell of Dundalk RFC made U19 combined squad.

Dylan Lynch, Oscar King & Ben Smyth made Leinster u18 club summer squad.

[mildlyinterested]

5 tullow players made leinster u18 club summer squad:

Conor Duffy(Backrow)
Jack Hanlon(Wing)
Jamie Cooper(Outhalf)
Brian Keogh(Prop)
Stephen Carroll

[mildlyinterested]

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v Australia Under-20s, 2019 World Rugby U-20 Championship – Pool B, Club de Rugby Atheneo Immaculada, Santa Fe, Argentina, Saturday, June 8, kick-off 10.30 local time/2.30pm Irish time):

15. Rob Russell (Dublin University/Leinster)
14. Angus Kernohan (Queen’s University/Ulster)
13. Liam Turner (Dublin University/Leinster)
12. Stewart Moore (Malone/Ulster)
11. Jonathan Wren (Cork Constitution/Munster)
10. Jake Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
9. Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)
1. Josh Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster)
2. Dylan Tierney-Martin (Corinthians/Connacht)
3. Thomas Clarkson (Dublin University/Leinster)
4. Charlie Ryan (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
5. Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster)
6. David McCann (Banbridge/Ulster)
7. Ronan Watters (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)
8. John Hodnett (UCC/Munster)

Replacements:
16. John McKee (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
17. Michael Milne (UCD/Leinster)
18. Charlie Ward (Clontarf/Leinster)
19. Declan Adamson (Clontarf/Leinster)
20. Niall Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)
22. Ciaran Booth (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby)
23. Thomas Ahern (Shannon/Munster)
24. Colm Reilly (Buccaneers/Connacht)
25. Ben Healy (Garryowen/Munster)
26. Cormac Foley (St. Mary’s College/Leinster)

There are two enforced changes from the squad that beat England in the opening game. Sean French, who came on in the second half, sustained a facial injury that rules him out of the rest of the tournament. Iwan Hughes, who was making his tournament debut, picked up a finger injury and he too is ruled out of the tournament.

Aaron O’Sullivan(UCD/Leinster/U20) and Max O’Reilly(DUFC/Leinster/U19) have been called up to the squad in place of Sean French and Iwan Hughes but will not be in the side this weekend.

[mildlyinterested]

Aaron O'Sullivan is a 6'2, 92kg, exile from london, who is in his 1st season in the leinster academy, he primarily plays wing. He turns 20 in december and made his senior debut for wasps at 18 last season. He spent most of this season injured with two successive ankle injuries. He played and scored a hat-trick against Munster A in the Cara Cup for Leinster A.

Max O'Reilly is a 5'11, 82kg, under-19 back three player from St. Gerards, primarily at fullback. He spent this season in the Leinster Sub-Academy, playing 20's rugby for trinity, missing a lot of the season with injury. Eligible again for the 20's next season, he traveled with Leinster A for the Cara Cup.

[mildlyinterested]

David Ryan(St. Michaels/UCD) drafted into the u20 squad. listed at 6'2, 86kg, definitely James Ryans little brother.

[Ruckedtobits]

David Ryan(St. Michaels/UCD) drafted into the u20 squad.

Adam LaGrue must feel a bit pi**ed off having been in 34-man panel and now overlooked twice with replacements.

[mildlyinterested]

David Ryan(St. Michaels/UCD) drafted into the u20 squad.

Adam LaGrue must feel a bit pi**ed off having been in 34-man panel and now overlooked twice with replacements.

its an odd one alright, unless he picked up an injury.