Emerging Ireland

[Donny B.]

Team for Sunday match. Pretty bad for Macken to lose a starting place to McCloskey, who I'd honestly never heard of before this tour. Bad end to the season for Tommy O'Donnell too to be dropped once again for Dougall.

15 - Johne Murphy (Young Munster/Munster) *
14 - Craig Gilroy (Dungannon/Ulster)
13 - Eoin Griffin (Galwegians/Connacht) *
12 - Stuart McCloskey (Dungannon/Ulster) *
11 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Munster) *
10 - Ian Keatley (Young Munster/Munster)
9 - Paul Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster)

1 - John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
2 - James Tracy (UCD/Leinster) *
3 - Michael Bent (Dublin University/Leinster)
4 - Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
5 - David Foley (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
6 - Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt) *
7 - Sean Dougall (Dolphin/ Munster) *
8 - Robin Copeland (Cardiff Blues) *

Replacements:

16 - Bryan Byrne (Clontarf/Leinster) *
17 - Ricky Lutton (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
18 - Paddy Butler (Shannon/Munster) *
19 - Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster)
20 - Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) *
21 - JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
22 - Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster) *

[Ruckedtobits]

O'Donnell selection probably partially down to game time. Same with John Ryan at LHP ahead of Lutton.

As for Macken, maybe he has just got to suck it up, or consider the option of wing. Few can say that he has not got enough opportunity, he just hasn't inspired anybody in the manner in which he has filled the Leinster or Emerging Ireland shirt.

Emerging Ireland have a trophy to win on Sunday. It is easy to be blase at the end of June when you are looking at events faraway. Nevertheless, an IRB Nations Trophy has not graced Lansdowne Road before and it would make a nice addition to the Six Nations gong.

Good luck Ireland

[Donny B.]

Any decent streams for this other than the poxy IRB one which is constantly stopping and starting?

[ceemec]

Stream seems a bit more solid now. Awful game. No continuity, constant whistles, poor skills from both sides and they're making a mess of basics.

[Donny B.]

Director seems more interested in the crowd than the rugby.

Any time I've watched it Ireland never have the ball. Seem to have scored three tries somehow though...

[ceemec]

We have been poor. Romania have had much more territory. We had a 10 minute purple patch in the first half where we scored two tries. Copeland then scored a chargedown try.

Game is far closer than the score line suggests and has been very poor quality. Romania were held up over our line by fantastic work from Byrne. They then spilled a ball going over our line later on. They should have a lot more points on the board but started turning down shots at goal early on when we went 17-3 up.

[ceemec]

Romania get their try.

We then get a pen try with last moment of match due to an identical moment to Williams' tackle yesterday as Conway gets shoulder charged into touch.

[Donny B.]

Finished 31-10.

[offshorerules]

Sounds like it was a pretty positive tournament fot the team.

[ceemec]

Not really sure. The opposition was frightfully bad to the extent that we'd have learned next to nothing about a lot of guys. The only people it was really beneficial for would be guys like Byrne and Tracy who showed they can play with established professionals and not look out of place. The only game that was any sort of contest was today and, to be honest, we were poor. Gilroy showed good application when others who had his profile might have not bothered.

There isn't a side in the Pro12 that wouldn't have beaten all three of those opposition sides, in my mind.

If we have a similar tournament next season, it should be an U23 side. There were a handful of guys out there that had no business being on tour.

[ronk]

highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE1S11W ... 6QW3onmVOQ

Same channel will probably put the full match up in a day or two. It being silly season it might be worth a watch.

[ronk]

On the subject of the opposition, there's an important lesson that has been learnt.

Some of the impact of Joe Schmidt can be seen already at this level. We took part last year and guys got promoted, but how much of that was due to the once off nature?

This time we're seeing the impact of the expectation of higher standards, it's not okay for players to coast against weaker teams. We're not there to make up the numbers, we're there to win the tournament.

[Ruckedtobits]

Ronk wrote:
On the subject of the opposition, there's an important lesson that has been learnt.

Some of the impact of Joe Schmidt can be seen already at this level. We took part last year and guys got promoted, but how much of that was due to the once off nature?

This time we're seeing the impact of the expectation of higher standards, it's not okay for players to coast against weaker teams. We're not there to make up the numbers, we're there to win the tournament.

+1

Romania are in our Pool already in RWC 2015. Russia and Uruguay, both with the guys who are playing in this Tournament, are playing in August to qualify for the RWC and both should make it.

Emerging Ireland Squad has an average age of 24.5 and a median age of 23 i.e. Bryne is youngest at 21 and Murphy oldest at 29, the majority would average 23 when outliers are excluded. The group probably represents about 3rd string, but large majority are young Irish potential players of the next 3 seasons. Tournament is sponsored by IRB who want 2nd Tier nations to get experience before they get to RWC. Emerging Ireland went there to honour commitment to IRB, rather than giving money to development. Ireland get player experience of playing with their peer group from other Provinces, post Under 20's. Of last years travellers to Georgia, the following players played 6 Nations or toured Argentina this Season: D Kearney, N Reid, M Moore, R Herring, J McGrath, R Ruddock, J Murphy, & R Diack. In addition, Asst Coach in Georgia, Richie Murphy, is now doing duty with both Ireland and Leinster.

Sounds like a reasonable deal to me and certainly better than getting pi**ed on by SH Islanders trying to impress enough to get UK Contracts

BTW, Ireland has become the first nation to hold the Six Nations Championship and the IRB Nations Cup at the same time

[Donny B.]

If we have a similar tournament next season, it should be an U23 side. There were a handful of guys out there that had no business being on tour.

Good suggestion. Would have preferred to see James Hart there ahead of Paul Marshall.

[Donny B.]

highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE1S11W ... 6QW3onmVOQ

Same channel will probably put the full match up in a day or two. It being silly season it might be worth a watch.

It's not, even in silly season.

In fact, even in the highlights from about 8.00 to 11.40 will pretty much do you in terms of anything interesting.

[ceemec]

It really was an awful game. Romania were very competitive and dominated for long periods but were utterly atrocious in the backs. They couldn't catch a cold. It was odd because they insisted on flinging it wide at pace at every opportunity. The ball never reached the wing though due to the inevitable error before they got that far. The one time they managed it, their winger actually spilled the ball as he was about to cross our line.

Despite us getting 31 points, we really didn't get on top too much to be honest. We scored one try where we really went at them, built phases and eventually got over their line for Ryan to score. Then Paul Marshall tapped a penalty on halfway that led to us scoring a fast break try for Gilroy. Our last two tries were a charge down for Copeland and a penalty try in stoppage time at the end. Aside from our first half purple patch (the two tries and Copeland had one disallowed too) we failed to really get on top at all and it was quite a poor showing.

Odd game when you score 31 points but play poorly. I think a number of players were on a beach somewhere in their minds already. An early up and under was misjudged by Johne Murphy and he just hacked at it on the volley, sending the ball skittering towards his own posts. That sort of summed up a lot of our mental approach to the game.

Foley, Copeland, Gilroy and Ryan probably the best players on show for me. They at least looked like they were bothered. Brian Byrne is a ball of energy coming onto the field and made a superb covering tackle to hold up their player over the try line when he had no right to do so.

[ronk]

If we have a similar tournament next season, it should be an U23 side. There were a handful of guys out there that had no business being on tour.

Good suggestion. Would have preferred to see James Hart there ahead of Paul Marshall.

Experience is useful for the younger lads. We went from a mix with guys who nearly got capped to academy guys. We'll probably dial it down. If we do it again. Part of it comes down to a numbers game, with the size of our playing pool getting that many U23s into a squad fit for a tour would be a challenge.

Guys like Tommy O'Donnell and Keatley have too many Irish caps and aren't benefiting from being there. Gilroy probably needs to finish the season on a high. Billy Holland was called up due to depth. It's partly a question of having the players to replace them. Big jump in experience from Carty to Keatley.

It's possible that Hart wasn't interested in a cap as Ireland designated Emerging Ireland as our 2nd team.

[Dave Cahill]

It's possible that Hart wasn't interested in a cap as Ireland designated Emerging Ireland as our 2nd team.

You sure about that? According to the IRB, the Wolfhounds are our Next Senior National Representative Team for 2013-14

[paddyor]

highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE1S11W ... 6QW3onmVOQ

Same channel will probably put the full match up in a day or two. It being silly season it might be worth a watch.

It's not, even in silly season.

In fact, even in the highlights from about 8.00 to 11.40 will pretty much do you in terms of anything interesting.

And miss all the slow mo replays of the kicks?????? Not to mention portrait shots of the camera mans family(guess).

[ronk]

It's possible that Hart wasn't interested in a cap as Ireland designated Emerging Ireland as our 2nd team.

You sure about that? According to the IRB, the Wolfhounds are our Next Senior National Representative Team for 2013-14

I thought they did it one year, guess I should have checked.

I also hadn't noticed that the Italians have switched to using their U20s as their seconds. A few more young players tied to their country.