Ireland Under-20 2014-2015

[Dave Cahill]

O'Connor has been doing some nice stuff when carrying - he lets the ball come across his body and uses some nice feet to get on the outside shoulder of the tackler

[nelly the elephant]

You can't knock the spirit of this Irish team all the same... top class attitude and have kept going to the death against a superior opponent.

[Donny B.]

A couple of the subs, like O'Donnell and McVeigh have done alright.

Overall though, other than Arnold and Ringrose, it's hard to see too many more players emerging from this group of players. Maybe Josh Murphy but he'll probably need to move province to have a chance.

[goreyguy]

O'Connor has been doing some nice stuff when carrying - he lets the ball come across his body and uses some nice feet to get on the outside shoulder of the tackler

underpowered at this level, will have to bulk up to make it.

[Donny B.]

Ah well, showed good heart to keep the score down at least

[jezzer]

Great performance from a side outclassed. Didnt helpnourselves with our depth and alignment in the backs, we were obviously trying to get some width before the nz line got up, but we'd have been better being more direct.

Arnold mixed the great with the annoying . Can be selfish at times.

[goreyguy]

A couple of the subs, like O'Donnell and McVeigh have done alright.

Overall though, other than Arnold and Ringrose, it's hard to see too many more players emerging from this group of players. Maybe Josh Murphy but he'll probably need to move province to have a chance.

If Murphy can bulk up enough to be effective at lock.. he'd have a nice future.

[goreyguy]

Dardis probably had his best game, but he hasn't lived upto underage rep.
Ringrose got f%~k all ball.. looked class when he did and in defence.
Carbery isn't a pro 10, gulf in class between him and R Byrne apparent.
Rock was good off the bench, so small though.
McCarthy solid but unspectacular before broken collarbone.
Murphy was very good again I though.
O'Connor was decent.
Heffernan was okay, doesn't offer much in the loose.
McNulty was decent, solid in lineout.
Porter was decent.

[jezzer]

I'd start Rock every game and f%~k his size...

[Blue not red blood]

Gutsy response after going 25-3 down
Deserved a try for their efforts
Very impressed with Rocks passing

[johng]

Watching Arnold kick away so much ball with ringrose outside him was frustrating. (I'm at 58 mins in at the moment)

Ringrose is very hardworking. Hits rucks, defends etc. Rare enough in such a talented and young player. Reminds me of "some bloke called brian"

Owtsch! Arnold taken out late by huge th prop

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah Ringrose works incredibly hard after he makes a tackle. There were a couple of times when he got up straight away to counter ruck and it took two or three New Zealanders to take him out of it, he's a complete nuisance. He makes amazing reads in defence too, there have been so many times where you think we're goosed out wide and he comes from nowhere and shuts the attack down on his own.

I have an image in my head of Joe staying up all night watching videos of him in an attempt to find an error.

[johng]

I was going to add he is a real joe player.

[Ruckedtobits]

A good first quarter and a better last quarter, but you got the feeling that NZ just had more gears than us and a completely different mind-set about the importance of using the ball through as many pairs of hands as possible.

My pick of the crop was O'Connor with Ringrose, as always, looking like the player "most likely to" get to the top rung. Josh Murphy and Rory Moloney put in huge shifts and McNulty, Porter (under-age for this grade next year) and Conan O'Donnell added value throughout their time on the pitch. Rock was an addition at SH and Quinlan looked more composed at 10 when he arrived. Disappointed with both wingers going forward in open play.

Sam Arnold is strong, aggressive and quick but I thought his selection of options tonight was poor and hope he learned some lessons against high quality opponents.

The NZ team have a lot of line=breakers, Nos 3,7,8,9 and 11 were awesome in their leg strength and ability to break the tackle. A bit of a gap still in specific conditioning, but we kept them to 3 tries and scoreless for final 20 minutes - no mean feat.

Not happy to lose this one and have to face Wales. But hope the lads can recover quickly enough to get the reward of 5th place next week.

[goreyguy]

A good first quarter and a better last quarter, but you got the feeling that NZ just had more gears than us and a completely different mind-set about the importance of using the ball through as many pairs of hands as possible.

My pick of the crop was O'Connor with Ringrose,

David O'Connor?

[goreyguy]

McCarthy out for the rest of tournament.

[Dave Cahill]

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v Wales Under-20s, 2015 World Rugby Under-20 Championship - 5th-8th Place Play-Off, Stadio Luigi Zaffanella, Viadana, Monday, June 15, kick-off 8.30pm local time/7.30pm Irish time):

15. Ciaran Gaffney (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Stephen Fitzgerald (Shannon/Munster)
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)
12. Sam Arnold (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
10. Joey Carbery (UCD/Leinster)
9. Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster)
2. Sean McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
3. Oisin Heffernan (Terenure College/Leinster)
4. David O'Connor (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
5. Alex Thompson (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
6. Josh Murphy (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
7. Conor Oliver (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
8. Nick Timoney (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Replacements:

16. Adam McBurney (Ballymena/Ulster)
17. Liam O'Connor (Cork Constitution/Munster)
18. Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/NUIG/Connacht)
19. Lorcan Dow (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
20. Rory Moloney (Buccaneers/Connacht)
21. Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22. Fergal Cleary (Lansdowne/Leinster)
23. Jack Owens (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Game doesn't appear to be on TV unfortunately, TG4 are showing the semi finals.

[leinsterlover73]

Ireland u20 v Wales u20 Halftime 0-22

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Well that's terribly disappointing. There's something not right mentally with this squad IMO. Gave up during the 6N once the wheels started to come off during the England game and were goosed for the rest of the tournament, capitulated against NZ once they got that penalty before half time, and now this when the chance of winning the tournament had gone.

That might be overly harsh but I've been worried ever since Fitzgerald gave that interview after the French game and seemed very complacent. It was as if they expected to win the grand slam and when they didn't the shoulders dropped and that was it.