Ireland Under 20 2016

[goreyguy]

I would be optimistic about the backs even without seeing them. There isn't much hype about them but Irish backs seem to be technically good these days due to better coaching and sometimes its the unknowns that are the biggest surprise.

They might be technically good but there is outstanding talents.. none starting scream out future star of provincial rugby.. of course that all could change

Out of interest, do you actually watch these lads play often?

Define often.?
I've seen the leinster lads play a good few times.

[dropkick]

I would be optimistic about the backs even without seeing them. There isn't much hype about them but Irish backs seem to be technically good these days due to better coaching and sometimes its the unknowns that are the biggest surprise.

They might be technically good but there is outstanding talents.. none starting scream out future star of provincial rugby.. of course that all could change

Its hard to know though. Last season I never heard of Joey Carbery but he looked really talented and could challenge Ross Byrne. The year before that Garry Ringrose (who got very little hype) was dropped in the 6 nations I believe but we all know how he progressed.


Johnny McPhillips has a highlight video. He doesn't look too bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaRlfgmZsI

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Out of interest, do you actually watch these lads play often?

Define often.?
I've seen the leinster lads play a good few times.[/quote]

So just leinster schools games really?

Not having a go btw, you've obviously built up a serious database of underage players and know your stuff, was just thinking that I couldn't imagine anyone trekking around the country to schools or under 20s games!

[goreyguy]

I would be optimistic about the backs even without seeing them. There isn't much hype about them but Irish backs seem to be technically good these days due to better coaching and sometimes its the unknowns that are the biggest surprise.

They might be technically good but there is outstanding talents.. none starting scream out future star of provincial rugby.. of course that all could change

Its hard to know though. Last season I never heard of Joey Carbery but he looked really talented and could challenge Ross Byrne. The year before that Garry Ringrose (who got very little hype) was dropped in the 6 nations I believe but we all know how he progressed.


Johnny McPhillips has a highlight video. He doesn't look too bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaRlfgmZsI

Again I said right now it's hard to say that this will be a great group of backs.. obviously someone should step up and surprise but the general talent level is lower than last year. That doesn't mean a few backs won't make a name for themselves, just that right now none of them scream out as future stars.

Ringrose was massively known about after schools rugby although no one expected him to be that good.

[Armchair]

Out of interest, do you actually watch these lads play often?

Define often.?
I've seen the leinster lads play a good few times.

So just leinster schools games really?

Not having a go btw, you've obviously built up a serious database of underage players and know your stuff, was just thinking that I couldn't imagine anyone trekking around the country to schools or under 20s games![/quote]

You should Under 20 rugby in Leinster especially is very exciting and it is where 70-80% of players that go on to senior level and indeed academy are seen. Very exciting rugby. I wouldn't be as optimistic about Under 20 backline tonight, hopefully I am wrong but any victory will be inspired and carved out by the pack

[goreyguy]

Out of interest, do you actually watch these lads play often?

Define often.?
I've seen the leinster lads play a good few times.

So just leinster schools games really?

Not having a go btw, you've obviously built up a serious database of underage players and know your stuff, was just thinking that I couldn't imagine anyone trekking around the country to schools or under 20s games!

You should Under 20 rugby in Leinster especially is very exciting and it is where 70-80% of players that go on to senior level and indeed academy are seen. Very exciting rugby. I wouldn't be as optimistic about Under 20 backline tonight, hopefully I am wrong but any victory will be inspired and carved out by the pack[/quote]

basically what I've been saying.. hopefully someone surprises and really stands out but there is no clear candidate to do that at the moment.

[Ruckedtobits]

Disagree. A couple of players standout having gained their selection ahead of higher profile opposition. Matthew Byrne is one has been selected due to pace and try scoring. With Terenure, he was part of winning U.20 Club competition for last 2 seasons against UCD and L'downe squads who were favoured.

[wprathead]

this match is some craic

[dropkick]

Ireland have a big pack but Wales look a lot more physical. McBurney and Ryan playing very well. Poland looking good too!

Kicking from Ireland has been very poor.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

All very frantic, not seeing much evidence of a gameplan. They've obviously been working on the support play and keeping the tempo high, but there's no need to keep doing things like the quick ball off the lineout. Calm down, truck it up, and work off that. We have the size in the forward to do it. There's been a couple of times when we've got on a roll with pick and drives but nobody took charge and looked at the bigger picture out wide, it was more like a training drill with no real end game.

[domhnallj]

What kind of a bullshit call was that. No way was it even a penalty let alone a yellow card.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

That is quite simply one of the worst penalty decisions I've ever seen, never mind a yellow.

[wixfjord]

First time I've seen James Ryan.
This guy looks like a serious player.
Lineout, rucking, carrying, offloading. Most impressive forward on show.

[wixfjord]

Welsh backline is just way too good.
McPhillips looks fairly mediocre.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

That all came from missing touch from a penalty and then blowing the lineout when we got a second chance. Our kicking has been abysmal, just constantly inviting pressure on ourselves.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Can't say I agree with the commentators about there being lots of positives. The hooker, James Ryan, and Brown played really well individually. The seven was good before he went off too, and the lineout was good. That's it though. We looked poorly coached, the handling was shite, didn't get the likes of Porter involved on the ball, the kicking was terrible, the scrum was poor despite our much vaunted props being in there.

[cormac]

Can't say I agree with the commentators about there being lots of positives. The hooker, James Ryan, and Brown played really well individually. The seven was good before he went off too, and the lineout was good. That's it though. We looked poorly coached, the handling was shite, didn't get the likes of Porter involved on the ball, the kicking was terrible, the scrum was poor despite our much vaunted props being in there.

We played as individuals. Wales team played like professional players, we looked like we met in the car-park.

[dropkick]

That was an entertaining game! Much better than last years.


The difference in physicality was massive. Every breakdown was a mess for Ireland and every Welsh player seemed to be ploughing through the Irish players and they didn't have to do much to score.
With that in mind, to only lose by 11 points was good going.


Although the team made plenty of mistakes, there were lots of good performances from Ireland. James Ryan looks something special and others like Poland also impressed.


There were plenty of mistakes, some costly but you'd expect that. They would want to work on their kicking game and tackling/defending though.

We played as individuals. Wales team played like professional players, we looked like we met in the car-park.

Thats my view too. Very individualistic but thats the way Carolan coaches. Results are not THAT important for them but more about player development.

[Donny B.]

Just home from it. Frustrating game. They played some lovely attacking rugby at times with great offloads and some excellent support running. But they kept undermining themselves with basic errors whether kicking or handling. Looked good off the cuff but no real evidence of a coherent gameplan. Absolutely murdered at the breakdown too.

[Made Of Ale]

the handling was shite,

Weirdly, our handling in high speed offloads was sensational, but our general handling was terrible. It looked like we spent our week practising offloads, and then when the ball approached at normal speed we got spooked.