Ireland Under 20 2016

[dropkick]

It's a risk but if they get the win, theyll be nice a fresh for the final 2 games to have a good crack at winning it.


The new lads will be really up for it too.

[Ruckedtobits]

This is the sort of tough call which is understandable but flawed. If Irish Rugby enters a Tournament, the objective must be to win it, or compete as well as we can. If even one selection in this team is not solely focused on winning our semi-final, the selection is flawed.

Yes, player development and player rest are key components of Tournament, but Georgia have targeted this Irish game since the Pools were announced and we run the risk of losing momentum and offering lambs to the slaughter, particularly up-front.

Much prefer to have included a few more of the forwards like Porter, Ryan and Deegan so that we could give Georgia another defeat and get top seeding for S/F.

Or am I missing something? Argentina beat Japan well and get a big points difference and a total of 13 points. England beat Australia to finish on 14 points and NZ beat Wales to finish with 10 points in our Group. We get losing bonus against Georgia and finish on 9 points and face England, leaving Arge.tina to beat the cr#p out of each other.

Certainly this Squad don't fear England as we've already beaten them well in England during the 6N. But, the winning habit is one that you let go of at your peril.

Good luck Ireland, you'll need it.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Thought everyone in the squad had to get a start in the group stage? Although I also have a feeling I said that last year and was wrong!

Hopefully McPhillips goes well and builds his confidence. Great bench but it'll be disappointing if we need to use it.

[Ruckedtobits]

Great bench!!

[cormac]

This is the sort of tough call which is understandable but flawed. If Irish Rugby enters a Tournament, the objective must be to win it, or compete as well as we can. If even one selection in this team is not solely focused on winning our semi-final, the selection is flawed.

Yes, player development and player rest are key components of Tournament, but Georgia have targeted this Irish game since the Pools were announced and we run the risk of losing momentum and offering lambs to the slaughter, particularly up-front.

Much prefer to have included a few more of the forwards like Porter, Ryan and Deegan so that we could give Georgia another defeat and get top seeding for S/F.

Or am I missing something? Argentina beat Japan well and get a big points difference and a total of 13 points. England beat Australia to finish on 14 points and NZ beat Wales to finish with 10 points in our Group. We get losing bonus against Georgia and finish on 9 points and face England, leaving Arge.tina to beat the cr#p out of each other.

Certainly this Squad don't fear England as we've already beaten them well in England during the 6N. But, the winning habit is one that you let go of at your peril.

Good luck Ireland, you'll need it.

9pts is unlikely to be enough to qualify for the semi-finals

[cormac]

Thought everyone in the squad had to get a start in the group stage? Although I also have a feeling I said that last year and was wrong!

Hopefully McPhillips goes well and builds his confidence. Great bench but it'll be disappointing if we need to use it.

Nope, that one does the rounds every year. No idea where it ever came from.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Did I start it by any chance?

[jezzer]

This is the sort of tough call which is understandable but flawed. If Irish Rugby enters a Tournament, the objective must be to win it, or compete as well as we can. If even one selection in this team is not solely focused on winning our semi-final, the selection is flawed.

Yes, player development and player rest are key components of Tournament, but Georgia have targeted this Irish game since the Pools were announced and we run the risk of losing momentum and offering lambs to the slaughter, particularly up-front.

Much prefer to have included a few more of the forwards like Porter, Ryan and Deegan so that we could give Georgia another defeat and get top seeding for S/F.

Or am I missing something? Argentina beat Japan well and get a big points difference and a total of 13 points. England beat Australia to finish on 14 points and NZ beat Wales to finish with 10 points in our Group. We get losing bonus against Georgia and finish on 9 points and face England, leaving Arge.tina to beat the cr#p out of each other.

Certainly this Squad don't fear England as we've already beaten them well in England during the 6N. But, the winning habit is one that you let go of at your peril.

Good luck Ireland, you'll need it.

13 is a lot. But the coaches must know how the players who faced NZ are feeling and based it on that. We played a very direct physical style against them and that is likely to continue. The Georgia game is maybe our one chance to get a break before the games get really tough. NZ put them away 55-0. Wales made 8 changes and scraped past them. It's a calculated gamble.

[Ruckedtobits]

I think that LRIP may be correct that all the Squad members must be selected in Pool stages. As always the permutations are endless as evidenced by the Standings in the three Pools and the remaining fixtures at http://www.worldrugby/u.20/standings:

The remaining Pool fixtures (with points in brackets) are:
Pool 1: Irl (8)v Georgia (1); and NZ (6) v Wales (6);
Pool 2: Eng (10) v Aus (6); and Scotland (4) v Italy (1);
Pool 3: Arg (8)v Japan (0); and SA (6) v Fr (5).

The three Pool winners, on form, should be England, Ireland and Argentina. Either NZ or SA should be the best runner-up and qualify for the semi-finals. But would you put money on naming all four qualifiers?

As far as I remember, the semi-finals are seeded, 1 v 4 and 2 v 3, so there is a degree of trying to select your outcome. From an Irish perspective, I would certainly want to avoid playing NZ or Wales again and Argentina are proving, yet again, a surprise packet. Hence the rationale behind my previous post of Ireland possibly planning to
face England. We will see.

[ormond lad]

I think that LRIP may be correct that all the Squad members must be selected in Pool stages. As always the permutations are endless as evidenced by the Standings in the three Pools and the remaining fixtures at http://www.worldrugby/u.20/standings:

The remaining Pool fixtures (with points in brackets) are:
Pool 1: Irl (8)v Georgia (1); and NZ (6) v Wales (6);
Pool 2: Eng (10) v Aus (6); and Scotland (4) v Italy (1);
Pool 3: Arg (8)v Japan (0); and SA (6) v Fr (5).

The three Pool winners, on form, should be England, Ireland and Argentina. Either NZ or SA should be the best runner-up and qualify for the semi-finals. But would you put money on naming all four qualifiers?

As far as I remember, the semi-finals are seeded, 1 v 4 and 2 v 3, so there is a degree of trying to select your outcome. From an Irish perspective, I would certainly want to avoid playing NZ or Wales again and Argentina are proving, yet again, a surprise packet. Hence the rationale behind my previous post of Ireland possibly planning to
face England. We will see.

They don't have to start in the group stage though and that's what some think. All or nearly all will be involved in the group stage as its 3 games in such a short period but quite regularly many don't start until ranking games if they start their.
The playoffs are all seeded. its 1v4, 2v3, 5v8, 6v7 etc
Its virtually impossible to try select your outcome. Win with a bonus and if England win their group(winning their game) we cant face NZ in a semi. We most likely wont play Wales/NZ in a semi final

[Ruckedtobits]

Excellent running by Ireland to create try opportunity for Keenan. Good initial break by Kennedy and then excellent ruck and passing across the line. Good try.

Ridiculous behaviour by Georgian to push off the Irish second row with his foot. But a Red Card is much too severe a sanction.

Terrible defence for their try, firstly by McPhillips, who once again shows his dislike / ineptitude for tackling, followed by poor organisation in defence against their scrum-half who has already played senior international rugby in RWC 2015.

We need to avoid scrums, even against 7 forwards!

10-7 Ireland after 14 mins

[Ruckedtobits]

Our maul technique is far better than them, but we must be patient and work together every time.

They are probably stronger than us man-for-man and we need to utilise our Unit strengths rather than individual abilities to put these guys away. But take every point at every opportunity!.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Really harsh red card. I'm guessing that the ref has no choice if there's a kick, but I'm not even sure it was a proper kick really. Its a pity that refs have to be such sticklers for the rules when they're trying to prove themselves. It was probably the same on Saturday.

Hope we pull away soon so that those starting in the next game will still be fresh, some serious hits out there.

[Ruckedtobits]

Their LHP is a phenon. He is now scrummaging with a back-row behind him but still giving Vack a tonking in the scrum.

Keenan is running well but now needs to link-up when he counter-attacks. We must keep points coming because tries will come in time as they have already lost 4 players to injury.

[simonokeeffe]

That wasnt a red card in soccer

Young Saunders has a beautiful pass and could do a job for one of the provinces, Ulster I'm looking in your direction

[Ruckedtobits]

Great win for that Irish team. We need England to win now and we face Argentina in 2 v 3. Otherwise, we could face NZ as top placed finishers on Pts Diff ahead of Argentina.

Well done Andrew Porter on bonus point try in 81st minute!

[Ruckedtobits]

Great win for that Irish team. We need England to win now and we face Argentina in 2 v 3. Otherwise, we could face NZ as top placed finishers on Pts Diff ahead of Argentina.

Well done Andrew Porter on bonus point try in 81st minute!Aussies leading England at 15 minutes but af couple of the Aussie front-row look like they've been at the pies and certainly won't be effective if game continues at pace.

Interestingly, Aussies have 7 forwards on the bench, out of 8 subs - a declaration of intent.

[jezzer]

Good win. Kicked too much ball away and relied a little on the subs to make it safe. But job well done and let's see who we get.

[dropkick]

Ireland vs Argentina
England vs South Africa


The baby boks got a try bonus to knock the baby blacks out.

[Ruckedtobits]

Lots of supporters will be thinking it, so let's say in words"we could win this".

Watched Argentina v Japan this afternoon and this is the new-style Argentina full of delayed off-loads among the backs, playing slow, slow, quick,quick, slow, rugby, but without the huge muscle of times past.

The Argentina back-three in particular, run with enormous leg drive and go through half tackles and delay their passes until the support player has arrived at pace. The forwards pick and go, and go, and go, rolling through half-tackles and fighting through high tackles to get their hands free.

But they're not as strong as Wales nor as skillful as NZ, two of the pre-Tournament favorites that are out of contention to win, thanks to defeats by Ireland. So, say it low and say it slow, "We can win this". One game at a time, Sweet Jesus!