Ireland Under 20 2017

[cormac]

Well that was a bit of a shambles.

[dropkick]

Shoddy performance. The most worrying thing was they looked badly coached. Hopefully it's a one off performancd

[LeRouxIsPHat]

A shambles is right. I'm quite shocked that having upped the intensity and simplified the game plan in the first ten minutes of the second half, that we then moved away from that and started going for drop goals with 15 minutes left. That's a very reductive way of looking at it but it's broadly true, bizarre stuff. Obviously we're missing loads of players and Carolan is gone, but there's no excuse for the lack of intensity.

Fair play to Italy though. They were well drilled and worked extremely hard. No lack of quality either with two excellent trys and I thought the drop goal was brilliant too, their halfbacks were very good.

[Ruckedtobits]

Despite plenty of possesion in the Red Zone in 2nd half, we had little or no direction or innovation from half-backs. Good options for kick-pass to wings who have eccellent hands and air skills. Mid-field defence very porous with Dean and Mullin in particular not disciplined in bringing up defence together.

Should never have lost a match they have regained control in, coming from e-15 to 21-15 and dominating possession. Very disappointing result.

[hugonaut]

A shambles is right. I'm quite shocked that having upped the intensity and simplified the game plan in the first ten minutes of the second half, that we then moved away from that and started going for drop goals with 15 minutes left. That's a very reductive way of looking at it but it's broadly true, bizarre stuff. Obviously we're missing loads of players and Carolan is gone, but there's no excuse for the lack of intensity.

Fair play to Italy though. They were well drilled and worked extremely hard. No lack of quality either with two excellent trys and I thought the drop goal was brilliant too, their halfbacks were very good.

How did Ronan Kelleher do off the bench? I was impressed by the little I saw of him during the Six Nations – exceptional pace off the mark for a hooker and a good all-round footballer. I see a lot of similarities there with Sean Cronin. For a guy who is a year underage he looks like he has already got a lot of work done in terms of S&C. Interested to see more of him because I think that there's very obvious pro potential there.

[mildlyinterested]

thought kelleher was the best performing forward... has a lot of talent and potential.. injury record is poor tho

[mildlyinterested]

Of the rumoured players joining the leinster academy next season:

Ronan Kelleher(Sub-Hooker) - standout forward for me, think he he was if not 100% in his lineout very close. Strong carrier and good at breakdown. Maybe needs to be a bit more aware but promising for a u19.

Oisin Dowling(Second Row) - thought he called a good lineout and won his fair share of ball there, had a few poor handling errors. But overall decent.

Gavin Mullin(Centre) - had a lovely pass to set up second try, was a bit disjointed in defence, trucked up a lot of ball. Was decent.

Jack Kelly(Fullback/Wing) - had a very promising start to the game carrying the ball, but after injury forced him out to the wing he was quiet.

Thought of the other Leinster players Ciaran Frawley(Centre) was the standout.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

A shambles is right. I'm quite shocked that having upped the intensity and simplified the game plan in the first ten minutes of the second half, that we then moved away from that and started going for drop goals with 15 minutes left. That's a very reductive way of looking at it but it's broadly true, bizarre stuff. Obviously we're missing loads of players and Carolan is gone, but there's no excuse for the lack of intensity.

Fair play to Italy though. They were well drilled and worked extremely hard. No lack of quality either with two excellent trys and I thought the drop goal was brilliant too, their halfbacks were very good.

How did Ronan Kelleher do off the bench? I was impressed by the little I saw of him during the Six Nations – exceptional pace off the mark for a hooker and a good all-round footballer. I see a lot of similarities there with Sean Cronin. For a guy who is a year underage he looks like he has already got a lot of work done in terms of S&C. Interested to see more of him because I think that there's very obvious pro potential there.

His throwing looked awkward/dodgy to me but Italy didn't compete as much when they got tired so got away with it. He blew a try by breaking too early from a maul too, but it was strong carrying that nearly got him there anyway. His carrying was seriously impressive and I thought he made a big difference when he came on, seemed to want the ball a lot. So some rough edges but he was very impressive, even more so given that he's underage, hadn't realised that as I was watching. In that context Dean was better than I thought too. He had a poor game for the most part but with another year to go at this level there were some encouraging signs.

Thought Barron went well too even though he only lasted 20 minutes. Lineout was a bit dodgy but thought he was decent around the pitch. Again that's in the context of him being a year young and a late call up to the squad.

[mildlyinterested]

Thought Dean mixed the good with the poor.

Did well for both tries.

First game at this level and eligible again next year.

[dropkick]

Kelleher had a good game but he needs to learn when and when not to break away from the maul. He is an excellent ball carrier though and showed that. His throwing was a bit wobbly too but most of the lineouts were won.


I thought Dean had a bad game. Thats not to say he is a bad player but he looked nervous, played too deep and made mistakes. Going behind early didn't make things easier for him.

[El Diablo]

Thought Dean mixed the good with the poor.

Did well for both tries.

First game at this level and eligible again next year.

great skip pass for the 1st try and the correct simple option pass to Mullin for the 2nd.

[mildlyinterested]

Thought Dean mixed the good with the poor.

Did well for both tries.

First game at this level and eligible again next year.

great skip pass for the 1st try and the correct simple option pass to Mullin for the 2nd.

Yup, some of his other play left a lot to be desired but that's the nature of underage rugby.

[dropkick]

Team Vs Scotland. The Scots have a fairly big side. If Ireland don't click again we might see another bad result.

15. Alan Tynan (Young Munster/Munster)
14. Jack Kelly (Dublin University/Leinster)
13. Gavin Mullin (UCD/Leinster)
12. Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster)
11. Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster)
10. Conor Dean (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
9. Jack Stafford (Shannon/Munster)
1. Jordan Duggan (Naas/Leinster) *
2. Ronan Kelleher (UCD/Leinster)
3. Charlie Connolly (Dublin University/Leinster)
4. Fineen Wycherley (Young Munster/Munster)
5. Oisin Dowling (Lansdowne/Leinster)
6. Sean Masterson (Corinthians/Connacht)
7. Paul Boyle (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
8. Caelan Doris (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Replacements:

16. Adam Moloney (Shannon/Munster)
17. Greg McGrath (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18. Peter Cooper (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
19. Jack Regan (UCD/Leinster)
20. Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster)
21. Jonny Stewart (Queen's University/Ulster)
22. Angus Curtis (Queen's University/Ulster) *
23. Michael Silvester (Dublin University/Leinster) *

* Denotes uncapped player at U-20 level

[Raydollard]

Too many Leinster boys on team for it to be healthy.

[Ruckedtobits]

10-0 for Ireland after 20 mins although Scots have 70% possession. Stafford try and convert & Penalty for Dean.

[IanD]

55 mins IRL 13 SCO 22

Scotland playing great running rugby. First and third trys were great.

[IanD]

Odd thing.

I have the match streaming from my mobile to a Chromecast but my tablet gives a geo block.

[IanD]

Ireland 20 Scotland 27 64 mins

[IanD]

Ireland 23 Scotland 32 70 minutes

[IanD]

Ireland 28 Scotland 32 76 minutes