2012 IRB Junior World Championship

[coonor]

Is the ire v eng game on tv?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Nope. The rfu are doing updates on their Twitter throughout, think that's about it.

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[dullonien]

Wales using the centipede tactic at ruck time for box kicks, looks ridiculous.

Wales need to stop kicking the ball back to NZ, Wales defence is going well though.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Nope. The rfu are doing updates on their Twitter throughout, think that's about it.

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It's on TV over here in Irish. Might be worth having a look at the TG4 website to see if you can stream it. Probably restricted to inside Ireland though.

We're giving your lot a pasting btw.

 

[dullonien]

Some great defence by Cory Allen. Really targeting NZ runners and getting them down behind the advantage line.

NZ getting on top at the ruck, and Wales struggling to get position and territory. Good contest though, Wales just need to get their hands on the ball.

 

[coonor]

Some great defence by Cory Allen. Really targeting NZ runners and getting them down behind the advantage line.

NZ getting on top at the ruck, and Wales struggling to get position and territory. Good contest though, Wales just need to get their hands on the ball.

Yeah he looks like a really good player. He reads the game very well. In defence he spots the danger and cuts it out and in attack he sees the mismatches and hits the gap. He justs seem to be mentally ahead of the game.

 

[dullonien]

Arg, the 5min either side of half time has killed us.

Ouch, two NZ players clashed heads big time. Both knocked out instantly, hope they're ok.

Contest is over now, 30-6 to NZ. Much to many mistakes in Wales' play in the second half. NZ have been clinical with their chances.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Ireland match finished 27-12 in our favour. Nice to finally pick up a result against England this year.

 

[lucky number 7]

Ireland match finished 27-12 in our favour. Nice to finally pick up a result against England this year.

All we have to do now is contemplate what could have been...

 

[dullonien]

Wales v NZ ended 6-30 to NZ. NZ's domination of the breakdown and Wales' errors were the difference in the two teams. NZ were making easy ground in the second half, and tbh could have put a few more points on the board, but seemed to wind down in the final 10mins.

 

[Feicarsinn]

All we have to do now is contemplate what could have been...

There's still 5th place up for grabs lad.

 

[Peat]

There's still 5th place up for grabs lad.

And with it a slightly better seeding! Although, if I remember right, you're still set to have one of England and France in your group, so... yeah. It's nice to see the seedings shaken up, but I'm not sure it's going to do a great deal for the teams moving up.

Anyway, congrats to the Mini-micks.

 

[William18]

Good performance from us especially in the second half. I thought the same players were impressive again (Taufua, Emery, Hall etc). I'm still not that impressed by West though and I'm surprised he is starting ahead of Eade who is far more reliable and his option taking is far better.

 

[SomeOke]

If SA continues like this I'm going to be an alcoholic in no time. Keen.

 

[Darwin]

Much happier with that New Zealand performance! It was far from perfect, with too many basic errors, but it was a major step up from the rugby we had been playing earlier in the tournament. Wales certainly looked the better team for the first 20-odd mins, but New Zealand slowly got into the game, and started to dominate. As has been mentioned, they were starting to look very dangerous at times in the second half, and probably should have scored a couple more tries. I did feel Wales were very unlucky to have their try from the maul disallowed (I couldn't understand what the ref was on about...).

Like others, I was very impressed with Cory Allen at centre. He seemed to make the right defense plays and hit hard in the tackle, and was a handful to put down with ball in hand. Wales look to have a good bunch of loose-forwards coming through too - I like the look of both the 6 and 8, and the number 20 looked good when he came on too (I'm too lazy to look up their names ). Habberfield box-kicked a lot again this match, but it was no-where near as effective as it was in the first game between these two teams. The main issue was that he was over-kicking the ball, meaning the NZ players general took the ball with no pressure on them.

There were a number of good performance in the NZ team. Tu'ungafasi is like another loose-forward around the field, though I'm a bit worried that he isn't doing his job at scrum time. Both of the NZ props are very tall (both listed at 1.93m), which may a bit of an issue. Blake was good again at 7, and Heenan made a good impact when he came on. I was more impressed with Tupou this game, as he seemed to throw his weight around a bit more. Taufua again looked powerful at number 8, and ended up scoring quite an acrobatic try!

I was far more impressed with Hall this match, as I thought he has had a poor tournament thus far. He seems to have a very educated kicking game, which makes me wonder why he didn't employ it more during the first Welsh match... I though West was very impressive at 10. He has obviously got some outrageous skills (the behind the back pass while going into touch was incredible), his running game is good, and I thought his line kicking was very impressive. I think he has looked far more composed this tournament than Eade, who hasn't impressed me at all. Emery showed his class again at times, but I felt he tried to do far too much himself this match, and used the grubber kick far too liberally. Ahki made a great impact when he came on, and may put pressure on Peleseuma for a starting spot in the final. Proctor was looking good on the wing before he went of injured after a head class. Hopefully he will be fit for the final (but I have my doubts). Not sure why Keresoma (our 1st choice wing didn't start (as he was named to start) hopefully it is only a minor injury issue. I was very happy with McKenzie at fullback, he looked dangerous on attack and acted as a second playmaking option when required. He displayed great handling skills in Taufua try too!

Bring on South Africa

 

[justanargie]

SA... a bath of reality...

 

[nickdnz]

Pleased we got through, haven't yet watched the match. That being said, I still am very nervous. In past years there has been elements of the Baby Blacks play that have been exceptional and I just don't think there are any areas that we will absolutely dominate. We've also looked far more polished in past years and made far fewer basic mistakes. Comparing this to our 2009 and 2010 teams and I'd imagine both the 2009/2010 teams would put 30+ points on this one. ANYWAY, I haven't watched the Wales game so I could be overly critical. I'm pretty excited to see this team vs South Africa. The South Africans were extremely confident regarding this team and it's at home so I'd imagine it will be a close one.

 

[big ginger 8]

Just watched the Irish game. Delighted with the result finally beating the English. Henderson's try was brilliant.

 

[Darwin]

Pleased we got through, haven't yet watched the match. That being said, I still am very nervous. In past years there has been elements of the Baby Blacks play that have been exceptional and I just don't think there are any areas that we will absolutely dominate. We've also looked far more polished in past years and made far fewer basic mistakes. Comparing this to our 2009 and 2010 teams and I'd imagine both the 2009/2010 teams would put 30+ points on this one. ANYWAY, I haven't watched the Wales game so I could be overly critical. I'm pretty excited to see this team vs South Africa. The South Africans were extremely confident regarding this team and it's at home so I'd imagine it will be a close one.

I'm very nervous too. Our performance versus Wales was certainly a step up, but it was far from the polished performacnes of recent years. I hope we manage to beat South Africa in the final, but unless we show a lot of improvement again, South Africa will likely win (especially given their home-gorund advantage). I'm a bit worried we will struggle to match them up front. The look like they will pick a massive pack, with both locks 2m or more (with one of them 127kg!), and Sharks lock Pieter Steph Du Toit (at 2.00m and 115kg) on the blindside flank! I haven't watched South Africa this tournament, but I'd imagine they will have the edge in the scrum: our props are both massive players, but I think their height counts against them at scrum time. South Africa's shorter front row (including Stormers prop Kitshoff), with some massively powerful men behind them may cause New Zealand a lot of trouble at scrum time. I think our best hope is to play and expansive game: we have a top quality open side (Hugh Blake), and some very dangerous backs (West, Akhi, Emery, Keresoma, and Proctor in particular), though we need both Keresoma and Proctor to be fit. Can't wait for the match - it is on the morning of my birthday, and a win would be a great birthday present

 

[Gena_ZA]

You need to worry about one man - no 12 (Jan Serfontein) for the Baby Boks, reminds me of a young Danie Gerber
and
the rest of a very well rounded and determined young Bok side