Ireland U-20 v Wales U-20

[Jockstap]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyRil of Ospreylia @ Mar 13 2010, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snoopy snoopy dog dog @ Mar 12 2010, 09:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyRil of Ospreylia @ Mar 12 2010, 09:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He's just been on Scrum V underlining his commitments to Ireland with his deep County Cork drawl. NOT![/b]

What did he say? I was watching RTE's coverage.

To be fair, Ruddock was born in Dublin, his mother is Irish and he's a member of the Leinster academy - he does have a fairly significant tie to this country (as does Stewart Maguire who has an Irish father).
[/b][/quote]
Just saying how his mind's made up about who he wants to represent in senior rugby, and that was the reason he moved back to Ireland. Fair enough like, but Mike must be gutted.
[/b][/quote]

Seems a bit daft to me, he has a far better chance of breaking into the Welsh senior side with Ferris around. It's great news for us but it must suck if you're a Welsh fan because he's exactly what Wales need at the moment, a big physical no nonsense enforcer at the breakdown, that Islander they had playing for them last night might do the trick though, what was his name, halafea or something.

 

[King_D'Arcy]

The Irish back row is something else. Ryan and Ruddock are 2 serioous hopes for the future.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Toby Falelatao should go on to become a legend. According to Rick O'Shea on the red button fan commentry, Mama Molikika's son is playing at Under 15s for the Blues, and considers himself Welsh. Just imagine an all-bar-Warburton Pacific Islander-decended backrow for Wales! Glory.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I see a couple of comments about Rhys Ruddock above. I wonder how big a part Scott Johnson played in his decision to declare for Ireland. Ruddock was a member of the Ospreys academy before the Aussie took over as coach. Let's just say Johnson and Mike Ruddock don't appear to be best mates.......

rt Maguire was also mentioned above. He showed more in his 50 minutes against Wales than he did in the other three games combined. At 6'5" and 21 stone, he should overpower everyone he scrums against once he gets his technique right. Work on that and his conditioning and Leinster poaching him could turn out to be an excellent long term decision. Diamond in the rough is a term which could easily be applied to him.

As for the backs being poor in this game, I agree. They need a distributor at 12. Nevin Spence will be a fine player wider out but at inside centre he tends to tuck the ball under one arm and crash forward. Brendan Macken hasn't lived up to the hype in this competition but he's still a class act. Andrew Conway may be better served concentrating on playing wing at a higher level. He has pace to burn and picks excellent lines but his kicking and fielding of high balls need work.

 

[munstermuffin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (King D'arcy @ Mar 13 2010, 10:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The Irish back row is something else. Ryan and Ruddock are 2 serioous hopes for the future.[/b]

Lets not forget Butler too

 

[Olyy]

Doesn't the other Rhuddock brother play age-grade for Wales?
Would be weird if they came up against each other at some point, hast that ever happened before? I know Magnus Lund/his brother play/played for different countries, but i don't think England ever played against Norway

 

[cyRil]

I always thought Ciaran was the one that was going to play for Ireland and Rhys was opting for Wales. Either I'm confused or they're both now gyppos.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Olyy @ Mar 13 2010, 01:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Doesn't the other Rhuddock brother play age-grade for Wales?[/b]

No, both play with Ireland and are in the Leinster academy. Ciaran, the elder brother, was the first to declare for Ireland.

 

[Olyy]

Ah right,
When i googled it the other day it said that the younger one played for Wales U-17s at some point, must've been Rhys who has now switched.

Ah yeah, just looked again, it was. The article is saying how Rhys was born in Dublin but plays for Wales and Ciaran was born in Swansea but plays for Ireland.