Under 20's Championship

[Duckdee]

15 Ben Ransom (Saracens)
14 Andy Short (Worcester Warriors)
13 Elliot Daly (London Wasps)
12 Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)
11 Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)
10 George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
9 Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
1 Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby)
2 Mike Haywood (Northampton Saints)
3 Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)
4 Kieran Low (London Irish)
5 Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)
6 Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)
7 Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers)
8 Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons) (captain)

Replacements
16 Rob Buchanan (Harlequins)
17 Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers)
18 Addison Lockley (Exeter Chiefs)
19 Ollie Stedman (Leeds Carnegie)
20 Chris Cook (Bath Rugby)
21 Guy Armitage (London Irish)
22 Christian Wade (London Wasps)

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Henry Thomas is a beast,
He's alright in the scrum (holds his own in the premiership, but doesn't demolish scrums) but is like an extra backrower in open play - great workrate

 

[Peat]

I think everyone in that back-line bar Andy Short has another year at this level.

 

[Teh Mite]

Plenty of time for them to gel together then. Can't be a bad thing.

 

[Peat]

Plenty of time for them to gel together then. Can't be a bad thing.

When you consider thats basically last year's U18 back line, I'd say they're already pretty gelled... things can only get better!

 

[dullonien]

WALES U20 FOR ENGLAND NAMED

Wales Under-20: Liam Williams (Llanelli); Harry Robinson (Blues), Ben John (Ospreys/ Aberavon), Jack Gadd (Bristol), Eli Walker (Ospreys / Swansea); Matthew Morgan (Ospreys / Swansea), Aled Davies (Scarlets / Llanelli); Rhodri Jones (Scarlets / Llanelli), Kirby Myhill (Scarlets / Llanelli), Will Taylor (Ospreys / Swansea), Macauley Cook (capt, Blues / Cardiff), Matthew Screech (Blues / Pontypridd), Edward Siggery (Pontypridd), Calum Thomas (Blues / Pontypridd), Ben Thomas (Ospreys / Bridgend).

Replacements: Rob Evans (Scarlets / Carmarthen Quins), Sam Parry (Llandovery), Cory Hill (Blues / Pontypridd), Luke Hamilton (Blues / Glamorgan Wanderers), Jonathan Evans (Dragons / Newport, Steve Shingler (Scarlets / Llanelli), Owen Williams (Blues/Cardiff). Travelling reserve: Adam Warren (Llandovery).

Any taffs here willing to tell me about these boys? I know Morgan's meant to be the new messiah and that Shingler's going to LI and thats about it.

Erm I can't tell you much about this group of players, as I haven't seen many of them play. Here's some info on the ones I have:

- Harry Robinson is a little powerhouse of a winger, not all that big, but very physical for his size and get's all over the field.
- Eli Walker on the opposite wing, is rapid, extremely quick and really does look like a quality prospect. Expecting big things of him.
- Matthew Morgan is the player that's having all the press. One of the best attacking 10's I've seen in years, but combines this with an all round skillset including kicking. Quite a small player, so he's gonna be targetted in defense by everyone, let's see how he gets on in that respect. The next messiah? Hell yeh!
- Macauley Cook I've seen play, but I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary. Typical tall second-row, but he's obviously got some leadership qualities being the captain.
- Steve Shingler is more of a kicking outhalf from what I gather, so he should be a good replacement for Morgan if the match requires it.

That's about it sorry, some of the names in the pack look remotely familiar, but a name like Rhodri Jones in Wales is always familiar, so I'm not sure if I've seen them or not lol!

 

[Peat]

And the Mini-Micks and Eeny-tinie Eyeties are off!

 

[dangandan]

And the Mini-Micks and Eeny-tinie Eyeties are off!

do you or anyone have tv coverage of the game? what's the score please.

 

[Peat]

It was on the rte's website and I imagine you might be able to watch a re-run there.

It ended 26-9 to Ireland.

That was somewhat undeserved. Lot of the game Ireland had clear talent, but weren't getting much clear ball and were trying to be a little too fancy. Italy the more dangerous side for parts of it, its a good Italy team that. Lot of basic mistakes too.

Then as the game went on, Ireland got a bit of ball and could absolutely carve it the f**k up. Three good tries the difference really, but two of them came quite late after Italy were fading. James Tracy got the first, Craig Gilroy got the last two.

Ireland's backs are lethal. They didn't get that much space to show it and were a little slack at times - the half-backs threw up a few too many errors, a dodgy pass from Kelly butchered a try, Boyle did one of the worst kick fieldings ever - but bloody hell, when it did happen... Luke Marshall in particular just tore them apart. Macken impressed when he came on, more than Kelly tbh who was by no means bad.

The pack now... the pack basically lacked nastiness and confrontation. Technical details looked ok, there was some good ball carrying, but in generally they got a little bullied in places. Quite a few forwards on display who I think could make it, but the unit need a big kick up the arse.

I kinda blame Annett. He had a good game, but you look at him and he looks like a nice lad. Kind. Helps grannies across the road.

Unfortunately, this is not what you want from your hooker and not what you want from your captain. A bit of spite and malice would not go amiss.

The summary for those who weren't reading... backs, full of Ulster players, great, forwards, not so many Ulster players, not so great.

Oh, and the Munster boys did a lot of unseen work. Outstanding!

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I only half watched the game but from what I did see, Luke Marshall stood head and shoulders above everyone else. As Peat said, Brendan Macken also put in an excellent cameo. As for Craig Gilroy, all he does is score tries! Not a bad complaint.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Lovely try by the Wales flanker, created by Matthew Morgan- A dart from his own 22, a brilliant chip and then a simple drive over for the back rower after a great English tackle.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What's the score?

Scrap that, didn't realise it was on S4C

Wales 10 - 5 England

 

[TRF_Olyy]

England rampaging now,
Three tries in the last 10minutes
Bit of a dick move by the Wales #15 sliding knee first into the England player

 

[Peat]

Really looking forwards to watching all of the England - Wales U20 game in a little. What little did I see looked very exciting.

I only half watched the game but from what I did see, Luke Marshall stood head and shoulders above everyone else. As Peat said, Brendan Macken also put in an excellent cameo. As for Craig Gilroy, all he does is score tries! Not a bad complaint.

Its on rte iplayer if people want to rewatch (so I understand). Gilroy is a machine... didn't get on the ball enough mind, but none of the back 3 did.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

THE FIXTURE clash between the Magners League and the Six Nations means the majority of the Ireland Under-20s backline will be unavailable to coach Mike Ruddock for the meeting with France in Athlone on Friday.

Leinster have recalled winger Andrew Conway and centre Brendan Macken, both of whom were part of the under-20 squad that won last year's championship. Ulster are also due to select winger Craig Gilroy and possibly even centre Luke Marshall.

Either way, Ruddock is planning to be without all four players who featured in the weekend's 28-9 defeat of Italy. Gilroy continued his prolific return this season with two tries in Parma and seems certain to feature against the Ospreys on Sunday at Liberty Stadium.

"The directive, as it stands, is the Magners League takes precedence," Ruddock confirmed. "As a result we will be without some key players and there are injuries too.

"We just got to get on with it. The positive to take from it is come the World Cup later this year we will have more players who have been exposed to international rugby."

The Irish Under-20s will also probably be without prop Martin Moore and Connacht number eight Eoin McKeon due to injury. The latter would probably have been selected by Eric Elwood for the visit of Llanelli to the Sportsground if not for a hamstring strain that curtailed his involvement against Italy to just 14 minutes.

Bad news for Ireland u20, good news for the provinces and player development. Conway, Gilroy, Marshall and Macken could all start Magners League games this week which will aid them much more than an Ireland underage game. If players like JJ Hanrahan, Gareth Quinn McDonagh, Michael Sherlock and Corey Hircock come into the Ireland team, it'll benefit them too. Tiernan O'Halloran and Sam Coghlan Murray would walk into the Ireland u20s given the absentees but both appear to be injured.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Ireland U-20 v France U-20 (Dubarry Park, Athlone. Friday 11th February 2011, Kick-off 7.45pm)

15 - Michael Sherlock (Clontarf - Leinster)
14 - Tiernan O'Halloran (Galwegians - Connacht)
13 - Alex Kelly (UCD - Leinster)
12 - Nathaniel McDonald (Exile)
11 - Andrew Boyle (UCD - Leinster)
10 - Patrick Jackson (Dungannon - Ulster)
9 - Blane McIlroy (Ballymena - Ulster)
1 - James Tracy (UCD - Leinster)
2 - Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins - Ulster)
3 - Conor Carey (Ballymena - Ulster)
4 - David O'Mahony (UCC - Munster)
5 - Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers - Connacht)
6 - David Heffernan (Lansdowne - Connacht)
8 - Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne - Leinster)
7 - Aaron Conneely (Corinthians - Connacht)

Replacements -
16 - David Doyle (UCD - Leinster)
17 - Finlay Bealham (Exile)
18 - Iain Henderson (Queens - Ulster)
19 - Shane Buckley (Garryowen - Munster)
20 - Peter Du Toit (UCD - Leinster)
21 - James McKinney (Queens - Ulster)
22 - JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians - Munster)

 

[coonor]

Not our strongest squad as Conway, Gilroy etc are back with provinces but a solid pack. I like the look of Annett and Murphy. Its strange that Du Toit is not starting, how old is he. Good to see Hanrahan as he is playing very well in the bank of ulster league and is a good prospect.

 

[Peat]

Not our strongest squad as Conway, Gilroy etc are injured but a solid pack. I like the look of Annett and Murphy. Its strange that Du Toit is not starting, how old is he. Good to see Hanrahan as he is playing very well in the bank of ulster league and is a good prospect.

Conway, Gilroy, Marshall and Macken are all recalled by their respective provinces for their Magners League games. Eoin McKeon and Martin Moore are injured.

 

[coonor]

Conway, Gilroy, Marshall and Macken are all recalled by their respective provinces for their Magners League games. Eoin McKeon and Martin Moore are injured.

Typo mistake. Just used to writing injured so much this month.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I'm looking forward to this Ireland v France game tonight. Despite the injuries and provincial call ups, there's still some real talent in the Ireland team. Annett, Murphy, Conneally, Jackson and O'Halloran all have what it takes to make it at a higher level while Kelly and Boyle both have lots of potential. Of the other starters, David O'Mahony was being spoken of in glowing terms down Munster way 12 months ago. Hopefully he'll add some much needed beef to the tight five. Du Toit, McKinney and Hanrahan are three gifted backs subs too.