Under 20's Championship

[SelimNiai]

that's my cousin, never seen him play. He left our shores about 15yrs ago. Is he any good? Be honest haha.

I'll take this one chaps.

Yes, he is. A dynamic runner with ball in hand, makes yards whenever he gets it. Scrumming needs work if we are honest but certainly a good prospect.

 

[187]

I'll take this one chaps.

Yes, he is. A dynamic runner with ball in hand, makes yards whenever he gets it. Scrumming needs work if we are honest but certainly a good prospect.

True! Cheers for that mate. Appreciate it.

 

[Peat]

Back to Gilroy, maybe I'm overstating things but he should be capped ahead of the World Cup. He's in the right place at the right time every time. He doesn't just sit on the wing and wait for the ball but consistently runs tracking lines off the flyhalf and centres looking for the ball. His tackling is up to scratch and he seems to be decent under a high ball and at kicking too. He won't go to NZ in September/October but Ireland have four warm up games and he deserves to feature in one of them.

I've been wondering about this. In Kidney's shoes, I'd be tempted to throw him on the bench for England.

And its not just a case of blooding young talent, I'd say Gilroy is the form wing in Ireland. He can't stop scoring and seems to have no weaknesses but inexperience. I can't think of an Irish player I'd rather hand a one on one scoring opportunity to at the moment and his support running is the closest thing I've seen to Ashton's.

And while you know Kidney won't take him, if he keeps going like this, thats going to look slightly mad. I know Ireland have plenty of talented wingers. But right now, none of them are anything like as dangerous as Gilroy. I know he's playing against worst players while outside more dominant players. I know you've got to question whether he's got the physicality (although just rewatched him handoff a prop), the mentality, whether it might be too early and scar such a prospect... but Kidney would be mad to at least not seek opportunities to try and answer those questions.

Because he is just ******* lethal. Gilroy for Ireland. On second thoughts, maybe don't try him against England, I want a Grand Slam...

 

[dangandan]

I've been wondering about this. In Kidney's shoes, I'd be tempted to throw him on the bench for England.

And its not just a case of blooding young talent, I'd say Gilroy is the form wing in Ireland. He can't stop scoring and seems to have no weaknesses but inexperience. I can't think of an Irish player I'd rather hand a one on one scoring opportunity to at the moment and his support running is the closest thing I've seen to Ashton's.

And while you know Kidney won't take him, if he keeps going like this, thats going to look slightly mad. I know Ireland have plenty of talented wingers. But right now, none of them are anything like as dangerous as Gilroy. I know he's playing against worst players while outside more dominant players. I know you've got to question whether he's got the physicality (although just rewatched him handoff a prop), the mentality, whether it might be too early and scar such a prospect... but Kidney would be mad to at least not seek opportunities to try and answer those questions.

Because he is just ******* lethal. Gilroy for Ireland. On second thoughts, maybe don't try him against England, I want a Grand Slam...

well we introduced tommy bowe where he supposedly didn't live up to expectations and now a few years later he has become one of Ireland's main strike runners. maybe we could produce another world class winger from ulster in the form of Gilroy. they'll never know how good he really is till they pick him at international level.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v England Under-20s, 2011 RBS Under-20 6 Nations Championship, Dubarry Park, Athlone, Friday, March 18, kick-off 7.45pm):
15 - Michael Sherlock (Clontarf/Leinster)
14 - Tiernan O'Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)
13 - Alex Kelly (UCD/Leinster)
12 - JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster)
11 - Andrew Boyle (UCD/Leinster)
10 - Cathal Marsh (Dublin University/Leinster)
9 - Blane McIlroy (Ballymena/Ulster)
1 - James Tracy (UCD/Leinster)
2 - David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
3 - Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster)
4 - Michael Kearney (Clontarf/Leinster)
5 - Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers/Connacht)
6 - Shane Buckley (Garryowen/Munster)
7 - Aaron Conneely (Corinthians/Connacht)
8 - Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
Replacements:
16 - James Rael (Garryowen/Munster)
17 - Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster)
18 - Cathal O'Flaherty (Cork Constitution/Munster)
19 - Stephen Lecky (Glasgow Hawks/Exiles)
20 - Mark Dolan (Corinthians/Connacht)
21 - Gareth Quinn McDonogh (Shannon/Munster)
22 - Colm O'Shea (Clontarf/Leinster)

 

[Peat]

Not enough Ulstermen!

(... because we withdrew them all...)

Great to see Stephen Leckey get a go though. Is this being shown?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

@Peat
It's on RTE

Lots of changes for Ireland. No Jackson, Marshall and Gilroy means they'll feature for Ulster this weekend. It's **** for the Ireland u20s but much better for the players long term development.

The replacements for the three Ulster lads are all good players. O'Halloran is a fantastic attacker, Hanrahan is the best prospect to come through the backs in Munster since Earls and Marsh gave quite possibly the two best flyhalf performances I've seen at schools level last year.

England should whoop Ireland but come the World Cup, the exposure Mike Ruddock has given to so many players will stand to them.

 

[munstermuffin]

Gareth Quinn McDonagh is a nice player too lads should he see some game time

 

[TRF_Olyy]

England grandslam decider as well

 

[Peat]

Oh aye, the backline doesn't really lose *that* much... and its all irrelevant as the Mini-Mick pack is going to get gaped.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Yeah, it's a workmanlike rather than strong Irish pack. I can see a fair proportion of them going on to have careers with the provinces but few if any are full international class.

 

[coonor]

England should win this but I think Mike Ruddock has dine a great job this year. As much as its great to see the u-20s win it is more about player development and Mike Ruddock has developed many players this year. The main players in that team look like Jordi Murphy who has impressed me and may provide further competition for the Ireland 8 jersey in the future. Hanrahan is also a great prospect and he could really stand out in the future for Munster.

 

[Peat]

I think workmanlike's being too kind tbh. All of the players have shown patches of something, but as a unit it lacks cohesion in the loose, they're still quite small most of them and they just completely ran out of steam vs. Wales.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I can't really disagree with that. Apart from the France game though, the pack have been okay. In the France game the starting tighthead, a starting second row and the starting number 8 were all injured. Given the new tighthead couldn't scrummage, the replacement second row is a lightweight u19 player and the replacement in the backrow has disappeared for being, well, rubbish, it's not surprising that Ireland were hockeyed in that game.

In the last two games when Martin Moore has been back at 3, the scrum has gone pretty well. The lineout is strong with Michael Kearney back. Backrow is still an issue with Shane Buckley and Aaron Conneally not impressing but both have another year of eligibility at this level.

Looking at those who've featued for Ireland in the pack to date:
James Tracy - Seems to be an okay scrummager and prominent in the loose. Could go on to have a decent career.
Tadhg Furlong - Haven't seen enough of him but he's eligible for another year and is very highly thought of.
Martin Moore - Relatively small for a tighthead but holds his own in the scrum. Looks a possible Leinster player a few years from now.
Finlay Bealham - Shite.
Conor Carey - See Finlay Bealham.
Niall Annett - A good all round player. Should have a long career. Potential international.
David Doyle - Converted flanker. Could be a long term project. Prominent in the loose and has an excellent try scoring rate.
Michael Kearney - Nothing to write home about thus far.
Danny Qualter - Converted backrower. Seems promising. Should go on to play for Connacht.
Iain Henderson - Lightweight but has another year at this level.
David O'Mahony - Anonymous against France and dropped after that.
Jordi Murphy - Very impressive. Great work rate. Lots of traffic in front of him at Leinster but will definitely make it somewhere. Possible international.
David Heffernan - See Conor Carey and Finlay Bealham.
Shane Buckley - Has been anonymous but has another year to improve at this level.
Aaron Conneally - See Shane Buckley.
Eoin McKeon - Good player who's already in the Connacht squad.
Cathal O'Flaherty - Haven't seen enough to comment.

A lot of quality backs will come from this Irish squad but very few forwards. That said, this age group of forwards can take heart from the u20 squad of 2008 (I think). They were awful and got whooped in the 6 Nations and subsequent World Cup in Belfast. However from that group Jamie Smith, Niall Morris, Eoin O'Malley, Scott Deasy, Mike Sherry, Jason Harris Wright and Ian Nagle look like going on to have good provincial careers despite not impressing at underage level- only O'Malley looked semi decent a few years ago.

 

[dangandan]

so we lost 46-15, which ended in a grand slam for the English. anyone see the game?

 

[Peat]

No, but reading Irish reports we went easy on you.

 

[dangandan]

ouch.. i'm guessing the forwards got mushed and the talent depth in the backs were exposed without the Ulster trio.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

England were full value for their win. There was a farcical incident in the second half when England were destroying the Irish scrum 5 metres from the tryline. Instead of awarding a penalty try, the ref gave the Irish loosehead a yellow card. All well and good except Ireland's other prop went off injured so the result was uncontested scrums for 10 minutes- not much of an advantage for England.

England's pack won them the game. The tight five destoyed Ireland at the breakdown and their ball carrying props generated a huge amount of go forward ball. Ireland were on the back foot as a result. The English pack as a whole were very good ball carriers and all were adept at offloading out of the tackle.

Ireland's strength and conditioning was a major issue. I lost count of the number of times somebody went down injured due to being run over by a rampant England team. England's backs were bigger than the Irish pack! George Ford, their one small player, was their most skillful player by some distance.

 

[profitius]

ouch.. i'm guessing the forwards got mushed and the talent depth in the backs were exposed without the Ulster trio.

The Irish backs played very well! Hanrahan was outstanding and outplayed Ford (the English 10 who was also very good) despite being on the back foot all the time.

The forwards were munched alright. It looked like typical U20's against a pro team. The size difference was hugh and that was the main difference. It was 10 - 11 after 34 min though.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

ouch.. i'm guessing the forwards got mushed and the talent depth in the backs were exposed without the Ulster trio.

The forwards were mushed. Not only were England bigger but they were also faster to the breakdown and had better skills than the Irish forwards. Jordi Murphy apart, it's hard to see even one potential international out of the rest of them.

The Irish backs were pretty good though considering the absentees. The scrum half Blaine McIlroy was his usual, terrible self. The flyhalf Cathal Marsh sat deeper and deeper in the pocket as the game wore on but he showed a great range of passing and brought his centres onto the ball. The centres JJ Hanrahan and Alex Kelly (especially Hanrahan) were very good. Back three didn't do much.