Ireland U20 vs Italy U20 Dubarry park k.o. 7:35pm friday

chupacabra

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v Italy U-20, RBS U-20 6 Nations Championship, Dubarry Park, Friday, February 5, kick-off 7.35pm):

15. Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)
14. Darren Hudson (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
13. Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster)
12. Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
10. James McKinney (Queen's University/Ulster)
9. John Cooney (UCD /Leinster)
1. Bryan Cagney (UCC/Munster)
2. Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
3. Jack O'Connell (Lansdowne/Leinster)
4. David O'Callaghan (UCC/Munster)
5. Ben Marshall (UCD/Leinster)
6. Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
7. Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
8. Patrick Butler (Shannon/Munster)

Replacements:

16. David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
17. Stewart Maguire (Old Belvedere/ Leinster)
18. Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution/Munster)
19. Robin O'Sullivan (Bective Rangers/Leinster)
20. Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
21. Brian Kingston (Blackrock/Leinster)
22. Eoin Griffin (Corinthians/Connacht)

The lack of Tiernan O'Halloran is pretty strange seeing as he is probably the best player in the squad and was interviewed this week by the IRFU site about his involvement in the U20 six nations including this game. Strange that Griffin is in there head of him too as TOH can cover more positions than him. That back line looks incredibly strong tho, Spence and Macken should be a very interesting combination as they are both a similar style of player and its good to see Zebo in the team even if its at the expense of O'Halloran. Should be a decent game.

thomond2006

chupacabra wrote: »

13. Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster)

I finally get a chance to see this lad play.

thebaz

chupacabra wrote: »

The lack of Tiernan O'Halloran is pretty strange seeing as he is probably the best player in the squad .

being Italy, would that be the strongest team ??

anyway, great that its being televised to see the stars of the future

thomond2006

http://www.rte.ie/ie/sportsixnations2010/entry/six_nations_u_20s_preview

profitius

chupacabra wrote: »

The lack of Tiernan O'Halloran is pretty strange seeing as he is probably the best player in the squad and was interviewed this week by the IRFU site about his involvement in the U20 six nations including this game. Strange that Griffin is in there head of him too as TOH can cover more positions than him. That back line looks incredibly strong tho, Spence and Macken should be a very interesting combination as they are both a similar style of player and its good to see Zebo in the team even if its at the expense of O'Halloran. Should be a decent game.

So you're upset TO'H isn't on the team but think its good that Zebo is on ahead of him???

chupacabra

profitius wrote: »

So you're upset TO'H isn't on the team but think its good that Zebo is on ahead of him???

I said its good to see him in the team even tho O'Halloran was shafted, as a munster supporter im just happy to have a munster player anywhere near that backline due to Leinster dominance. But yeah, TOHs non selection is ridiculous.

ALH-06

thebaz wrote: »

great that its being televised to see the stars of the future

Which channel is it being televised on?

Morf

ALH-06 wrote: »

Which channel is it being televised on?

It isn't. I think RTE might be showing a stream.

Podge_irl

It's on RTÉ 2, the A game is the one being streamed online.

Morf

Podge_irl wrote: »

It's on RTÉ 2, the A game is the one being streamed online.

Ahh pardon me!

ALH-06

Podge_irl wrote: »

It's on RTÉ 2, the A game is the one being streamed online.

Great news, cheers Podge.

bamboozle

TOH must be injured, looking forward to seeing the young guns of the future, thought the Leinster scrum half with the south african name would have been in the running.

chupacabra

bamboozle wrote: »

TOH must be injured, looking forward to seeing the young guns of the future, thought the Leinster scrum half with the south african name would have been in the running.

He played for Connacht A last night and was their stand out performer. Not injured.

siltirocker

It was a disciplinary reason. Well according to the grapevine. Shame. Hope it's not serious (or true for that matter, , , , but it probably is).

profitius

Looking forward to seeing Macken, Conway and the 3 backrowers.

LFC5Times

On Tiernan O'Halloran, even though he played for Connacht A, it said in the paper he is not fully fit/match fit, kind of indicating that is why he isnt in the U.20 squad for tonight.

funky penguin

Little bit disappointing so far, lacking a cutting edge, too slow at times.

Risteard

Great try.

funky penguin

Says me then they score a try.....

8-0 to Ireland with convertion to come.

funky penguin

Seem to be finding a groove now. Disallowed try, hard scrumagging, now a try from Spence, should be converted.

EDIT: Or not...13-0

thomond2006

The Irish scrum is a thing of beauty.

Risteard

Another good try. Irish scrum looks very impressive and Butler looks good. Reminds of Parisse in the way that he steps just before a tackle.

funky penguin

Macken reminds me of D'Arcy, always has 3 of the opposition hanging out of him as he runs forward!

wixfjord

jesus macken is a brute great balance too.

wixfjord

Haha! Quote of the weekend "Olympic volleyball is a bigger sport than rugby in Italy!"

chupacabra

Pretty sloppy game but lots of positives to look at. The scrum was strong, Paddy Butler is looking like a seasoned international, Conway and Hudson were impressive. Thought McKinny had a very average game, played way too flat and did nothing for the players outside him tho having said that Spence was awful at 12. A lot to do

profitius

I thought the Italians were poor so it's hard to judge the Irish performance. The scrums were disappointing. The first half Ireland dominated but the Italians dominated the second half.

wixfjord

The English will beat us well going on tonights performances.

thebaz

hard to judge , Italy were so poor - our back row, scrum and most of the backs did well - though i'd start Kingston at 10 next time

thomond2006

U20s roundup: http://www.rugby365.com/news/2209371.htm

England vs Wales, 41-14
Ireland vs Italy, 39-0
Scotland vs France, 8-8

thomond2006

England have a few players that are getting regular GP gametime.

James Gaskell - Sale: Part of the first XV in second row or back row
Rory Clegg - Harlequins: Second choice flyhalf, behind Nick Evans.
Freddie Burns - Gloucester: With Spencer departed, he's now second choice 10 behind Nicky Robinson.
Tom Homer - London Irish: Has made 14 senior appearances.

That's a lot of top level experience for an U20s side.

profitius

thomond2006 wrote: »

England have a few players that are getting regular GP gametime.

James Gaskell - Sale: Part of the first XV in second row or back row
Rory Clegg - Harlequins: Second choice flyhalf, behind Nick Evans.
Freddie Burns - Gloucester: With Spencer departed, he's now second choice 10 behind Nicky Robinson.
Tom Homer - London Irish: Has made 14 senior appearances.

That's a lot of top level experience for an U20s side.

Yeah. The downside to having a successful team is that it takes a while for young players to break into it. Look at Munster where you have young players like Eoghan Grace who can't get a game.


Leinster and Munster have this problem. Leinster seem to be better but McLaughlin only got a chance because Elsom didn't stay and Sexton wouldn't have played last season if Contepomi wasn't injured. So maybe the coaches should give young players more of a chance instead of signing foreigners.


Regarding the English teams it seems that the wealth of the French teams is good for the England national team. The English clubs can't afford to compete with the French and therefore must concentrate on developing their young players. This is the reason I'd like to see the number of non Irish players the provinces are allowed reduced. It would give more oppertunities to Irish players like some tighthead props for example.

profitius

profitius wrote: »

Looking forward to seeing Macken, Conway and the 3 backrowers.

So heres what I thought of the players. Macken looked more like a 12. He is powerful and fast but I didn't see him pass the ball much or maybe at all so I don't know how skillful he is.


Conway looked lively and creative.


The backrow played well. Its hard to judge in these kind of games. Butler was the standout there with his carrying and lineout work. He looked lighter then the Leinster lads Ryan and Rudduck but he'll bulk up a bit when he goes to the Munster academy. Ruddock didn't really stand out neither did Ryan but the Irish team did dominate the breakdown.