Ireland U20s.

thomond2006

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v France U-20s, RBS Under-20 6 Nations Championship, Stade de la Chevaliere, Mazamet, Friday, February 12, kick-off 8.45pm local time/ 7.45pm Irish time):

15 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)
14 - Darren Hudson (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
13 - Brendan Macken (Blackrock/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 Ireland U-20 v France U-20 game will broadcast live on RTE Two on Friday evening, with coverage starting at 7.30pm

Co45

I'm suprised that Kingston isn't starting after McKinney's performance last week.

chupacabra

Co45 wrote: »

I'm suprised that Kingston isn't starting after McKinney's performance last week.

He had a decent second half, but he seems to have a complete inability to get the back line moving, and with the back line we have... its a sin.

Co45

chupacabra wrote: »

He had a decent second half, but he seems to have a complete inability to get the back line moving, and with the back line we have... its a sin.

From my limited knowledge of U20 rugby I would of had O'Halloran starting ahead of Zebo, Maguire starting ahead of Cagney and Kingston ahead of McKinney. I would probably call for Cooney to be dropped after his performance but never seen Heaney played outside of his cameo.

Kenteach

McKinney was a big disappointment last week, but he;s good enough to up his game significantly this week.

NU8

Kenteach wrote: »

McKinney was a big disappointment last week, but he;s good enough to up his game significantly this week.

The same is true for Cooney, having seen him play during the year he is certainly better than he looked on Friday.

I thought he was actually quite good in the second half anway but I'd expect a big improvement against France.

profitius

I disagree about McKinney. He made some mistakes but he done alot of things right too. Thats what you should look for in young players because it shows they have talent.

chupacabra

Tiernan O'Halloran not in the squad again must have had a falling out with the coach.

Risteard

Co45 wrote: »

I'm suprised that Kingston isn't starting after McKinney's performance last week.

I agree. I don't claim to be well up on the 20s but I thought he made an immediate impact when he came on last week.

gavkm27

chupacabra wrote: »

Tiernan O'Halloran not in the squad again must have had a falling out with the coach.

Yeah i really don't know whats up there,he played the Connacht A game last week and heard he was short on match fitness,so should be in this team unless he is injured or had a fallout,shame

FridaysWell

15 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)

11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)



I want to see these two on the Irish senior team in a few years.
Especially Zebo.
More so Conway

Hype710

gavkm27 wrote: »

Yeah i really don't know whats up there,he played the Connacht A game last week and heard he was short on match fitness,so should be in this team unless he is injured or had a fallout,shame

Well I suppose it's due to the fact that Hudson got a hatrick and thus didnt deserve to be dropped and neither did Zebo after a well taken try and another very good break. Griffin covers centre and wing so makes sense to have him on the bench. Would still like to see what this O Halloran kid is made of though.

siltirocker

gavkm27 wrote: »

Yeah i really don't know whats up there,he played the Connacht A game last week and heard he was short on match fitness,so should be in this team unless he is injured or had a fallout,shame

As i said last week, i was told by a man directly involved with the u-20's that it was disciplinary. He played some 75mins last week and was the best man in green down in Thomond according to the few i know who were there. Shame.

P.S Interestingly enough, the gent who told me this went on to say that the reason he hasn't been playing for Connacht seniors this year (and possible next) is because they don't want him exposed before he has signed a senior deal for fear of him being snapped up by Munster/Leinster/etc. Noble for Connacht, sly on O'Halloran if true.

Anyway Macken looks better than i remember, as does Spence. Zebo took his try well too.

Sangre

FridaysWell wrote: »

15 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)

11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)



I want to see these two on the Irish senior team in a few years.
Especially Zebo.
More so Conway

Yes and epsecially Lisa, but especially Bart.

Co45

siltirocker wrote: »

P.S Interestingly enough, the gent who told me this went on to say that the reason he hasn't been playing for Connacht seniors this year (and possible next) is because they don't want him exposed before he has signed a senior deal for fear of him being snapped up by Munster/Leinster/etc. Noble for Connacht, sly on O'Halloran if true.

Very silly on Connacht's part, firstly it's likely both Leinster and Munster are already well aware of this kid and secondly, Connacht could simply offer him a full time contract whenever they want as hes of legal age!

thebaz

like most, would like to have seen Kingston from the start - at 22 stone , I'd also like to see what potential Maguire brings - curious he is not starting

siltirocker

Co45 wrote: »

Very silly on Connacht's part, firstly it's likely both Leinster and Munster are already well aware of this kid and secondly, Connacht could simply offer him a full time contract whenever they want as hes of legal age!

I believe they can offer one now, but it won't take affect till 2011/2012 season when his development contract is up. And most players only begin consultation on these matters maybe 8/9 months before hand.

WeeBushy

FridaysWell wrote: »

I want to see these two on the Irish senior team in a few years.
Especially Zebo.
More so Conway

WeeBushy

WeeBushy wrote: »

Thats what i was thinking,Zebo willl never make the irish team,his footballing skills arent up to it.
Conway could make the Leinster wing spot in a few years,but cant see him displacing Bowe in the Ireland setup anytime soon.

Ciaran-Irl

Khloe Tiny Nation wrote: »

Thats what i was thinking,Zebo willl never make the irish team,his footballing skills arent up to it.
Conway could make the Leinster wing spot in a few years,but cant see him displacing Bowe in the Ireland setup anytime soon.

Conway, Macken & Rhys Ruddock are the obvious candidates as Future internationals, but others like Zebo could well make it. Disagree from what I've seen that his footballing skills aren't up to it. Great pace as well. Predatory player.

FridaysWell

WeeBushy wrote: »

I know Conway will definitely make it. Thats why I said more so Conway, because I've watched him play, and he has that work ethic in him. He's a nice chappie too. Zebo I'm not so sure if he would make it or not, but I would love to see that name on a Leinster team sheet. Just once.

Hehe. Zebo.

profitius

siltirocker wrote: »

As i said last week, i was told by a man directly involved with the u-20's that it was disciplinary. He played some 75mins last week and was the best man in green down in Thomond according to the few i know who were there. Shame.

P.S Interestingly enough, the gent who told me this went on to say that the reason he hasn't been playing for Connacht seniors this year (and possible next) is because they don't want him exposed before he has signed a senior deal for fear of him being snapped up by Munster/Leinster/etc. Noble for Connacht, sly on O'Halloran if true.

Anyway Macken looks better than i remember, as does Spence. Zebo took his try well too.

How fast is O'Halloran? I heard he's about the same as Denis Hickie but bigger.


I think if TOH is that good he'll end up at Munster sooner or later.

profitius

FridaysWell wrote: »

15 - Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)

11 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)



I want to see these two on the Irish senior team in a few years.
Especially Zebo.
More so Conway

Its hard to know with young players how they'll develop. Conway looked a little on the small side and Zebo looked a bit timid.


Macken and Spence look to have provisional careers ahead of them. McKinney too. Hudson could be a surprise and its surprising nobody is mentioning him after his hat trick of tries. He showed an excellent piece of skill to score the first try. I don't know how fast he is but he looks a solid player.


Of the forwards its harder to say who'll make it. The 3 backrows look most likely.

WeeBushy

FridaysWell wrote: »

I know Conway will definitely make it. Thats why I said more so Conway, because I've watched him play, and he has that work ethic in him. He's a nice chappie too. Zebo I'm not so sure if he would make it or not, but I would love to see that name on a Leinster team sheet. Just once.

Hehe. Zebo.

Then why did you say especially zebo? Meh. Semantics.

I'm not fully convinced by Zebo. He always looks a little one dimensional when ever I see him. Kind of reminds me of Vasily Artimiev (Russian Blackrock winger who was in the Leinster academy for a while), fast and powerful but no rugby brain.

PhatPiggins

WeeBushy wrote: »

Then why did you say especially zebo? Meh. Semantics.

I'm not fully convinced by Zebo. He always looks a little one dimensional when ever I see him. Kind of reminds me of Vasily Artimiev (Russian Blackrock winger who was in the Leinster academy for a while), fast and powerful but no rugby brain.

He seems to be in the top 3 try scrorers of every 7's tournie I watch. Seems to suit his game a bit more the the XV man version

WeeBushy

PhatPiggins wrote: »

He seems to be in the top 3 try scrorers of every 7's tournie I watch. Seems to suit his game a bit more the the XV man version

Would make sense... You can get away with not having a rugby brain more easily and make up for it with pace and power.

Could be a big player for us in the Olympics so.

Podge_irl

WeeBushy wrote: »

Would make sense... You can get away with not having a rugby brain more easily and make up for it with pace and power.

Could be a big player for us in the Olympics so.

All the talk of the Olympics seems to gloss over the fact that there's a very real chance we won't be in it.

SI NO

Ireland to come strong against an odd French team!

they drew 8-8 with scotland!

very difficult to predict at this level!

big neilly

did you hear them young lads sing Irelands Call couple of them could do with singing lessons full of passion though

Ciaran-Irl

Anyone watching this? What's going on?

laugh

jack is an animal.

ssaye

12-8 Ireland 38 mins - french giving a penalty away every other play

mckinney 4 pens

Risteard

Fast track that TH pronto.

chupacabra

The defense has been superb bar that 1 mistake leading to the try

ssaye

12-11 Ireland few subs for France

flyswatter

France just pushed Irish scrum back 10 metres, pretty demoralising.

France 17-12 Ireland.

Judgement Day

France 20 -Ireland 15. Ireland still look like they have the winning of this if they could stop giving away penalties.

chupacabra

This ref is appaling

bmcgov86

anyone know what score the other game in the group is:
Italy -v- England
where could i get the latest live score on that?

ssaye

http://www.heavensgame.com/6-nations/england-u20-stumble-past-italy

Italy U20 10 England U20 16


over a while

thomond2006

FT.

Shame about Macken's pass at the end there, could have lead to something.

laugh

Should have made changes earlier they were tired from bashing the french.

Risteard

Risteard wrote: »

Fast track that TH pronto.

Spoke too soon it appears. Still, some good players there.

PhatPiggins

"We'll never know if that our father would have worked"

Step aside Ryle Nugent, hand in your microphone Jimmy MaGee we've reached a new low in sports cliches gone wrong. Sheehan is hardly much better

chupacabra

Very dissapointing. That French team weren't great and we fluffed our chances. Mckinny shouldn't start next week, Kingston made an immediate impact

nosco

I wouldn't think Kingston is international 20's standard at all. Admittedly, i'm judging him from his performance for rock in that sct cup team so i'm being unfair discounting his last year of rugby. However, one would think that top class players should be shining at schools level(BOD is an enigma so i'm not counting him!!!)

I also thought macken was a bit over hyped during that campaign and people seem to be tipping him also, so its probably just a case of me being wrong! Conway was different class in my eyes on that team.

chupacabra

With spence inside him Macken just isn't getting the ball so we've not seen much from him so far

Dissapointing performance,the 9 was terrible.
Zebo was very good,changed my view of him.He ran his heart out,pity because he didnt have the legs left to follow Conway at the end.

The scrum was a joke and McGuire for his size seems useless.Spence inside Macken clearly isnt working also.

I thought the coach was wrong not to make wholesale changes.I think thios probably cost us the match.

RuggieBear

thought butler was impressive. dissapointed with conway....couldn't get the pass away so many times it was frustrating.

Ryan has the physicality but is a complete penalty machine...needs to get way smarter.

front row was a mixed bag tbh.

PhatPiggins

Khloe Tiny Nation wrote: »

Dissapointing performance,the 9 was terrible.
Zebo was very good,changed my view of him.He ran his heart out,pity because he didnt have the legs left to follow Conway at the end.

The scrum was a joke and McGuire for his size seems useless.Spence inside Macken clearly isnt working also.

I thought the coach was wrong not to make wholesale changes.I think thios probably cost us the match.

McGuire looks like he might be the next Tony Buckley. But props usually develope much later so here's hoping he improves.

As usual we have a glut of decent backrow and three quater/back 3 players and not a decent front row in sight. Seems to be a reacuring theme at every grade in Ireland.

funky penguin

Conway and Zebo could fill that pacey gap left by Hickie. Otherwise, very dissapointing game. Frustrating to watch.