Ireland U20 6 Nations Champions 2010

gavkm27

Well thought it deserved a thread on it's own,more stuff to cheer us up,the U20 win the overall 6 nations championship.
England played france today and need to beat them by 47 points to win,the got the 47,but let in 31 in the end.
This sets the Irish side up nicely for the WC in June in Argentina where they face a tough group of France,England,Argentina,with only the winner advancing to the Semifinals.
Congrats to Allen Clarke and the youngsters,if anyone saw the game Friday there is alot to be excited about for the future of Irish Rugby.

Ireland secured the RBS Under-20 6 Nations Championship after England's 47-31 win against France.
It was always an unlikely scenario that Ireland would fail to win the Championship after their 44-15 defeat of Scotland left England needing a 47-point margin of victory in Saint Nazaire to overtake the Irish into top spot.

And Allen Clarke’s team were left to celebrate a stunning success that disproves the theory that the senior side will struggle to replace the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 2009 Grand Slam.

Shining lights in their campaign included full-back Andrew Conway and fly-half James McKinney who chipped in with 19 points against Scotland.

But Clarke used his entire squad wisely and while the backs ran in the tries, the Irish pack won the majority of their set-piece confrontations.

At one stage the Championship looked unlikely after they lost 20-15 to France in their second-round confrontation.

But Ireland shocked title favourites England by turning them over 25-10 at Kingsholm in a smash-and-grab raid that sensational victory laid the foundations of the Championship success.

thomond2006

Great stuff, fair play to the players and management.

sock puppet

How strong were England and France squads in the Six Nations does anyone know? Just England made last year's final despite a poor enough six nations.

Aidric

Good on 'em, played some great rugby along the way.

Stev_o

sock puppet wrote: »

How strong were England and France squads in the Six Nations does anyone know? Just England made last year's final despite a poor enough six nations.

They lost a few of their full time contract players to the GP fixture list that weekend we played them.

Digifriendly

Stev_o wrote: »

They lost a few of their full time contract players to the GP fixture list that weekend we played them.

Yes they walloped Wales when they had the full compliment then struggled to beat Italy due partly to loss of some players with GP restarting. It would be interesting to see the various teams they put out. Remember there was no GP action this weekend (just the LV Cup Final) when they put 47 on France.

pappyodaniel

Stev_o wrote: »

They lost a few of their full time contract players to the GP fixture list that weekend we played them.

It's still a huge accomplishment to win the tournament when you consider the resources the French and especially the English have in regard to the amount of players available to them.

irishbucsfan

pappyodaniel wrote: »

It's still a huge accomplishment to win the tournament when you consider the resources the French and especially the English have in regard to the amount of players available to them.

While that is true, I think the Irish were in a better situation than France or England because they didn't have to contend with clubs calling their best players back for matches and disrupting the squad. The Irish players gave priority to the national team, so players like Dom Ryan or Conway who might have been in the Leinster team on Thursday night were lining out for Ireland on Friday night instead.

It'll be interesting to watch the teams in the JWC to see how the get on with their full squads.

OAOB

Fair play to the lads, its great to see a production line of young players coming through who are used to winning.
On a side note can someone explain to me why the final table says we only play 4 games instead of 5?

gavkm27

OAOB wrote: »

On a side note can someone explain to me why the final table says we only play 4 games instead of 5?

Just spotted that,it's not including the last game,RBS site not updated yet,will fix when it is.

LeeroyJones

Hats off to the IRFU and the development system in place. For years now consistent quality has been coming through the ranks during the pro era. For a country the size of ours with no colonies or nearby islands to recruit from and which competes with 3 other sports we are doing excellent I think. This is not a swipe at those countries who have a higher player population but rather a pat on the back to the IRFU who have put us in a position to compete with these nations.

Congratulations to the Under-20's, it is a well deserved title they hold. They played some lovely rugby.

sock puppet

LeeroyJones wrote: »

Hats off to the IRFU and the development system in place. For years now consistent quality has been coming through the ranks during the pro era. For a country the size of ours with no colonies or nearby islands to recruit from and which competes with 3 other sports we are doing excellent I think. This is not a swipe at those countries who have a higher player population but rather a pat on the back to the IRFU who have put us in a position to compete with these nations.

Congratulations to the Under-20's, it is a well deserved title they hold. They played some lovely rugby.

Who needs them when we've got Wales.

funky penguin

Fair play to them, some lovely rugby played over the tournament, notably their win over Scotland. Effortless and flowing, full of confidence. if they had been a little bit more clinical against France, the GS would have been their's.

So many positives to take from it, but especially the backs namely Conway, O'Halloran, Zebo, Spense and Griffen.

andrewdcs

Great stuff, hopefully we've got all these players in positions at clubs where they'll be able to use the experience and kick on. Some great talent on show, in the bits and pieces I've watched.

PhatPiggins

funky penguin wrote: »

Fair play to them, some lovely rugby played over the tournament, notably their win over Scotland. Effortless and flowing, full of confidence. if they had been a little bit more clinical against France, the GS would have been their's.

So many positives to take from it, but especially the backs namely Conway, O'Halloran, Zebo, Spense and Griffen.

They really should have done the slam as well but its hard to find fault with them. As always with Irish teams they have a glut of back three and backrow options, decent half backs and second rows, a potentially world class hooker and two props who would struggle in the AIL. Is this some sort of running joke?

Real FM

I think that's a bit harsh on Jack O'Connell. He seemed to make a big difference to the scrum when he joined the set up after a few games.

It'd be great if he could go all the way. Nevermind another prop - but one who could play either side at a high level would be worth his (quite considerable) weight in gold.

thebaz

PhatPiggins wrote: »

a potentially world class hooker and two props who would struggle in the AIL. Is this some sort of running joke?

hooker is good, but i thought he was bit slight for the modern game , where you nearly need to be a prop that can throw darts -

I thought the scrum was good in the last 2 matches i saw

PhatPiggins

thebaz wrote: »

hooker is good, but i thought he was bit slight for the modern game , where you nearly need to be a prop that can throw darts -

I thought the scrum was good in the last 2 matches i saw

It certainly improved as the tournament went on but all I saw from Maguire was brute strength from a guy who has developed early. He did well against Wales and Scotland when their loose heads tried to match him for power but struggled against the French and the English who had more technique based loose heads.

He'll need massive work on his technique if he is going to step up a level, hopefully it'll come with experience.

Beanmachine

Just to let everyone know even though it kicks off in june, Sky Sports will be broadcasting the Junior World Cup in Argentina this year.

thebaz

Beanmachine wrote: »

Just to let everyone know even though it kicks off in june, Sky Sports will be broadcasting the Junior World Cup in Argentina this year.

good stuff plenty of time for them to sober up :p