2010 Junior world cup MEGA thread

chupacabra

All Irish games will be shown live on Setanta Ireland and Sky Sports.

Its that time of year again fellows. That time of year when we send our boys off into the wilderness to do battle with the best the world has to offer. That time of the year when new stars are born, where new names are made and where boys become men. That time of year when idiotic embarrassing English commentators deem Ireland "not worthy" to front up against the silly war dance that has no meaning or justification, And that time of year that nobody but us obsessive (read: dedicated) rugby fans give a crap about.
Lady and Gentlemen, its time for the Junior world championship.

This year sees the competition held in Argentina. A country that is trying its very best to expand its rugby culture and broaden its appeal in an otherwise football dominated landscape. Big crowds are expected and big crowds there will be. The Argentinians love any chance for a party and no doubt there will be a great buzz around the place and hopefully an atmosphere that fosters sublime test level rugby!
Last year the competition (held in Japan) gave us some great moments and gave rise to stars like Aaron Cruden, Tom Homer and Zac Guildford while showing the promise of young irish bucks like Dave Kearney, Ian McKinley and Nevin Spence. The latter of which is expected to play a big role in this years challenge.

So what of Irelands chances this year? Well, being the current holders of the U20 Six Nations championships will make Ireland the target team for the big sides in this years tournament. Our group consists of the following:

POOL B:
Argentina
England
France
Ireland

Yeah....... Not great reading from an Irish point of view. But then again nothing we cant take care of. And we're fairly lucky not to have any of the big SH sides in our pool. Argentina arent great at this level but home advantage should buoy them slightly. We would have easily beaten France if not for us trying to force things and making silly mistakes so they're no great shakes. Its England you have to worry about. This is a side made up of players who have a ton of GP experience and a lot of the team who played in last years JWC. And tho we beat them in February they were missing a few of their key players due to club commitments/injury etc. so it remains to be seen how well the Irish lads can front up. Should be an absolutely cracking game tho.
The real challenge this year will come if we manage to get out of our pool. Any of Australia, South Africa, New Zealand await us. And we will have to be at our absolute best to topple them. We can definitely do it.

So as our young stars fly off to Argentina today lets throw our full support behind them. They have every chance of taking something significant away with them this year, even more a chance than any irish U20 squad has ever had. Easily one of the best groups of young irish players to ever pull on a shirt for their country.

Your thoughts?

IRELAND UNDER-20 SQUAD (2010 IRB Junior World Championship, Argentina):

Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Denis Buckley (Corinthians/Connacht)
Patrick Butler (Shannon/Munster)
Bryan Cagney (UCC/Munster)
Andrew Conway (Blackrock/Leinster)
John Cooney (UCD/Leinster)
David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
Eoin Griffin (Corinthians/Connacht)
Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution/Munster)
Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
Darren Hudson (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Brendan Macken (Blackrock/Leinster)
Stewart Maguire (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Ben Marshall (UCD/Leinster)
James McKinney (Queen's University/Ulster)
David McSharry (UCD/Leinster)
Jordi Murphy (Blackrock/Leinster)
David O'Callaghan (UCC/Munster)
Jack O'Connell (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Tiernan O'Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)
Brian O'Hara (UL Bohemians/Munster) (Great to see him tour, wont get much game time due to his injury)
Noel Reid (UCD/Leinster)
Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)

IRELAND'S POOL B FIXTURES:

Saturday, June 5: Ireland v France, Estadio El Coloso del Parque, Rosario, 2pm local time (6pm Irish time)

Wednesday, June 9: Ireland v England, Estadio El Coloso del Parque, Rosario, 2pm local time (6pm Irish time)

Sunday, June 13: Argentina v Ireland, Estadio El Coloso del Parque, Rosario, 4pm local time (8pm Irish time)

P.S. Im not good at making big threads like this so cut me some slack

Ciaran-Irl

My attempt at a 15: A Conway; T O'Halloran, B Macken (Maybe? Hasn't been in top form I hear), N Spence, S Zebo; J McKinney, Don't know; J O'Connell, N Annett (Maybe?), S Maguire (Has to start, but not fit enough to play 80 mins), D O'Callaghan, B Marshall; R Ruddock (Captain), D Ryan, P Butler.

You would think Hudson would start on one wing, given the amount of tries he scored in the 6 Nations, but not sure he will ahead of the Connacht & Munster lads. Could Zebo play 13 and Hudson move to the wing?

That is a great team to be fair.

Outstanding full back. Good options on the wings. Spence & McKinney from Ulster are an excellent 10/12 axis.

Savage back row. Solid enough front row, but likely to get savaged by England. The second row don't look to have enough power compared with some of the nations. Will remain to be seen.

Good luck to the lads.

Amazotheamazing

Strange what a difference a year makes, last year Burke and McKinley were the next big things at outhalf in this comp, Burke has seemingly been cut from Munster's Academy and McKinley suffered a serious eye injury that could serious curtail his career. Meanwhile, Danny Barnes was a late replacement into the squad and now he has a development contract with Munster. Pro sport, it's a tough business.

At the start of this season O'Hara was the big prospect in Munster, and was captain of this team, gets injured, Butler steps in and now he's the one with the development contract.

Good luck to all the players, enjoy it because it can be a cruel sport.

TheTMO

My 15

1. Jack O'Connell
2. Annet
3. Stewart Maguire
4. O'Callaghan
5. Marshall
6. Ruddock
7. Ryan
8. Butler
9. Cooney
10. Noel Reid
11. O'Halloran
12. Spence
13. Macken
14. Hudson (performed far better than Zebo)
15. Conway

danthefan

TheTMO wrote: »

My 15

1. Jack O'Connell
2. ?
3. Stewart Maguire
4. O'Callaghan
5. Marshall
6. Ruddock
7. Ryan
8. Butler
9. Cooney
10. Noel Reid
11. O'Halloran
12. Spence
13. Macken
14. Hudson (performed far better than Zebo)
15. Conway

Annett should be starting hooker.

profitius

Picking U20 teams is always difficult in rugby because players mature at different rates. We'll see some of these first teamers who won't make it and there'll be other players in the background who will make it.

Does anybody else think, like me, that this U20 team will produce the most professionals ever? Theres two main reasons why I think that.
-1, the quality of underage rugby is getting better every year. This U20 team have more skill than alot of the senior players.
-2, With this "golden generation" about to retire in the next year or two there'll be alot of places up for grabs. Thats why theres alot of players on development contracts in Munster and Leinster for next season.

Ciaran-Irl wrote: »

You would think Hudson would start on one wing, given the amount of tries he scored in the 6 Nations, but not sure he will ahead of the Connacht & Munster lads. Could Zebo play 13 and Hudson move to the wing?

Put Hudson on the wing ahead of Zebo. He was better in the 6 nations so he deserves it ahead of Zebo.

chupacabra

TheTMO wrote: »

12. Spence
13. Macken

Dunno why people persist with thinking this is a good partnership. The reason Macken has appeared to be off form is because he has a running center inside him who doesn't give a thought to distributing the ball to the outside backs so Macken is starved for possession and whenever he does receive the ball its either a pop pass or a short ball that gives him no room to make those bursting runs he is known for. I think something along the lines of this would work better:

12. Noel Reid
13. Macken/Spence

or

12. Macken/Spence
13. Griffin

the first combination puts a "second five eight" style center inside a big hard running outside center and is definitely the play making option. Reid would provide the space needed for Spence/Macken to be their destructive best.

The second combination is the one i would go for. Its akin to the Roberts O'Driscoll partnership of the Lions tour. We'll find out Thursday when the team is announced i guess.

madds

Thanks Chup. I had forgotten this was coming up. Really looking forward to seeing if we can pick up where we left off after the Six Nations. The hard ground should suit our style.

Zuffer

Thanks for putting this up. I haven't seen much of these players other than the six nations games, I'm looking forward to it.

I think it will be really hard to get out of our group. The best 2nd placed team is unlikely to come from our pool, we're looking at having to win all three games to progress.

chupacabra

chupacabra wrote: »

Dunno why people persist with thinking this is a good partnership. The reason Macken has appeared to be off form is because he has a running center inside him who doesn't give a thought to distributing the ball to the outside backs so Macken is starved for possession and whenever he does receive the ball its either a pop pass or a short ball that gives him no room to make those bursting runs he is known for. I think something along the lines of this would work better:

12. Noel Reid
13. Macken/Spence

or

12. Macken/Spence
13. Griffin

the first combination puts a "second five eight" style center inside a big hard running outside center and is definitely the play making option. Reid would provide the space needed for Spence/Macken to be their destructive best.

The second combination is the one i would go for. Its akin to the Roberts O'Driscoll partnership of the Lions tour. We'll find out Thursday when the team is announced i guess.

Excellent post.

I felt Macken never got a legitimate chance in the 6N, through no fault of his own. You've summed it up perfectly.

Noel Reid is a player I saw a lot of last season for the Leinster U20s, this guy is like an even more rounded Paddy Wallace. I think himself and Macken would make an excellent partnership, but I don't think that its going to happen unfortunately.

Ciaran-Irl

chupacabra wrote: »

Dunno why people persist with thinking this is a good partnership. The reason Macken has appeared to be off form is because he has a running center inside him who doesn't give a thought to distributing the ball to the outside backs so Macken is starved for possession and whenever he does receive the ball its either a pop pass or a short ball that gives him no room to make those bursting runs he is known for. I think something along the lines of this would work better:

12. Noel Reid
13. Macken/Spence

or

12. Macken/Spence
13. Griffin

the first combination puts a "second five eight" style center inside a big hard running outside center and is definitely the play making option. Reid would provide the space needed for Spence/Macken to be their destructive best.

The second combination is the one i would go for. Its akin to the Roberts O'Driscoll partnership of the Lions tour. We'll find out Thursday when the team is announced i guess.

Good point on that. It would be similar in a way to the way the All Blacks play with Nonu & Smith.

Robbo

Any idea if there's any chance of catching this on TV?

Checking the IRB Site for it, there'll be matches streamed but nothing's announced yet for regular TV...

B0X

Robbo wrote: »

Any idea if there's any chance of catching this on TV?

Checking the IRB Site for it, there'll be matches streamed but nothing's announced yet for regular TV...

I think it's all on Setanta Ireland.

Crash

As a note, those streams are generally fantastic quality as well. Watched the Ireland NZ match last year on one, crystal clear.

JustinDee

Robbo wrote: »

Any idea if there's any chance of catching this on TV?

Checking the IRB Site for it, there'll be matches streamed but nothing's announced yet for regular TV...

Sky Sports and Setanta will be showing it.

Robbo

B0X wrote: »

I think it's all on Setanta Ireland.

Urgh, streams for me it is then. I don't see how Setanta can justify €17 a month on top of Sky considering they have the square root of shag all stuff that isn't available elsewhere.

theKramer

Robbo wrote: »

Urgh, streams for me it is then. I don't see how Setanta can justify €17 a month on top of Sky considering they have the square root of shag all stuff that isn't available elsewhere.

Well, if you're on UPC, you get Setanta Ireland as part of the basic package.

Setanta is showing a good bit of rugby on Saturday:
Wales v SA 2pm

JWC
France v Ireland 5:45pm
Argentina v England 8pm

They arent showing anymore JWC matches until the following wednesday, when they have:
England v Ireland 5:45pm
Argentina v France 8pm

LeeroyJones

Team Announced for France match on Saturday

15: Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster)
14: Tiernan O'Halloran (Galwegians/Connacht)
13: Eoin Griffin (Corinthians/Connacht)
12: Nevin Spence (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11: Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster)
10: James McKinney (Queen's University/Ulster)
9: John Cooney (UCD/Leinster)

1: Jack O'Connell (Lansdowne/Leinster)
2: Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
3: Stewart Maguire (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
4: David O'Callaghan (UCC/Munster)
5: Ben Marshall (UCD/Leinster)
6: Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster) CAPTAIN
7: Dominic Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
8: Patrick Butler (Shannon/Munster)

REPLACEMENTS:

16: David Doyle (UCD/Leinster)
17: Bryan Cagney (UCC/Munster)
18: Brian Hayes (Cork Constitution/Munster)
19: Brian O'Hara (UL Bohemians/Munster)
20: Michael Heaney (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
21: Noel Reid (UCD/Leinster)
22: Darren Hudson (St. Mary's College/Leinster)

Stev_o

Good team, realistically we should be able to beat this French side as they are pretty poor just as long as we dont make the same mistakes we did in the 6N.

liam12989

but against france in the 6nations match conditions were dreadful. These guys will Relish could underfoot conditions.We shouldnt fear anyone in that group

anonymous_joe

Hmmm, one of them's related to a lad I know. May have to watch this.

irishbucsfan

I'm really happy to see the Connacht lads starting, the team was much better with them playing.

[Jackass]

Yeah, I wonder at what point they decide Connacht wont be used. Shame for Keatley, Carr et al.

Suprised Macken doesn't even make match day 22.

Looking forward to seeing the back-row in action, and also how the backs run it. Would love to see Conway excell in this competition.

T-30 till kick off!

colman1212

any streams?!

copacetic

massive scrum against the head for Ireland there to win the ball and then the penalty. Worth a go but well short...

LeeroyJones

Promising Irish start. French lineout on their own line

copacetic

Try on the french line, another good one needed..

edit - peno won.

Going for kick to make it 6-6, but missed for a very kickable position.

Reasonable start for Ireland, but should have more points on the board at this stage. Sky finally have the sound fx working so it doesn't seem so surreal.

LeeroyJones

France 12-3 Ireland.

Could be argued that Ireland don't deserve this deficit but France are taking their chances

Sangre

12-6 half time to France. McKinney has only got 2 from 4 kicks.

copacetic

LeeroyJones wrote: »

France 12-3 Ireland.

Could be argued that Ireland don't deserve this deficit but France are taking their chances

12-6 now, kick on half time. Lot of pressure from us, but as you say France took their chances much better, although of the 2 missed kicks, only one was kickable imo, the first was clearly out of his range.

corny

The French are effectively closing down space from the wide channels. Obviously aware of our pace out wide. Too many very soft penalties given away by Ireland. Definitely a winnable game.

LeeroyJones

copacetic wrote: »

12-6 now, kick on half time. Lot of pressure from us, but as you say France took their chances much better, although of the 2 missed kicks, only one was kickable imo, the first was clearly out of his range.

Summed up well their on the panel. Our indiscipline and lack of accuracy is costing us.

Sangre

Ref link/whistle seems way off to me on Setanta.

Risteard

Sangre wrote: »

Ref link/whistle seems way off to me on Setanta.

Setanta I think have the audio of another match as the ref is speaking French. I'm watching it on Sky and it's grand.

copacetic

Sangre wrote: »

Ref link/whistle seems way off to me on Setanta.

Yep, there were problems so sky left the fx off until they could fix it I think.

Ireland go 15-12 up. 25 left

Risteard wrote: »

Setanta I think have the audio of another match as the ref is speaking French. I'm watching it on Sky and it's grand.

Pretty sure they are just off in timing? The ref is speaking French to the French team?

Edit - Yep, but the sound fx are like 20 secs ahead on setanta!

LeeroyJones

Ireland take the lead

15-12

Risteard

copacetic wrote: »

Yep, there were problems so sky left the fx off until they could fix it I think.

Ireland go 15-12 up. 25 left



Pretty sure they are just off in timing? The ref is speaking French to the French team?

I thought that at first but since watching Sky he's only using a few French words whereas on Setanta I couldn't hear any English, and the audio quality on Sky is a lot better as you can hear the players as well.

EDIT: Fair enough, I couldn't really hear Setanta well anyway, more muffled.

billybigunz

I thought somebody had a whistle in the crowd. Very annoying.

copacetic

Risteard wrote: »

I thought that at first but since watching Sky he's only using a few French words whereas on Setanta I couldn't hear any English, and the audio quality on Sky is a lot better as you can hear the players as well.

EDIT: Fair enough, I couldn't really hear Setanta well anyway, more muffled.

I had another look on Setanta again and now I'm not so sure, it's a disaster whatever they are up to! Sky must of had this problem earlier as there was no local fx at all for 30 mins.

Risteard

copacetic wrote: »

I had another look on Setanta again and now I'm not so sure, it's a disaster whatever they are up to! Sky must of had this problem earlier as there was no local fx at all for 30 mins.

I noticed Sky didn't have any sound apart from the commentators whereas Setanta had commentators and a muffled off sync sound.

anyway, good defence from Ireland to stop that french attack, big scrum now.

Risteard

Some fantastic defensive efforts here, how the French player was held up I don't know.

Damn.

cruiserweight

French pressure yields a try eventually, 10 minutes left to try and win it

copacetic

Risteard wrote: »

I noticed Sky didn't have any sound apart from the commentators whereas Setanta had commentators and a muffled off sync sound.

anyway, good defence from Ireland to stop that french attack, big scrum now.

Going even further off topic, commentators audio comes in to a broadcaster seperatley, usually on an ISDN line. FX = ref talk, crowd noise, player noise/boot on ball etc, comes in from the host broadcaster with the video, via satellite in this case.

So the problem is in Argentina, but sky must have worked a way around it while setanta either haven't noticed or don't have the people on site to sort it out with the hosts.

Bugger, french try.

copacetic

WHAT A TRY! right in corner though, very tough conversion left to tie it up with no time left!

Risteard

Great try. Absolutely brilliant. Hopefully he nails it.

Risteard

HE GOT IT!! Brilliant conversion, nerves of steel.

corkandproud

Was that Zebo's first time touching the ball tonight?

copacetic

GOT IT!! Heard the ref say 5 left there? clock is well wrong?

cruiserweight

Amazing conversion :eek:

Kicked out on the full and then a penalty from the line out

copacetic

peno to France, 3 mins over time according to clock, but it is still ticking in spite of stoppage, must have been all game?