National U20s S9/10 (Chat thread)

Gelio

There probably isn't a huge interest but maybe it will catch on. This is the group that have been in the training programme so they really have a good shot.

Under this name I will follow our U20 squad to the world cup with Previews, Reviews, analysis and plenty more. I also hope to get the community involved with the squad and to have a voice. We'll have ups and downs but were in for two great seasons as we watch our S10 U20s blossom into something beautiful and maybe go one step further than this season by cutting down that mighty tree that is New Zealand. I also hope to be in contact with the the coaching staff looking for post match interviews to either find out their tricks or else to tell them what they're doing wrong. (Hopefully the first option)

Overall a huge number of managers will have a big interest in this seasons U20s and I'll be here for the ride.

Feel free to comment/advise/etc.:)

Orizio

Lavish compliments regarding Ben Young are compulsory for this thread.

anonymous_joe

So what kind of CSR are all these lads?

Orizio

anonymous_joe wrote: »

So what kind of CSR are all these lads?

Mine hit 50k today and he is about the fourth worst player in the squad currrently.

coyote10

Mine's at around 52k CSR .... and a year younger than Orizio's player

Orizio

coyote10 wrote: »

Mine's at around 52k CSR .... and a year younger than Orizio's player

I have TWO U-20 players now btw, just thought I'd mention it.

*not so ****ing tough now are ya...*

coyote10

Very true and congrats, but s'grand though, i'm training Sonny up to take Young's place...maybe even for the next U20 world cup!

daveharnett

Orizio wrote: »

I have TWO U-20 players now btw, just thought I'd mention it.

*not so ****ing tough now are ya...*

I don't think anybody cares about the saffie though.

Orizio

A 28k 17yo pull is just taking the piss wile. What was O'Tierney when he came out?

coyote10

AOT hasn't come out of the closet yet, to my knowledge :rolleyes:, but he had 23,381 CSR when I pulled him from my academy :cool:.

Sonny however cost me frickin 750k! :eek:

anonymous_joe

Orizio wrote: »

Mine hit 50k today and he is about the fourth worst player in the squad currrently.

Fairy nuff.

High enough then.

Highest I've gotten from my Academy was only 11k at the start. Some fcuking return from a 10 star Academy.

johnnysmack

My best academy pull was Cooley at 16,200CSR. All the rest were also around the 11k mark.

Academy does seem really random, some clubs get fairly poor 11k guys and others just produce star after star. Not bitter tho :mad:

Scrummage

my last 3 pulls were between 19K-22K but crap non trainables. I have 2 in the UTP s10 Finan a prop was called up. He was 8K csr when I purchased him.

Gelio

What would people like to see me do in my articles apart from what I've already said?

Gelio

First real article . . .

I suppose there is one place to start and that is with the team.

The four old fella’s
Conor Reilley, Eoin McDonnell, Luke Black and Aidan Mahoney. All twenty years old and all going to miss the world cup. Two light-ish props, a backrow and a back. I’m sure they will play a major role in helping Ireland qualify with a high seed, but unfortunately for the lads this is all they can do. If I was in JPrenders boots I would be trying to use these players as little as possible, the 19 year olds need the experience.

Dewi Carew
This man deserves a whole paragraph to himself. Trained in the luxurious Aramasu’s Pirates facility, he is a talent. Rated the top player for his age in the world and in such a key position as out-half. If we are going to win the world cup it will be through this man. 81000 CSR now, in a season and a half who knows where he’ll be skill-wise. Carew alone is worth following the U2os for, and I know, I’ll have more than just an eye on him. Watch this space.

Captain
The team captain is a toss up between two players. Ciaran Gaffney and Shane MacElroy, either of them could get it. Personally I think we should have organised a player with impressive leadership, but both these guys are admirable and will do just fine. I’ll give the nudge to Shane since he is playing in my league (unfortunately not on my team though)

The Fat boys
Here we have the front row, or the fat boys. For specific stats you’ll have to check the offsite. We have: Colin MacHale, Owen Carey, Christopher Begley, Craig Finan and Diarmuid Fearon. With only Fearon being under 130kg we have a very heavy and in terms of height, even, front row. I’m sure this will show against weaker teams, but when it comes to the all-blacks and English we will need to beat them with skills also.

2nd Rows
This in my opinion, is where we have our strength. With Carew pinning the opposition back with his boot and heights of up to 207cm in the Line-Out. This is where we have an opportunity to shine. With the likes of Brandon Crowley, Fionn MacErney and Brendan Kennedy, we simply can’t go wrong. We will win matches by playing in the right areas on the pitch.

Back Row
The back row is interesting, we have a huge number of top quality wing-forwards but only one real number 8. I have a feeling that one of the flankers will move to 8 as Ben Young isn’t top quality CSR. The wing-forwards are: Shane MacElroy, Sam Campbell, Alexander O’Tierney, Sion Cutting. Another advantage we have in our backrow is height. With tall lifters and tall jumpers our lineout will be excellent. Adding to the point I made earlier.

The backs
It is difficult to be more specific than just backs, so until the first line-up we don’t really know. But I’ll have a go. Apart from Dewi Carew, who has already been mentioned, the standard seems to be around 60k CSR. Cathal Corrigan is a strange one, he is 98kg, too light for an international forward, yet he has been playing No. 8 for his club in Holland. JPrender has a big decision to make, but without his stats I would say he is a back. Other than Corrigan there is the short and firey Brandon Noonan, Cathal O’Flynn, Ciaran Gaffney, Owen MacConsidine, Daragh O’Hare, Aidan Mahoney, Daragh Dwyer, Alan Hayward, Ethan Ratigan, Eric Henry, Killian MacKeogh and Edward O’Breen. These lads are all top quality and and show no obvious weakness. This is the most depth we have ever had in one panel and with every player been trained on 10 sessions we can be sure that every player will reach their full potential.

The Gaffer
Although their were questions over JPrenders experience and the fact that his own club is only in Div IV, his pure commitment, time and effort invested have earned him his spot as manager and as far as I can see there is no man (or woman ) better. He has looked at every statistic available and built a near perfect team around them. He has known these players since they have come from their acadamys and he has moulded them into what they are today, but the job is not over and they will keep improving until the world cup in season 10.


Overall this team is set for greatness and they have one target in mind and this is 1st place in the season 10 world cup.

Thoughts? . . .

Orizio

Delete your libellous remarks about Ben Young before I serve your arse.

jprender

That's a lot of scouting you have just done for our opposition :eek:

johnnysmack

jprender wrote: »

That's a lot of scouting you have just done for our opposition :eek:

We could send them line ups and tactics and it still wouldnt do them any good.


Gotta love my blind optimisim!!

Gelio

Orizio wrote: »

Delete your libellous remarks about Ben Young before I serve your arse.

Hey, its the truth:D;)

jprender wrote: »

That's a lot of scouting you have just done for our opposition :eek:

I made sure not to include anything they couldn't find out for themselves:)

jprender

I'd prefer if they had to find it out for themselves and we simply didn't tell them

daveharnett

jprender wrote: »

That's a lot of scouting you have just done for our opposition :eek:

Bah. If they haven't bothered to look at our lineup (where all this is available), then they're hardly going to be scoping out our 'zine, are they?

jprender

Ah, if it's only posted in the 'zine that is fine. Just as long as it isn't displayed as a news item on the main BR site, everything is grand.

FewFew

jprender wrote: »

Ah, if it's only posted in the 'zine that is fine. Just as long as it isn't displayed as a news item on the main BR site, everything is grand.

.... quite glad I didn't just announce it on the main site.

Gelio

Sorrry it took so long, been very busy. As usual up here first, boards get the first read.

Apologies for missing the first game but the journo has been busy, anyway . . .

Match preview

The game kicks off on friday morning at 11:35 and the forecast is bad. Although Japan are a weak team overall, they still have their 20 year olds and we can expect them to be played. On a normal day I would say great, Japan, BP win. But this is different, the weather will be wet, they didn't TNT their last game and their going to think we TNT'd Scotland. As they travel, the players could be forgiven for having one eye on the game against New-Zealand on sunday, but we still expect a 40 point win.

JPrender said in his pre-match statement that we "won't be taking any chances" and that "they will not be that much behind us" in terms of CSR. However realistically keeping it tight and playing it to our strengths should get us a clear victory.

Looking back to the scotland game, we showed a clear dominance and we need to build on this. Still in the tank waiting to be used we have Carew, but unfortunately for fans it is unlikely that he he will start. This might benefit the team in terms of energy but the lad is only young and still needs the experience. Another problem that I can foresee is our ability to play expansively. Its not a weakness, but its not a strength and it sure would be useful against a team like Japan, who have incredibally bad wings. 11 handling errors was too much against the Scots.

The man to watch on the Japan side is Ziggy, their coach. He has been far more active than previous japan coaches and he is determined to drive this team to greatness. If I had a second team in Japan and I was a member of their off-site I might have read some of his speeches and we can be sure he is committed.

Overall we expect a major win but if Japan TNT we might be fighting for a BP. Personally I would like to see Carew play but I understand if he doesn't. But in the future he should not be rested two games in a row. Also we can confirm that Begley will be starting prop, playing in Japan, he will hopefully be able to show our lads a few tricks on how to beat Japs. To win this game we need to keep the ball tight, suck in numbers and then release it to the wings so, hopefully the likes of Hayward might pull off another hat-trick.

Interview with JPrender coming soon

I'm going to start giving some topics for discussion

Firstly, are we over resting Carew? My thoughts are above.
Secondly, Predictions . . . I'll go with 70 points
Thirdly, the forecast for friday is bad, what tactics do you use for the rain?

Please comment . . .

jprender

ajeffares wrote: »

Sorrry it took so long, been very busy. As usual up here first, boards get the first read.


I'm going to start giving some topics for discussion

Firstly, are we over resting Carew? My thoughts are above.
Secondly, Predictions . . . I'll go with 70 points
Thirdly, the forecast for friday is bad, what tactics do you use for the rain?

Please comment . . .

1. I'll discuss in my interview

2. No chance of a 70 point victory, if we take 4 points I'll be very happy. All depends if Japan LTNT.

3. It's a secret and btw the forecast is for perfect weather.

Gelio

jprender wrote: »

2. No chance of a 70 point victory, if we take 4 points I'll be very happy. All depends if Japan LTNT.

Clever, if we have low expectations it makes you look good:D

Gelio

This is the big one...

This is the big one, New Zealand. The all blacks have had a slow satart to their campaign with losses against Austrailia and Wales. However rare it is for New Zealand to lose two games in a row, if they lose against us it will be three losses out of four (they did manage to beat Romania) and heads will roll in New Zealand. We need to make this happen. Like it or not we are now a world heavy-weight and we now need to expect victories against the likes of New Zealand.

Looking towards the game, New Zealand, as expected have a very strong team in terms of CSR as expected but one point of interest is the fact that they have no 20 year olds. This is a squad made up completely from 19 year olds. This gives us a chance to take advantage of our four twenty year olds.

Another weakness we could exploit is the 2nd row. Although very tall, the All Blacks 2nd row isn't very skillful and around the pitch this could be a dis-advantage to them. But a real key to success is in driving. With only one player over 130kg, New Zealand are, in international terms, a very light team. Vaitea Teiho is their only skilled player in the front row and long term, this is something they can't work on. Here is our chance to learn how to take advantage of this rare New Zealand weakness and if we can exploit it now, we will be able to exploit it when the world cup comes around. The strength of the New Zealand team is in the backs but with our strong defence, I'm sure we will be able to handle it.

Apart from the game, we have Dewi Carew making his first international cap to look forward to. This guy is a beauty to watch and has the ability to get his team going as well as causing meyham to the opposition. We can expect him to start at 10 and his skill should help to gain us a strong territorial advantage.

This game 3 seasons ago we wouldn't have had a hope against New Zealand but this is season 9 and we expect nothing less than a victory. I'm going to put my money on Ireland, but an auld prayer wouldn't do any harm!

Best of luck.

How would you take advantage of the New Zealand front row?
Can we expect an unbeaten season?

Gelio

Right time to get serious about this journalism, the world cup is coming up and its time to prepare. So what can we take from this season? Well credit where its due, ten wins against four defeats is not a bad finish. Although we were only fourth overall this season was a season for learning and that is what we have done. Victories over the traditional heavyweights of England, New Zealand and Australia are to be looked back on with pride. But then there are the negatives, back to back defeats against the States and Canada wasn't bad in itself but it was the sheer amount we lost them by that might give us cause to worry. A combined total of eighty five points were scored against our zero. And this brings us onto another worry I have for our kids. This isn't a problem we can solve for ourselves though, this problem is in the hands of another country. Canada have produced a team to keep an eye on. People may say its only canada, but the facts speak for themselves, a huge victory over us, higher in the tables and a quality training program. This is potentially a team that we could meet in the semis and seriously struggle with. But we leave these problems in the capable hands of JP who will take care of everything.
On to the positives, and there are plenty. Dewi Carew being the first. With over 100k CSR he is a step above the rest and his kicking continues to benefit the team. There are also many big wins that I have mentioned already and what I like most about these wins is that many of them have been with experimental teams. It will be exciting to see the starting team fall into place this season. Our depth is really proving useful with no player being the weakness in the chain we have a panel in which every player has something to add to the panel. This will be a huge advantage in the hectic world cup week.
One last thing to mention is South Africa, they have had an incredible season that has them sitting pretty at first. But they have also given a lot away about there team. They seem to have decided on their team for the most part, giving our expert analyzers a huge opportunity to do some research. Enjoy lads.

So heres the start of serious journalism towards the U20 world cup. What do we think? Has this seasons lived up to your expectations from the Irish lads?

jprender

Canada and saffa did well because of their older players jeff. Their teams will be very different next season and a lot weaker.

Read this thread for the managers take on the season :-

http://br-ireland.forumakers.com/general-discussion-f65/season-9-review-t1554.htm

Gelio

jprender wrote: »

Canada and saffa did well because of their older players jeff. Their teams will be very different next season and a lot weaker.

Read this thread for the managers take on the season :-

http://br-ireland.forumakers.com/general-discussion-f65/season-9-review-t1554.htm

Shhh I'm looking for a bit of scandle

Gelio

As always, it gets here first.

Interview with U20s manager JPrender:

Firstly thanks very much for taking the time to take part in this interview,
now, to the serious stuff, the U20s finished strongly last season and are set up nicely for this season, this and victories against the likes of New Zealand must leave you feeling quite confident of your teams ability?

We had a decent season last time around and punched well above the weight of our squad. As you know, we were one of the few nations that pursued a strategy of blooding our younger players and as a result, our squad has seen little change as we head into season 10. We have a fine collection of players, and a host of other young lads on the fringes that can be called upon if needs be.

Without going into too much detail (keeping in mind this will be available to the world) what preparations are you making at this stage for the world cup?

The WC is certainly the target that we have set our sights on. Constant, high level training of our young players is the only way that we can achieve that goal. We started this process at the tail end of season 8, and our plan to get there has not changed much since that point. We know what our own squad can do. Much more important for season 10 is concentrating on what other nations' squads can do, or more importantly, can't do.


Dewi Carew seems to of lost his CSR advantage on some of the other nations stars, how much depth do you think our team has? If the likes of Carew get a major injury, how do you plan on handling it?


First of all, Dewi never had a CSR advantage on the other nation's star players, I'm not sure where you picked up that bit of information? Secondly, you guys in the Irish media seem to have latched onto Dewi and built him up into some sort of messiah figure. Dewi is our highest CSR player, that is not in question. However, if you look through our squad of 30 players, there are 29 others besides Dewi that can more than hold their own at this level of competition. During season 9, Dewi played in only half of our games. Of the 7 games he did not play in, we won 6. Do you still feel that Dewi is the only player in this team that matters ?

The senior team have been accused of ''cheating'' and ''match fixing'' in the world cup campaign, more specifically against South africa. What are your thoughts on this and do you think it would be acceptable in the U20s campaign?

The U20 circuit is a completely different beast to the Senior National competition. All teams are effectively re-set every two seasons at U20 level. This gives every team an equal opportunity of success, and if they have their stuff together, they might just take home the silverware. Any team can beat another team on any given day. There is no requirement to look for any "extra" edge. Compare that to the seniors; no team can compete with NZ on an equal footing. In my opinion, that intensity agreement during the WC was struck due to frustration at having to settle for second best, and an overwhelming desire to break the stranglehold that NZ had on the competition.


What are your aims for the world cup? Which countries are our major competitors? Do you feel canada could cause any sort of an upset?


We have a decent shout of being in the mix at the business end of the World Cup. Other teams feel the same way, I am quite certain of that. NZ are, as usual, the team to beat. The gap has closed though. We ran them very close in the S8 final, and we have a much better squad of players this time around. This should be the most competitive WC to date with a lot of teams with high expectations.
I'm not sure why you have singled out Canada in particular, but to answer the question, no, I do not feel Canada can cause any sort of an upset. Achieving 4th place in the table after Season 9 is about as good as it will get for them. When you look at their squad for S9 compared to the other teams, 4th was the very least they should have achieved. If anything, they under-performed.


Finally, what are your plans for after the world cup? Any intensions if taking on another bunch of 16/17 year olds? Or maybe the big step up to the senior squad?

I'd love to. On both counts.

Thanks very much for your time

No problem.

Thoughts?

Anything else you would like to have brought up?

jprender

Just a couple of corrections before you go to print Jeff !

Firstly thanks very much for taking the time to take part in this interview,
now, to the serious stuff, the U20s finished strongly last season and are set up nicely for this season, this and victories against the likes of New Zealand must leave you feeling quite confident of your teams ability?

We had a decent season last time around and punched well above the weight of our squad. As you know, we were one of the few nations that pursued a strategy of blooding our younger players and as a result, our squad has seen little change as we head into season 10. We have a fine collection of players, and a host of other young lads on the fringes that can be called upon if needs be.

Without going into too much detail (keeping in mind this will be available to the world) what preparations are you making at this stage for the world cup?

The WC is certainly the target that we have set our sights on. Constant, high level training of our young players is the only way that we can achieve that goal. We started this process at the tail end of season 6, and our plan to get there has not changed much since that point. We know what our own squad can do. Much more important for season 10 is concentrating on what other nations' squads can do, or more importantly, can't do.


Dewi Carew seems to of lost his CSR advantage on some of the other nations stars, how much depth do you think our team has? If the likes of Carew get a major injury, how do you plan on handling it?


First of all, Dewi never had a CSR advantage on the other nation's star players, I'm not sure where you picked up that bit of information? Secondly, you guys in the Irish media seem to have latched onto Dewi and built him up into some sort of messiah figure. Dewi is our highest CSR player, that is not in question. However, if you look through our squad of 30 players, there are 29 others besides Dewi that can more than hold their own at this level of competition. During season 9, Dewi played in only half of our games. Of the 7 games he did not play in, we won 6. Do you still feel that Dewi is the only player in this team that matters ?

The senior team have been accused of ''cheating'' and ''match fixing'' in the world cup campaign, more specifically against South africa. What are your thoughts on this and do you think it would be acceptable in the U20s campaign?

The U20 circuit is a completely different beast to the Senior National competition. All teams are effectively re-set every two seasons at U20 level. This gives every team an equal opportunity of success, and if they have their stuff together, they might just take home the silverware. Any team can beat another team on any given day. There is no requirement to look for any "extra" edge. Compare that to the seniors; no team can compete with NZ on an equal footing. In my opinion, that intensity agreement during the WC was struck due to frustration at having to settle for second best, and an overwhelming desire to break the stranglehold that NZ had on the competition.


What are your aims for the world cup? Which countries are our major competitors? Do you feel canada could cause any sort of an upset?


We have a decent shout of being in the mix at the business end of the World Cup. Other teams feel the same way, I am quite certain of that. NZ are, as usual, the team to beat. The gap has closed though. We ran them very close in the S8 final, and we have a much better squad of players this time around. This should be the most competitive WC to date with a lot of teams with high expectations.
I'm not sure why you have singled out Canada in particular, but to answer the question, no, I do not feel Canada can cause any sort of an upset. Achieving 3rd place in the table after Season 9 is about as good as it will get for them. When you look at their squad for S9 compared to the other teams, 4th was the very least they should have achieved. If anything, they under-performed.


Finally, what are your plans for after the world cup? Any intensions if taking on another bunch of 16/17 year olds? Or maybe the big step up to the senior squad?

I'd love to. On both counts.

Thanks very much for your time

No problem.