Ireland u20 6 Nations & World Cup 2012

Hagz

liam12989 wrote: »

add in jordi murphy and aaron connelly from last years back row...

Murphy is over-age.

irishbucsfan

Where is the squad?

Hagz

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Where is the squad?

Not up yet but some of the profile photos have been taken and can be seen here.
http://www.inpho.ie/assignment/Ireland-Under-20-Headshots-240112/ZvRwhSBTL_Uu4IrshPA3yg..a?ts=ONwL6Wy_M-HTYmKVMbf-Gg..a

Hagz

The JWC will be held in Salt Lake City this year.http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7463947,00.html

irishbucsfan

Hagz wrote: »

The JWC will be held in Salt Lake City this year.http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7463947,00.html

Nope! It's in South Africa this year.


EDIT: That's the JWT that is being held in the States.

Hagz

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Nope! It's in South Africa this year.


EDIT: That's the JWT that is being held in the States.

Oh yeah. Title threw me.

boynesider

Conneely should be starting also.

I believe Furlong is out injured which will be an enormous loss as he was one of our few impressive players in the JWC last year. Can't say I know a whole lot about the other props in the squad but i would expect scrum time to be a big worry. This has been the Achilles heel of Irish rugby in the pro-era

shuffol

Isnt Michael Sherlock who started some games last season still underage this year, plenty of options at FB although I'm not sure what the story with Nelson is, wasnt he injured for the B&I QF with Munster?

shaungil

shuffol wrote: »

Isnt Michael Sherlock who started some games last season still underage this year, plenty of options at FB although I'm not sure what the story with Nelson is, wasnt he injured for the B&I QF with Munster?

Mikey is underage again but after coming back from a knee injury he managed to do something to his finger in an aIL match for Clontarf before christmas. Bit of a freak injury when clearing out a ruck now has a pin thru it for 6 months.

JB1988

word on the street is it that there is a couple of injuries in the u20s squad. No one bigger than conor gilsenan who has injured his ankle, hopefully he will recover by friday and hopefully he will be made captain my big future hope for irish captain.

easy peasy

i see no mention of Stephen macauley. scored 2 tries in the 2010 schools cup final for cwc and was very young at the time. i heard he was in the leicester tigers academy. any word on him?

murmo

I think people underestimate Coghlans ability as a number 8. He has both the skill set and the massive size to make it in my opinion. People say he only got the academy this year because leinster didn't want him playing cricket which is absolute nonsense. If there was a better player than him they would obviously have given it to them and let coghlan play cricket?

ormond lad

easy peasy wrote: »

i see no mention of Stephen macauley. scored 2 tries in the 2010 schools cup final for cwc and was very young at the time. i heard he was in the leicester tigers academy. any word on him?

still is in tigers academy. playing wing/fullback for their academy team most recently on sunday on the wing against the english u18 side
dont think he was ever in contention unless ruddock and the coaches brought him to any of the 20s training camps

ormond lad

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/25488.php
Ireland U-20 Team To Play Wales

31 January 2012, 12:41 pm
By Editor



The Ireland Under-20 team (Sponsored by PwC) has been named today by Head Coach Mike Ruddock for this Friday's opening game in the Under-20 RBS Six Nations Championship against Wales, in Dubarry Park, Athlone.



Ruddock has named an experienced side with seven players from last year's squad included in the starting XV to play Wales.Buccaneers own Daniel Qualter will partner up with Iain Henderson in the second row while fellow Connacht native Aaron Conneely is named in the back row.
Centre JJ Hanarahan makes a return to the side from last year along with Sam Coghlan-Murray who has been named on the wing.
Kieran Marmion will take up the scrum half position and will partner Paddy Jackson who has been named at outhalf. Jackson will also captain this year's side.
Speaking ahead of the opening game Ruddock said "We are all looking forward to the start of the 6 Nations. It is always a tough test against Wales but preparations have been first class and we are confident we have prepared as best as we can and are now looking forward to transferring that training onto the pitch itself."
Ireland U-20 v Wales U-20 (Dubarry Park, Athlone - Friday 3rd February 2012, Kick-off 7.05pm)

15 - Shane Layden (Buccaneers - Connacht)
14 - Barry Daly (UCD - Leinster)
13 - Foster Horan (Lansdowne - Leinster)
12 - JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians - Munster)
11 - Sam Coghlan-Murray (UCD - Leinster)
10 - Patrick Jackson (Dungannon - Ulster) Captain
9 - Kieran Marmion (Corinthians - Connacht)
1 - Kyle McCall (Ballynahinch - Ulster)
2 - Niall Scannell (Dolphin - Munster)
3 - Peter Reilly (Lansdowne - Leinster)
4 - Iain Henderson (QUB - Ulster)
5 - Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers - Connacht)
6 - Conor Gilsenan (UCD - Leinster)
7 - Aaron Conneely (Corinthians - Connacht)
8 - Jack Conan (Old Belvedere - Leinster)
Replacements:
16 - Des Merrey (Clontarf - Leinster)
17 - James Rael (Garryowen - Munster)
18 - Jake Cawley (XXX - Leinster)
19 - Tadgh Beirne (Lansdowne - Leinster)
20 - Jordan Coghlan (UCD - Leinster)
21 - Luke McGrath (UCD - Leinster)
22 - Cathal Marsh (Dublin University - Leinster)
23 - Christopher Farrell (Dungannon - Ulster)

Different season same problems for munster. small representation for munster
Considering connacht won the interpros thought theyd have more in the squad
over half the squad from leinster. fairly good going

irishbucsfan

Foster Horan?

Coneely is a smashing player.

porterbelly

Surprised there isn't more Connacht players seeing as they won the grand slam

Still though I suppose 4 + 1 isn't bad

Luckycharm

So are our pack going to be big enough this year to compete with England/France? Who are the new players to watch out for?

bamboozle

Michael Sherlock & Tadhg Furlong both of whom played last season are out injured

Furlong will be a big loss

Hype710

Great to see Sam Coughlan Murray starting. It was this time last year that he was due to start before his untimely illness. Extremely talented player.

irishbucsfan

Hype710 wrote: »

Great to see Sam Coughlan Murray starting. It was this time last year that he was due to start before his untimely illness. Extremely talented player.

It was a massive setback but I've heard he has looked great for UCD this year. Fair play to him.

Redsock

Backs look good. But as usual with Ireland underage sides it will depend on them getting good ball. If they do I think we will see them shine.

profitius

3 Munster players and 2 of those are hookers, the position Munster are most well off in.

Interesting that Shane Buckley is not there. He was starting last year and been with the Munster academy this year.

d-gal

The 4 connacht lads are quality players. Layden is the most exciting, get the ball to him and there will be scores. Qualter is a big lad as is the 7.

easy peasy

tough on connacht after their great showing in the interpro's, thought finn would have started on a wing to be honest(is he injured?). I reckon Coghlan should have got the start at 8 myself, classy player and more talented than conan in my opinion.

some decent options on the bench tho, so should be another decent campaign

siltirocker

I'd reckon Finn, Boland & Leader must be gutted

cityman 18

How did a Connacht team that won the Inter Pro grand slam only manage to get 4 players on the team (injury crisis?). Extremely strange imo...

shuffol

Cracking 2nd row combo, keeping those 2 fit will be key to the sides chances, backrow looks fairly mobile. Backline lacks the big names of last years(Gilroy, TOH, Macken, Conway) but maybe not such a bad thing as only Jackson is likely to be in provincial squads, lots of chopping and changing last year.

Looking forward to this.

murmo

Why isnt luke mcgrath starting????

the perfect ten

It might be because his passing needs to improve - especially at this level.

Horan started this season with Lansdowne U21 but was moved up to the Senior team by Mike Ruddock and by all accounts has been playing very well. It'll be interesting to see how he goes. It's also time for Paddy Jackson to show what he is capable of.

boynesider

Backline and back row look very strong to me.

Never even heard of the 13 horan but he must be quality to keep big chris Farrell out of the team.

Jackson is also lucky to get the nod over Marsh IMO.