Ireland u20 6 Nations & World Cup 2012

Cpt_Blackbeard

Funk It wrote: »

Hanrahan for Marmion swap and we might listen

Nah. Ye can keep Frank Murphy, we'll take Marmion.

marc96

GerM wrote: »

Scary part is that the Bok 12, Serfontein, is one of the younger lads in the tournament. Only turned 19 two months ago.

Serfontein is only 18 and is still in high school

ormond lad

marc96 wrote: »

Serfontein is only 18 and is still in high school

He's 19. dob 15/4/93 according to irb site
http://www.irb.com/jwc/teams/team=3442/index.html

Monty Burnz

ormond lad wrote: »

He's 19. dob 15/4/93 according to irb site
http://www.irb.com/jwc/teams/team=3442/index.html

Unless he's like one of those African soccer players who is a decade older than he pretends to be...;)

Hagz

marc96 wrote: »

Serfontein is only 18 and is still in high school

That's the out-half, Hendre Pollard, who is also a very good player by the looks of things.

gally74

Ruddock and the u 20 for ireland

snow mad

who won the player of the tournament?

missed the game taught it was on today is there anywhere can watch it online yet need a bit of cheering up after this morning

Hagz

snow mad wrote: »

who won the player of the tournament?

missed the game taught it was on today is there anywhere can watch it online yet need a bit of cheering up after this morning

Jan Serfontein. SA inside centre.

Taco Corp

snow mad wrote: »

who won the player of the tournament?

missed the game taught it was on today is there anywhere can watch it online yet need a bit of cheering up after this morning

Should be up on the tg4 player

TomLamp

Why are we celebrating a 5th place finish when they are only 8 top teams?

Hagz

Well done to the u20s. They beat France, England, Italy and South Africa, and could have beaten England the first time if luck was on their side. So many stellar players and to get the best ever finish for an Irish team so far is worth celebrating.

Monty Burnz

TomLamp wrote: »

Why are we celebrating a 5th place finish when they are only 8 top teams?

We aren't celebrating a 5th place finish, we are celebrating beating the team that won it, beating every other team we came up against except England, and going on to trounce England the second time we played them.

profitius

Its been a good tournament in terms of performance and talent coming through. Lets hope its the start of a new era.

Blackheath

Realisticly we had one half of where we did not perform and the rest was very credible and came out on top.

Hagz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i74Ss697UAo

Cpt_Blackbeard

We'd probably have reached the final had our first England game taken place on a reasonable pitch. It was scandalous to expect from competitive rugby to be played on that surface. The winning of the competition does not matter as long as we perform and the players develop. We achieved that.

As an aside, I think it's a great idea that every team plays the same amount of matches. The competition is first and foremost about development of the next rugby stats. Ensuring every team gets equal opportunities to do so is extremely important in this.

Podge_irl

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

We'd probably have reached the final had our first England game taken place on a reasonable pitch.

I think the SA game being 4 days beforehand had a bigger impact. SA had easily the most favourable draw in that group.

Blackheath

Who will be the 1st one from our U-20 squad to play at Heineken Cup Level.

Hagz

Blackheath wrote: »

Who will be the 1st one from our U-20 squad to play at Heineken Cup Level.

Either Iain Henderson or Kieran Marmion.

EDIT: Forgot about Layden. He might as well.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Henderson or someone who gets lucky with injuries in their positon in the their province

For example Cooney last year

CatFromHue

Blackheath wrote: »

Who will be the 1st one from our U-20 squad to play at Heineken Cup Level.

Paddy Jackson :pac:

.ak

One of the Leinster backrowers I think, Conan would pip it for me considering his size and our lack of specialist 8s. If Auva'a picked up a knock...

Hagz

.ak wrote: »

One of the Leinster backrowers I think, Conan would pip it for me considering his size and our lack of specialist 8s. If Auva'a picked up a knock...

Conan for me was outstanding. Butler was similarly strong and abrasive but hasn't been able to make the step up (could be due to lack of opportunities). Hopefully Conan can, it seemed like every time he carried of the base he made a mountain of yards.

GerM

Marmion for me. Not that he's the best player but he's at a side that has three very mediocre scrum halves, none of whom have impressed particularly. If one of them gets injured, I can definitely see him getting on the bench. Dave Moore got a HEC cap last season and there's nothing I've seen that makes me believe Marmion isn't better than Moore.

With that said, the step up from U20 to senior is a huge one. The idea that players who are 19/20 now could be ready for HEC standard is fanciful. John Cooney was a very good U20 player who impressed me more than either scrum half in this year's squad but his first senior appearance was a horror show. It will take some time to get up to speed. Henderson is the best equipped, I would think but I hope his game time is dedicated to Pro12 games and getting up to speed with the pace and physicality.

Fireball07

Blackheath wrote: »

Who will be the 1st one from our U-20 squad to play at Heineken Cup Level.

I'd agree with general consensus.

I think Henderson is probably most likely, I believe he is good enough to be benching for Ulster already, looks a top class player.


But of course Marmion or Layden could simply because they mightn't have as many options ahead of them.

It is a big step up but Paddy Jackson has already played in a HC final and he didn't even look like the best player in the squad during the 6N, despite his obvious talent.

Monty Burnz

Fireball07 wrote: »

I think Henderson is probably most likely, I believe he is good enough to be benching for Ulster already, looks a top class player.

Henderson started against Munster, no? When he scored that great try?

profitius

Hagz wrote: »

Conan for me was outstanding. Butler was similarly strong and abrasive but hasn't been able to make the step up (could be due to lack of opportunities). Hopefully Conan can, it seemed like every time he carried of the base he made a mountain of yards.

Butler was about 15st from what I can remember and Conan is about 17st. Conan is a big powerful ball carrier and Butler is more of an all rounder. Butler was the best backrow from that U20 team but he still hasn't really broken through in Munster. I don't know if he has the physicality for top level rugby.

rugby_fan

Hagz wrote: »

I would expect Olding to be out-half, I believe that's his natural position.
Hard to know who will be outside centre. Maybe Adam Byrne, or Rob Henshaw, or maybe O'Loughlin (but he might be a bit young)

I wouldn't agree with your last statement. Marmion was definitely the right option and deserved to start, but he's a had year already at this level and is therefore more composed. McGrath, for someone as young as he is, IMO showed a lot of promise. He looks to have that X factor that perhaps Marmion doesn't. But it's easy to criticise McGrath given the hype surrounding him.

You have Thomas Daly of Carlow there as well so there will definitely be competition for the centre spots

Fireball07

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Henderson started against Munster, no? When he scored that great try?

Yeah, but I mean like in the big matches with everyone available. Maybe a bit harsh on Stevenson who's not a bad player, but Henderson looks like he could be world class.

Podge_irl

Stevenson is a fairly decent player. Henderson could well be great.