Ireland u20 2013 6 nations and junior world cup

bilston

profitius wrote: »

Any players standing out at U20 level so far?

By the sounds of things Stuart Olding has been impressive for Ulster.

ormond lad

profitius wrote: »

Any players standing out at U20 level so far?

I didnt go to any of the games but these are the names that stood out to me from match reports, posters of various forums etc.
There is more names from munster but im slightly biased
munster: sweetnam, kiersey, o donoghue, haugh, jermyn, scott, mc carthy, scannell
ulster: joyce, alexander, winters, olding, busby, scholes, keane
leinster: farrell, daly, o loughlin, byrne, byrne, sexton, leavy, van flier
connacht: dever, o brien, dillane, connolly, digby, leader, joyce

AFAIK The Irish squad is due to have a training camp next tuesday and wednesday so the names of some who've made the irish set up may be found out

Fireball07

ormond lad wrote: »

ulster: joyce, alexander, winters, olding, busby, scholes, keane

Heard Ferguson, Giggs and Cantona have done pretty well for them too!

bilston

Fireball07 wrote: »

Heard Ferguson, Giggs and Cantona have done pretty well for them too!

The scary thing is that Rory Scholes is ginger!

hype101

Very early days obviously but from what I saw of the inter pros and from others who were at the games most of the below were very impressive. A possible 15 could look something like this;

1. Ed Byrne
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Jamie Dever
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Conor Joyce
7. Dan Leavy
8. Sean O'Brien
9. Luke McGrath
10. Stuart Olding
11. Phillip O'Dwyer
12. Chris Farrell (out for the season with injury tho)
13. Robbie Henshaw
14. Darren Sweetnam
15. Rory Scholes

Some real prospects in this group.. Only 3 from last year are eligible but most were involved in very successful u18 schools/clubs/exiles teams.. U18 schools were winners and runners up of the Euro u18 championship the last two years.. Would be hopeful they could emulate the standard set last year.. As i said though very early days and plenty of others who will be involved like Jerry Sexton, Josh Van der Flier, Barry Digby, Eoin Masterson, Peadar Timmins, Ben Alexander, Daragh Leader, Jack Fitzpatrick and many others

bilston

ormond lad wrote: »

I didnt go to any of the games but these are the names that stood out to me from match reports, posters of various forums etc.
There is more names from munster but im slightly biased
munster: sweetnam, kiersey, o donoghue, haugh, jermyn, scott, mc carthy, scannell
ulster: joyce, alexander, winters, olding, busby, scholes, keane
leinster: farrell, daly, o loughlin, byrne, byrne, sexton, leavy, van flier
connacht: dever, o brien, dillane, connolly, digby, leader, joyce

AFAIK The Irish squad is due to have a training camp next tuesday and wednesday so the names of some who've made the irish set up may be found out

Seemingly on the back of his U20 performances in the Inter Pros Ulster have offered prop Jake Caulfield a 3 year contract!

Not clear if that's an academy contract/development contract or even a full contract or what but I guess he must have impressed. It appears he was training with the Ireland U20s as well.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-Academy-prop-signs-Ulster/story-17014105-detail/story.html

ormond lad

bilston wrote: »

Seemingly on the back of his U20 performances in the Inter Pros Ulster have offered prop Jake Caulfield a 3 year contract!

Not clear if that's an academy contract/development contract or even a full contract or what but I guess he must have impressed. It appears he was training with the Ireland U20s as well.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-Academy-prop-signs-Ulster/story-17014105-detail/story.html

3 year contract suggests its an academy contract. Ireland 20s were training today and are training tomorrow.
20s not training again until the end of the month in limerick/cork when all the irish u/age sides are in camp together

profitius

Darren Sweetnam has been called up the the U20 squad for a trial.

bilston

profitius wrote: »

Darren Sweetnam has been called up the the U20 squad for a trial.

Is Sweetnam is any good? I'm assuming he must be to have chosen Rugby over Hurling given he was a Senior Hurling player at 19 (I don't know much at all about Hurling so I don't know how unusual, if at all, for a 19 y.o. to be playing for their County in either code?).

To have turned that down in favour of Rugby suggests to me that he is being tipped for the top?

bilston

ormond lad wrote: »

3 year contract suggests its an academy contract. Ireland 20s were training today and are training tomorrow.
20s not training again until the end of the month in limerick/cork when all the irish u/age sides are in camp together

Well it probably is however I always thought Academy contracts (at Ulster anyway) were renewed annually which is why I wasn't 100% sure.

CIARAN_BOYLE

bilston wrote: »

Well it probably is however I always thought Academy contracts (at Ulster anyway) were renewed annually which is why I wasn't 100% sure.

dunno but at Leinster once you get in the academy you are in for 3 years, even if you are not going to make the grade.

bilston

hype101 wrote: »

Very early days obviously but from what I saw of the inter pros and from others who were at the games most of the below were very impressive. A possible 15 could look something like this;

1. Ed Byrne
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Jamie Dever
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Conor Joyce
7. Dan Leavy
8. Sean O'Brien
9. Luke McGrath
10. Stuart Olding
11. Phillip O'Dwyer
12. Chris Farrell (out for the season with injury tho)
13. Robbie Henshaw
14. Darren Sweetnam
15. Rory Scholes

Some real prospects in this group.. Only 3 from last year are eligible but most were involved in very successful u18 schools/clubs/exiles teams.. U18 schools were winners and runners up of the Euro u18 championship the last two years.. Would be hopeful they could emulate the standard set last year.. As i said though very early days and plenty of others who will be involved like Jerry Sexton, Josh Van der Flier, Barry Digby, Eoin Masterson, Peadar Timmins, Ben Alexander, Daragh Leader, Jack Fitzpatrick and many others

I suppose in theory Farrell could make it back for the JWC, but whether Ulster and the IRFU would risk him for that if he hasn't at least some AIL rugby under his belt is another matter.

I'm looking forward to seeing this Henshaw fella play on Friday against Ulster. I didn't see the Conn/Leins game but he obviously stood out. That's the first time I've heard of him!

profitius

bilston wrote: »

Is Sweetnam is any good? I'm assuming he must be to have chosen Rugby over Hurling given he was a Senior Hurling player at 19 (I don't know much at all about Hurling so I don't know how unusual, if at all, for a 19 y.o. to be playing for their County in either code?).

To have turned that down in favour of Rugby suggests to me that he is being tipped for the top?

I've never seen him play rugby to be honest. One of the Munster U20 coaches said he had the x factor when running with the ball. You need good hand eye coodination to play hurling and Sweetnam also played hockey and badminton underage for Ireland. He played 10 for Bandon and fullback/wing for the U20s.

There could be the possibility that the academy are taking a chance on him instead of losing him to hurling.

RugbyMan10

anyone know if tom farrell of leinster will be on the team he seems to be scoring for leinster 20s quite a bit?
and would liam bourke be anywhere near the team remember seeing him play a while back and thinking he was a good player?

Fireball07

bilston wrote: »

Is Sweetnam is any good? I'm assuming he must be to have chosen Rugby over Hurling given he was a Senior Hurling player at 19 (I don't know much at all about Hurling so I don't know how unusual, if at all, for a 19 y.o. to be playing for their County in either code?).

To have turned that down in favour of Rugby suggests to me that he is being tipped for the top?

To play senior at 19 you'd want to be pretty good. It's not unheard of, but it's rare enough. But a lot more common than in rugby.


And the other thing is that rugby is professional and hurling isn't so if he's offered a contract, he's likely to take it. Even if he doesn't make it, he'll still be able to have a decent hurling career...I'd say the rugby career is worth a shot. (And he's obviously pretty talented, whether he'll make it or not I have no idea)

ormond lad

profitius wrote: »

Darren Sweetnam has been called up the the U20 squad for a trial.

The 20s were training yesterday and today. Presume 40 or so players were looked at ahead of the camp in limerick and cork at the end of this month.

profitius wrote: »

I've never seen him play rugby to be honest. One of the Munster U20 coaches said he had the x factor when running with the ball. You need good hand eye coodination to play hurling and Sweetnam also played hockey and badminton underage for Ireland. He played 10 for Bandon and fullback/wing for the U20s.

There could be the possibility that the academy are taking a chance on him instead of losing him to hurling.

Its more i imagine sweetnam is looking at the view that this may be his only chance to play pro rugby while he has more chances to play hurling for cork. An academy/pro rugby contract doesnt come round a lot

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

anyone know if tom farrell of leinster will be on the team he seems to be scoring for leinster 20s quite a bit?
and would liam bourke be anywhere near the team remember seeing him play a while back and thinking he was a good player?

Both could be involved but the irish 20s initial sessions were only this week so its a bit early to try and see who'll be near the team in most positions though some players will def be involved like players who played irish 20s last year like stuart olding

ormond lad

From the article on the academy on the munster website today
Ryan Murphy, Rory Scannell(both Dolphin), Niall Horan, Sean McCarthy (both Shannon), Brian Scott, John Fitzgerald (both UCC) were all involved with the 20s in their recent training camp
There was also 5 exiles involved: George Cullen, George McGuigan, Ryan Furniss, Jake Caulfield, Conor Joyce.
20s arent meant to meet up again AFAIK until around xmas when they play Leinster A and Ulster A

Tox56

Just as this thread comes up I saw on LF today that Ireland have been given (what looks like) a stinker of a group for the JWC. Stuck with New Zealand, Australia and Fiji:

http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/Tournament/Mediazone/02/06/41/15/JWC13Circular2Appendix1-MatchSchedule.pdf

ssaye

Our group - Ah leave it ou

ormond lad

Tox56 wrote: »

Just as this thread comes up I saw on LF today that Ireland have been given (what looks like) a stinker of a group for the JWC. Stuck with New Zealand, Australia and Fiji:

http://www.irb.com/mm/Document/Tournament/Mediazone/02/06/41/15/JWC13Circular2Appendix1-MatchSchedule.pdf

Tough group but the groups are set by past performance in the tournament.
draw is same each year with same seeds in the same group.
See here for how someone from m'fans figured that out.

shuffol

Not the worst group in fairness, you want these young players playing against the best in the world so in that respect its good to see them paired with NZ, Australia are no great shakes at this level so that'll be a good game. Fiji game should see some good attacking rugby, groups a great one IMO.

ormond lad

shuffol wrote: »

Not the worst group in fairness, you want these young players playing against the best in the world so in that respect its good to see them paired with NZ, Australia are no great shakes at this level so that'll be a good game. Fiji game should see some good attacking rugby, groups a great one IMO.

I wouldnt agree with you on the australians. last year is the only year they have not been in the top 5 while last year was our first ever year finishing 5th or above
Tough group certainly not a great one.
saving grace is that the fiji game is between the NZ and Oz games.

shuffol

ormond lad wrote: »

I wouldnt agree with you on the australians. last year is the only year they have not been in the top 5 while last year was our first ever year finishing 5th or above
Tough group certainly not a great one.
saving grace is that the fiji game is between the NZ and Oz games.

Just looking over the previous years results and your right Australia are stronger than I thought at this level, should be a good game though, prefer a skillful side like them to S.A, France or England who's packs are generally massive and typically end up bullying us, though we're faring better in recent years.

Quint2010

I had thought Ireland weren't competing in this anymore?

ormond lad

Quint2010 wrote: »

I had thought Ireland weren't competing in this anymore?

No. there was a story that was published during the '11 tournament that ireland were pulling out due to concerns about player welfare and finance but that clearly didnt happen.

goreyguy

any updates on the 20s?

.ak

Think all things u20s is quiet til Jan. Still, what's everyone's guess of the next U20s 23 players?

ormond lad

.ak wrote: »

Think all things u20s is quiet til Jan. Still, what's everyone's guess of the next U20s 23 players?

20s next meeting up around xmas when they play games against Leinster A and Ulster A. Leinster A game is pre xmas and Ulster game post xmas

Hagz

.ak wrote: »

Think all things u20s is quiet til Jan. Still, what's everyone's guess of the next U20s 23 players?

1. Ed Byrne
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Jamie Dever
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Conor Joyce
7. Dan Leavy
8. (have no idea Peadar Timmons/Sean O'Brien/Jack O'Donoghue etc)
9. Luke McGrath
10. Stuart Olding
11. Max McFarland
12. Thomas Daly
13. Robbie Henshaw
14. Rory Scholes
15. Adam Byrne

16. ? Will Foley
17. ?
18. Chris Taylor
19. Sean McCarthy
20. Josh Van der Flier or one of the names I've listed at 8
21. Brian haugh
22. Tom Kiersey
23. ?

Tox56

Hagz wrote: »

1. Ed Byrne
2. Bryan Byrne
3. Jamie Dever
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Conor Joyce
7. Dan Leavy
8. (have no idea Peadar Timmons/Sean O'Brien/Jack O'Donoghue etc)
9. Luke McGrath
10. Stuart Olding
11. Max McFarland
12. Thomas Daly
13. Robbie Henshaw
14. Rory Scholes
15. Adam Byrne

16. ? Will Foley
17. ?
18. Chris Taylor
19. Sean McCarthy
20. Josh Van der Flier or one of the names I've listed at 8
21. Brian haugh
22. Tom Kiersey
23. ?

Pretty decent backs and a few good players in the pack but, most importantly.. can the tighthead scrum?