Ireland U20 2015 6 nations and junior world cup

ArmchairQB

So much for the Carolan revolution! Thought we were lacking in imagination and tactics and the failure to put away Argentina & Scotland in a timely manner prevented rotation of the squad. Agree on Josh Murphy having a very good tournament especially against NZ. Some selections up front were puzzling also and may hinder rather than help a few of their career prospects or maybe just harshly expose some of the players to the reality that a pro rugby career is not for them. With all the returning 20s this season I would be dissapointed in both of our performances in this years 6 nations & JWC

The Pheasant2

I found Ringrose's defence to be seriously impressive; glad to see he's developing into such a rounded player.

.ak

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

I found Ringrose's defence to be seriously impressive; glad to see he's developing into such a rounded player.

It's weird how big his hits are. He doesn't look physically big, and he's a bit tall, but he absolutely smashes people with ease.

Tox56

.ak wrote: »

It's weird how big his hits are. He doesn't look physically big, and he's a bit tall, but he absolutely smashes people with ease.

He has the Conrad Smith deceptively powerful build. He uses it in attack too to break through tackles

The Lost Sheep

ArmchairQB wrote: »

So much for the Carolan revolution! Thought we were lacking in imagination and tactics and the failure to put away Argentina & Scotland in a timely manner prevented rotation of the squad. Agree on Josh Murphy having a very good tournament especially against NZ. Some selections up front were puzzling also and may hinder rather than help a few of their career prospects or maybe just harshly expose some of the players to the reality that a pro rugby career is not for them. With all the returning 20s this season I would be dissapointed in both of our performances in this years 6 nations & JWC

That's slightly unfair on coaches especially Carolan. The blame cant all be put on the coaches especially saying they may have hindered career prospects
The loss of one of our main players in Byrne was huge wrt tactics and implementing a successful game plan.

Good to see Sam Arnold named in tournaments 3rd round dream team

mogwai81

Bit of a random question but is Ciaran Gaffney the winger the same player who scored a cracking individual try in the Leinster schools semi final 2013 from out-half ?

its_phil

mogwai81 wrote: »

Bit of a random question but is Ciaran Gaffney the winger the same player who scored a cracking individual try in the Leinster schools semi final 2013 from out-half ?

Yes against Blackrock

The Pheasant2

its_phil wrote: »

Yes against Blackrock

Most exciting school's match I've ever seen

RedemptionZ

Gonna put a bet down on paddy power for 6/1 England and 7/1 France outright, what are my chances here? I know SA and NZ as per usual are the teams to beat but France looked pretty strong in the group stages and can never rule out an English team at this level.

wise7

Josh Murphy appointed captain for rest of Championships. Tough on Nick Mc Carthy to be out but I think it is a worthy recognition of the #6's fine leadership on the pitch in his powerful performances so far.

English Lurker

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Gonna put a bet down on paddy power for 6/1 England and 7/1 France outright, what are my chances here? I know SA and NZ as per usual are the teams to beat but France looked pretty strong in the group stages and can never rule out an English team at this level.

6/1 for England looks bad value. This team has fumbled a lot of games at this level as is and is now missing some crucial players in Townsend, Marchant and Mallinder. Our flankers in particular aren't up to much. I don't think any England fan I know is expecting much.

Without having seen the odds, I think SA sound the team of choice this year. NZ fans haven't sounded that confident either when I've spoke to them. France at 7/1 sounds worth a flutter there.

bradders90

English Lurker wrote: »

6/1 for England looks bad value. This team has fumbled a lot of games at this level as is and is now missing some crucial players in Townsend, Marchant and Mallinder. Our flankers in particular aren't up to much. I don't think any England fan I know is expecting much.

Without having seen the odds, I think SA sound the team of choice this year. NZ fans haven't sounded that confident either when I've spoke to them. France at 7/1 sounds worth a flutter there.

Mallinder is overage.

The Lost Sheep

bradders90 wrote: »

Mallinder is overage.

He isn't and is underage for next year as well....

The Lost Sheep

Team to play Wales in 5-8th playoff tomorrow

15. Ciaran Gaffney (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Stephen Fitzgerald (Shannon/Munster)
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)
12. Sam Arnold (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
11. Jacob Stockdale (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
10. Joey Carbery (UCD/Leinster)
9. Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster)
2. Sean McNulty (UCD/Leinster)
3. Oisin Heffernan (Terenure College/Leinster)
4. David O'Connor (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
5. Alex Thompson (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
6. Josh Murphy (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
7. Conor Oliver (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
8. Nick Timoney (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
Replacements:
16. Adam McBurney (Ballymena/Ulster)
17. Liam O'Connor (Cork Constitution/Munster)
18. Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/NUIG/Connacht)
19. Lorcan Dow (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)
20. Rory Moloney (Buccaneers/Connacht)
21. Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22. Fergal Cleary (Lansdowne/Leinster)
23. Jack Owens (Queen's University Belfast/Ulster)

Bridge93

What does Conan O Donnell have to do to get a game? Or what does Heffernan have to do to be dropped even for one match?

total former

Has there been any indication of how serious McCarthy's injury is?

wp_rathead

Bridge93 wrote: »

What does Conan O Donnell have to do to get a game? Or what does Heffernan have to do to be dropped even for one match?

I genuinely don't understand it
Our scrum is much more competitive when he comes on

Wang King

Bridge93 wrote: »

What does Conan O Donnell have to do to get a game? Or what does Heffernan have to do to be dropped even for one match?

He's definitely looking the better player, so either the coaching staff have concerns about him lasting 60+ minutes, or they are going with familiarity within the forwards

kingofthekong

Heffernan over O'Donnell makes me seriously worried about Carolans ability to coach these lads if he can't see how much better O'donnell is in every single aspect of the game than Heffernan

RobbieRuns

Who is sub 9? I thought that Jack Cullen called up for that role.

The Lost Sheep

kingofthekong wrote: »

Heffernan over O'Donnell makes me seriously worried about Carolans ability to coach these lads if he can't see how much better O'donnell is in every single aspect of the game than Heffernan

I don't this can cast any doubts over Carolans coaching ability. John Fogarty is forward/scrum coach I think so they presumably want something from Heffernan.

RobbieRuns wrote: »

Who is sub 9? I thought that Jack Cullen called up for that role.

Carberry could be covering 9. He's only other who's actually played 9 quite a bit... Cullen mightn't have been out to tournament in time/ready to play??? Only announced Cullen travelling over on Friday. Mightnt have been over in Italy until yesterday?? So not ready to play yet...

ArmchairQB

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

I don't this can cast any doubts over Carolans coaching ability. John Fogarty is forward/scrum coach I think so they presumably want something from Heffernan.

Carberry could be covering 9. He's only other who's actually played 9 quite a bit... Cullen mightn't have been out to tournament in time/ready to play??? Only announced Cullen travelling over on Friday. Mightnt have been over in Italy until yesterday?? So not ready to play yet...

Calls Fogarty's ability into question as Heffernan is clearly 2nd best of the two and the more he plays the more he proves that. Potentially 3/4 under 20s around better than Heffernan. Bodes well for Leinster:eek: Porter on the other hand has grasped his oppurtunity with both hands and impressed as has O'Donnell when given the oppurtunity. As it is Heffernan's 2nd year and along with some other lads returning for their 2nd year their performances aside from one or two exceptions have been dissapointing & the coaches must bear a large portion of the responsibility for those performances. I had genuinely been excited by this years prospects but I am fairly deflated by our performances as we have seem to have gone back to "gallant efforts" & "Passionate defeats" which is something I had hoped we had moved away from and become regular contenders as has happened with the senior side where you can see the impact of great coaching and man management with the players

bilston

What time is today's game and is it on BT/ESPN/TG4?

ArmchairQB

bilston wrote: »

What time is today's game and is it on BT/ESPN/TG4?

Believe it is on at 7.30pm Irish Time but not being covered anywhere I can find, TG4 showing semi finals. The Welsh channel on Sky Channel 134 may show it but not sure

The Lost Sheep

ArmchairQB wrote: »

Calls Fogarty's ability into question as Heffernan is clearly 2nd best of the two and the more he plays the more he proves that. Potentially 3/4 under 20s around better than Heffernan. Bodes well for Leinster:eek: Porter on the other hand has grasped his oppurtunity with both hands and impressed as has O'Donnell when given the oppurtunity. As it is Heffernan's 2nd year and along with some other lads returning for their 2nd year their performances aside from one or two exceptions have been dissapointing & the coaches must bear a large portion of the responsibility for those performances. I had genuinely been excited by this years prospects but I am fairly deflated by our performances as we have seem to have gone back to "gallant efforts" & "Passionate defeats" which is something I had hoped we had moved away from and become regular contenders as has happened with the senior side where you can see the impact of great coaching and man management with the players

I think Fogartys work in academy and at age grade provincial level has to be regarded highly...
I don't think there is anywhere near 3/4 better than Heffernan. Who are all those guys who are supposedly better?

bilston wrote: »

What time is today's game and is it on BT/ESPN/TG4?

The game is on red button on BT

wadacrack

Red Button on BT.. where did u see that?

ArmchairQB

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

I think Fogartys work in academy and at age grade provincial level has to be regarded highly...
I don't think there is anywhere near 3/4 better than Heffernan. Who are all those guys who are supposedly better?
The game is on red button on BT

Stand by my original comments and Heffernan is way off has had plenty of chances and not delivered so coaches need to respond and look at other alternatives that are out there. Good thing about Ruddock was that he looked outside the box and sometimes outside of the sub academies and got a couple of decent players but the new set up hasn't broadened their horizons unfortunately

kingofthekong

Anyone got a stream for the game?

Hagz

Bit of sour grapes from the NZ commentator. If there's a flag out from the TJ, the ref should absolutely go back to it at the end of play. No problem for me.

The Lost Sheep

ArmchairQB wrote: »

Stand by my original comments and Heffernan is way off has had plenty of chances and not delivered so coaches need to respond and look at other alternatives that are out there. Good thing about Ruddock was that he looked outside the box and sometimes outside of the sub academies and got a couple of decent players but the new set up hasn't broadened their horizons unfortunately

Heffernan isn't way off. Who are all these alternatives.
I don't think you can say Carolan et al haven't utilised their resources well enough as there isn't loads of guys who should have been picked...