Ireland Under-20 2024 Team

snotboogie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576174#Comment_121576174

So the Leinster under 20’s mostly played for Ireland?

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576194#Comment_121576194

Looks like it with some of them on the leinster team as well. But yea mostly .

ulsteru20s

Teams are on leinsterfans, i have no idea how they get them. Might be partially guesswork and reports. That is a STRONG leinster selection. Especially compared to the munster u20s last week. Good to see McKee and McCarthy back from injury. If that is the hooker on the bench.

i’m assuming that’s charlie sheridan at centre. He’s a bit of an AIL legend already. I expected him to be involved with u20s this year. Maybe a tad undersized. If i was connacht or munster, i’d be talking to him.

Edit: i’m not sure these teams are 100% right by the way.

https://www.leinsterfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26372&start=100

Leinster Dev

1. Milne

2. McKee

3. McGuire

4. Deeny

5. COT

6. Wilson

7. Whelan

8. Mangan

9. Gunne

10. Tector

11. Osborne

12. Cooney

13. Sheridan

14. King

15. Cosgrave

16. McCarthy

17.

18. Lasisi

19.

20.

21. Brophy

22. Larke

23. Colbert

24. Fenelon

Ireland u20

1. Boyd

2. Smyth

3. Sparrow

4. O'Connell

5. Spicer

6. Hopes

7. Flynn

8. Edogbo

9. Coffey

10. Murphy

11. Kiely

12. Gavin

13. De Klerk

14. O'Connor

15. McLaughlin

16. Sheahan

17. Usanov

18. Deay

19.

20.

21. O'Riordan

22. Naughton

23. Graham

24. Condon

25. Treacy

26.

27. Murphy

snotboogie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576274#Comment_121576274

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/01/05/ireland-u-20s-fight-back-to-draw-with-leinster-development-xv/amp/

Report up now. Luke Murphy, a Munster 19’s 8 seems to have been a standout from the bench. Sounds very familiar!

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576733#Comment_121576733

Interesting that the draw got a report but not the loss lol.

Murphy is a big dude. I remember him from under 18s.

Looks like the team above was slightly wrong as well. The match report makes a ton of sense. The u20s came back when leinster subbed off starters.

edit: very interested in seeing deklerk. He has apparently really showed out so far. Not a guy i heard about before. I wonder if berman is hurt.

Lord Palmerston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121576174#Comment_121576174

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2024/01/05/ireland-u-20s-fight-back-to-draw-with-leinster-development-xv/amp/

Teams are here.

Leinster were very comfortable in the first half - leading 21-0 at halftime before making wholesale changes.

Impressive for me for Leinster were Milne (busy), Mangan, Gunne, Tector and Hugh Cooney.

Irish U20s played well in second half - I was impressed with Evan O’Connell, Oliver Coffey, Wilhelm de Klerk and then Luke Murphy and Finn Treacy off the bench. Jack Murphy kicked very well (two left touchline conversions).

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577825#Comment_121577825

I guess Murphy got free entry into his dad’s kicking classes.

Was De Klerk a hyped guy before this? I’ve never really heard much about him. I do see that he has played 10 for UCD though. Also, do you know if Berman is injured? I expected him to be one of the stars of the upcoming 6 nations.

What did you think of Walker? I haven’t seen him play yet. I know he’s u19. Likewise on Usanov. Also u19 and supposedly an athlete.

This is going to be a very interesting squad. The vibe i’m getting is that ulster and munster will have good sized contingents, but currently the players im most interested in seeing (except just to see all our new academy guys) are leinster guys, spicer, usanov, de klerk mainly.

Lord Palmerston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577846#Comment_121577846

De Klerk is a really good footballer but to me looks a little undersized. Hadn’t seen him play 13 before, he’s played a lot at 10 and 12 mostly. He played underage cricket for Ireland.

He was good at thirteen yesterday, showed lovely hands a few times. Made the try for Stephen Kiely in the corner.

Yep, have heard elsewhere Berman is out with injury.

Walker was pretty good - their scrum was under a lot of pressure, but he looked busy around the field and finished his try from the maul well. Looks to have good size.

Usanov looks a good player - has good explosiveness and pace for a big man. Got parity I’d say out of Temi Lasisi in the second half and took his try well.

It was incredibly noticeable the difference a year makes for the guys on the Leinster side who are a year out of 20s - guys like King, Cooney, Osborne, Gunne, O’Tighearnaigh and Mangan looked to have very visibly bulked up.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577848#Comment_121577848

That reminds me. How did Charlie Sheridan look? Speaking of undersized centres. He has scored a ton of tries in AIL.

This year looks particulary deep at hooker and back three. Pretty excited to see them play.

conquestscarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577848#Comment_121577848

I could see De Klerk at 13 more so than at 12, just doesn't have the size for 12 at the moment and I think the way he plays the game suits 13. I'm surprised he is one of the best performers this year.

Is Murphy bigger than him? Every time I see Murphy in a picture I think he looks undersized but someone said he was one of the larger backs.

Lord Palmerston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578210#Comment_121578210

No, Jack Murphy is pretty small. Him and De Klerk look similar in height and both look under 6ft to me.

Coffey, Gavin, O’Connor and McLaughlin all have relatively good size.

Didn’t notice much impact at all from Charlie Sheridan.

conquestscarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578424#Comment_121578424

Coffey is a player who I suspect will get game time in the URC this year down in SA. Looked incredibly refined at Schools level in regards his passing and kicking. Only thing with him is if he can increase the speed at which he plays with, I've heard he's done very well at Blackrock this year.

McLaughlin always looked smallish to me in schools so good to see he has good size, was probably the best player in the senior cup these last two years, one of the best I'd seen at that level IMO.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578768#Comment_121578768

So Coffey has the lead over Brophy for academy you think? I’m finding it hard to figure out the 9 depth chart.

Lord Palmerston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121583905#Comment_121583905

I would think so - I was really struck by how small Brophy is even by scrum half standards. He literally looked like a 15 year old boy out on the field on Friday.

He’s got a good snappy pass and is lovely and quick, but he looked notably small.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121583979#Comment_121583979

They are both u20s or does Brophy have another year?

its getting more and more that leinster are the interesting team in u20s from an academy pov as they make most of their decisions after (or publicly after). The other three provinces are trending to signing guys pre their u20 year.

Would McLauglin, Sparrow, Coffey, Berman, Smyth, Murphy be basically certs and then others are up in the air?

I’d include Spicer but he is u19 so presumably they could wait on him. I know there is another notable TH in Deay who is injured as well.

Edit: also leinster academy decisions can knock on elsewhere of course.

Lord Palmerston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584047#Comment_121584047

Hard to know - I’d agree that the guys you’ve outlined would be frontrunners, but positional depth in some positions will factor in too.

Could obviously see Sparrow as we need options at THP, but Smyth will need to impress as Leinster have all of Sheehan, Kelleher, McKee, Barron and Gus McCarthy all under 25 (would be logical for me for Munster to go hard after McKee or Barron).

I wouldn’t say Jack Murphy is a cert - he’s a nice player but hasn’t looked elite to me yet.

Berman looked great at U19 but haven’t seen much of him since.

McLaughlin is intriguing - he looked incredible at SCT level, will be interested to see how he adapts now at a higher level. There are a lot of talented back three players at Irish U20 level too - with Ethan Graham, Ben O’Connor, Ben McFarlane, Jules Fenelon and Stephen Kiely all looking pretty good.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584111#Comment_121584111

Yea back three looks potentially excellent. Kenny hopefully will be back as well. He’s probably the guy i’m most excited about but probably tight to get back for 6 nations.

Hooker as well. Walker got start in the last game, which is interesting as he’s u19. Smyth, Solomon and Sheehan is already a pretty high end trio.

Murphy could be interesting for Ulster. We definitely need a ten, and Connacht already jumped on Naughton.

To steal an nfl way of thinking, Munster need to improve the hooker room just generally. They probably could use an NIQ hooker, or someone like McKee/Barron AND two guys in the academy this year. One of them being Smyth wouldn’t be crazy.

edit; just the small glimpse we saw of berman in u20 last year convinced me he will play for leinster. Very smooth.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584047#Comment_121584047

What age is Spicer? I think they're fast tracking him as he's got a chance for the u20's. Would it be better to bring g him on more slowly? I say that as having seen him play a little bit. He's certainly a decent prospect.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584225#Comment_121584225

He’s u19. Its hard to say. He is apparently quite raw, so does that mean take him early to have more hands on time?

His size alone makes him a potential international.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584230#Comment_121584230

He doesn't miss many tackles! From the times I saw him play for Belvo and UCD, he does tackle very well. He doesn't use his size meaning, he's not the most powerful. But he's got plenty of time to work on his game.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584250#Comment_121584250

You guys took COT early right when he was u19? So there is precedent.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584255#Comment_121584255

COT was taken when he was 20. He didn't get into the academy when he was 19.

Purist98

Berman has a hamstring injury, potentially back later in the 6N and possible captain when fit.

Lukas Kenny injured and probably unavailable for the tournament.

Michael O'Reilly injured too, unsure on severity but was impressive in first two warm up games.

conquestscarer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584047#Comment_121584047

I'd say Sparrow, McLaughlin, Spicer, and Coffey would be the only certs this year for me. Haven't seen enough of Smyth to comment on him. I can't see Leinster waiting the extra year with Spicer and I don't think they should, need to get a frame like that as much high level training as possible. Deay could be included, depending on how we spin it, very light at tighthead next year.

Feels to me Berman, Murphy, and De Klerk are battling out for 2 academy places between the 3 of them.

Brophy is u20s this year I think. I think Brophy is a better quick ball 9 and he can speed up the game better than Coffey, the big difference between the two though is Coffey's kicking game is very good. Coffey was also smashing lads in defence unlike any scrum half I've seen before. I was a big fan of Tom Murtagh(U19s) at school level, played the fast ball very well would be interested to see if he makes next year 20s.

johnh6767

Only saw the game v Leinster Dev which I found out about by accident hard to understand why it’s not advertised

berman a big loss if not back for 6N as he has the bulk & experience from last year

Gleeson wasnt playing and will add dramatically to the team especially after his URC experience

O’Connell magic, DeKlerk very skilful and hopefully bulks up , agree above 13 maybe better. Coffee I had heard about but looked very average beside Gunne who was awesome (joint MoM with Cooney) an unfair comparison perhaps as he comes with strong credentials

overall I would say a lot of work to do, hard to see the hype as they were well beaten before the Leinster rotation in 2nd half. Back 3 will be key to 6N success

Murphy I’m sure will bring out the best of all as he has done every year , tougher without Sexton

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121585189#Comment_121585189

Surprised no Berman on that list. I thought he looked excellent in glimpses last year.

Is De Klerk a possible take at 10 over centre? I know he has played there in AIL. It would be tough to take two centres with cooney and brownlee in academy, you’d think.

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121586089#Comment_121586089

I think Gleeson is pretty unlikely to play. Munster prob need him.

edit: actually unless they get medical jokers, maybe O Connell as well. That seems less likely though.

Happyhouse22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121588588#Comment_121588588

Munster only have friendlies on 6 nations weekends, would they take precedence?

ulsteru20s

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121589785#Comment_121589785

Good point, never thought about that. Maybe he will play.

Zeugnis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121577846#Comment_121577846

Yes there was a lot of hype about De Klerk at schools level where he was regarded as being of the best backs of an unusually good cohort. He played both 10/12 for St Michaels.