Ireland Under 20 2019 6 Nations and World Championships

Impressive reffereing there, clearly accidental

connemara man wrote: »

I would absolutely hate to be at your son's under 7s

If you can't inspire or get a better performance without berating a player you're doing it wrong

In your opinion. My methods require discipline from the player.

Nothing wrong with barking demands and getting the player to follow step.

Did you ever watch Ultimate Hell Week on RTE? Something similar.

You'd have to be quite a dose to roar from the sidelines at six year olds.

Woosh.

Why do some people give oxygen to this rubbish?

Disappointing end to the tournament for the lads. But they were screwed over by injuries. Sometimes that just happens, crap luck though it may be. It doesn't change a lot of the very real positives we saw over the course of the last 4-5 months.

Cracking final here. Irishman McDonald with a lengthy kick to go ahead with just over 10 to play. Had the legs but slightly left.

He doesn't have a fraction of the passing ability of Casey but I've been impressed with how scrappy and smart he is. Obviously a big voice in the team. Used very well as a sweeper in defence where he bosses things and organises his side. Good kicker too.

I wonder if a province will be in touch.

This 'Les Bloo-aay' lark our of the commentator is really annoying me!

Buer wrote: »

Jesus, if Australia lose by a point and go through the final 3/7 off the tee, they'll be utterly sick.

They must be sick. This was a very well prepared Australia U20s team, maybe one of the best they've had for some time and they kept NZ U20s scoreless in the Oceania Championship. So to lose as they did must be gut wrenching.
I must say despite France being the defending champions I didn't see them winning the title this time. But fair play to them. They timed their run well.

We've an incredible crop of locks coming through. Ryan, Baird, Ahern, Murray and Deeny (who didn't even make the squad) ...all deserving of academy deals.

I thought Turner had a fine tournament. Scrappy and intelligent. Probably not going to top level but can see him having a pro career. Our starting front row are all potential future test players. Each of them are excellent. Would have liked to have seen more of Ahern. Hopefully he gets a cap for Munster this season.

Casey is something of an engima. Wonderfully talented but his size kills him. He was physically dominated multiple times today. Led to turnovers and being caught in possession. The NZ try where the ref deemed the ball was out happened because we had no scrum half after he was manhandled at the previous ruck. I thought he was our best player in the 6N but I'm less convinced of his potential to be a senior international now.

All in all, an odd tournament. The results were poor but the promise is great. Really enthusiastic about Baird, Casey, Ryan, Clarkson, DTM, Hodnett and Wycherley without mentioning those who didn't travel due to injury. Solid pro careers at least ahead of most of those.

watching Baird today I couldn't figure out is his real position, he plays like a lock, backrow, winger and centre all rolled into one. will be interesting to see what Leinster do with him. probably end up in the front row

I was most impressed with Charlie Ryan. I think he really showed up all year, very consistent and a good leader. Turner and Wren look very capable also. Overall, the lads played some ballsy stuff. Mass injuries and some very poor luck.
Next year could be another good one. Several lads returning.

Buer wrote: »

Casey is something of an engima. Wonderfully talented but his size kills him. He was physically dominated multiple times today. Led to turnovers and being caught in possession. The NZ try where the ref deemed the ball was out happened because we had no scrum half after he was manhandled at the previous ruck. I thought he was our best player in the 6N but I'm less convinced of his potential to be a senior international now.

I'm not as big a fan as some here although I've only seen him this year but not sure that's entirely fair in relation to his size. Plenty of 6 foot guys get man handled. Generally when a 9 gets caught its because he made a bad decision, eg a snipe where he gets isolated.

Hands Like Flippers wrote:

I'm not as big a fan as some here although I've only seen him this year but not sure that's entirely fair in relation to his size. Plenty of 6 foot guys get man handled. Generally when a 9 gets caught its because he made a bad decision, eg a snipe where he gets isolated.

He was getting caught and manhandled at the base. It wasn't a case of being turned over, more of not being able to shake off an opposition player when they got a hand on him which will happen in every game. It happened at least 4 or 5 times yesterday when he was hammered including the occasion it led to the second NZ try. A more physical 9 takes that and gets to ground to recycle or shakes off the player.

It's interesting how he's deployed in defence. Many modern scrumhalves are sweepers and play 5m behind the defensive line in phase play, plugging gaps, corner flagging and organising. Murray does it brilliantly. The Aussie 9, McDonald was very good at it. Casey is put out on the wing though which I assume is a tactic to limit his exposure.

I think his natural ability is excellent. The speed of his pass is a tad freakish and his running game is very strong too. But there are inherent issues in his game that will be hard to overcome.

I think he's the type of guy who is going to look world class when his pack give him clean ball on a conveyor belt but in a scrappy game where his pack is on the back foot, he'll struggle to influence the game.

Tim Robbins wrote:

Casey is a super passer. Surely the best 9 we have had at U20's for a few years?

I'd be surprised if there was a better passer we have ever had at U20 level. Stringer is the only one in his league, for me. At U20 level, McGrath was a terrible passer. Marmion was average at best. Conor Murray couldn't even get his game ahead of Matt Healy!

Shanahan was actually not too bad but that may be because he was replacing Luke McGrath who played passing roulette. Place your bets and see where the ball ends up.

Niall Saunders was very impressive back in '16. But obviously health issues have set him back a lot.