Ireland Under 20 2019 6 Nations and World Championships

Folks what is the story with the groups here.
Are France or Argentina topping the 3rd group?
The World Rugby site isn't helping me.

What way are Ireland now?

I reckon it'll be Australia vs South Africa in the final. Argentina could pull of a shock upset against the Wallabies, but the French team look well off the pace, got a hammering from Argentina, beat a weak Wales side and weren't overly convincing vs Fiji.

DonVito wrote: »

How many red cards have there been so far this tournament? 6? Unsustainable.

I think they need to introduce a black card like in the GAA. It is far too strict a punishment to go down to 14 players because a guy got his timing wrong or is much taller than an opponent. It also ruins the game as a contest.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I think they need to introduce a black card like in the GAA. It is far too strict a punishment to go down to 14 players because a guy got his timing wrong or is much taller than an opponent. It also ruins the game as a contest.

10 minute sin bin and then replace the player would be a fair compromise in situations where there was no malice intended.

But in fairness to world rugby, the directives couldn't be any clearer in terms of high tackles, and I think it is a necessity given the amount of head injuries we see in the modern game, but there's some circumstances where it's almost unavoidable, for example Vunipola's tackle on Hughes could've been given as a red under the directives because he made contact with the head, but Hughes had also ducked down to the point of almost sitting on the ground.

Obviously not including the time we made the final

Personally I just think red cards should be for deliberate foul play, I think maybe a black card sort of thing should be introduced for if its dangerous but not deliberate, going down to 10 and being forced into a sub is a big enough punishment for what is essentially just a bad mistake.

I think its pretty clear the difference in intent between something like the Australian red today and the red for the English lad in the first match and I do think intent should play some part in the punishment

D14Rugby wrote: »

A try and losing bonus against the Aussies would have put us through. I wouldn't have bet against getting both of them with 15 players anyway.

Yeah if we'd gotten ahead in the 2nd round it would've made things a hell of a lot easier, but the permutations of us getting through today were more or less impossible and we were way off the mark in terms of racking up the points vs Italy.

Lucas44 wrote: »

I don’t think Milne and moloney are eligible again next year despite what it says

I think Brian Deeney and Paddy Kelly are underage next year.. Plenty of second rows.. No backs though.. Bar Aaron Sexton, are the u19s backs promising?.. Haven't seen any of guys like Andrew Smith, Faria, Oran McNulty.. Are they good prospects?

Deleted User wrote: »

I think they are killing the sport with the wrong kind of kindness.

These players, and I don't just mean the u20's - senior players and in particular those who are used to knock out rugby and international rugby are incredibly committed, determined and hard working. They are far too willing to put their bodies in harms way and whilst that's sport to some degree, I think it's gone too far. You are now expected to stand up and be broken.

Watching legs getting folded, players getting twisted in rucks, players getting upended in mid air or flying into the breakdown. It's too much. Players are far too big, far too fast, far too strong and far too committed to be applying themselves in this way, in this sport. It has to change.

I think a gradual step stone approach to weight limits needs to be implemented, we need to consider changing the nature of the competition at the breakdown and figure out how to have a competition in the air in a sport where two people have a 30 meter run up to compete

Honestly if we keep breaking people at this rate I'm done with a sport I've been watching for 25 years. It's become grotesque.

Thats an interesting viewpoint. I'm the opposite. I love the brutality of the sport. I enjoy the fact that there is genuine danger to the players' health and well-being. I think that is part of its beauty and soul. The size, the athleticism, the skill, the speed, the courage. Its all part of the game and I'd hate to see that disappear.

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

And so it's England again in the 5th place semi.

This Irish side is a team that has the calibre to win it if certain things went our way. They didn't. Doesn't matter how good a team is, you need luck for success, we didn't have enough of it which is a pity.

5th place is still a decent result. Our group this year was so horrendous because we did so badly in last years comp. Huge leg up for next years lads if we can finish strong.

Injuries have obviously decimated us but I will focus on the positives.

We should be able to put out the same front 5 that has been consistent this year. These fellas are unbelievable athletes and work so well as a unit as well as individually. All I feel will make fantastic top level pros.

Casey and Healy at 9 10 have linked up very well. Casey is a very valuable player at this age grade and Healy has the boot to keep us out of danger at key times.

Turner has been a very dependable 13 whose marshalling of the outside channels in defence is very mature for his younger years.

This is a brave and stubborn Irish side - probably a bit too brave and stubborn for their own good! They will be licking their lips at the prospect of dominating England again and hopefully will do so.

England are not a well coached side. They're not a smart side. They are an exceptionally skillful side who will cut you from anywhere but if you play smart rugby and keep the pressure on they will fold as we saw already.

Strong finish lads!!

Not sure how much these lads have left in the tank to beat England again, hopefully im wrong.

So do we play the winner or loser of Wales vs NZ if we beat England?


Regarding the red cards...I think the wrong things are getting red carded personally, that ruck entry for the Ciaran Booth injury is far more worrying then Baird mistiming his hit,

Thus game is played at such a speed such small amount of time to make body adjustments, especially when players are side stepping and ducking into contact,

Weve seen two games which have been pretty much decided by split second timing issues with no malice or intention - the Aus Ireland game and Aus England game, there was two red cards in the France Argentina game,

I dont think this is helping the game or preventing more head injuries , the most dangerous area to me is players charging in illegally at breakdowns or when players are competing for high balls,

Obviously shoulder charges and deliberate non mitigating shots to the head should be taken out of the game, minimal contacts or timing issues should be yellow and not a deciding factor of an entire game.

Players coming in at the side of the ruck and off there feet with force is a more dangerous and deserving of a red for me, Ciaran Booths had shades of the Leavy and Paul O'connel injuries about them.

I weirdly like the idea of more subs aslong as it doesnt turn into the NFL, i think that trial was a success but I'd scrap the reds for Baird and Vunipola type tackles

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I don't think someone looking down and seeing their leg bent in the wrong way is sport, and it's happening every weekend. I think it's gone too brutal, the weekend that Dan Leavy had his leg caved in there were a number of ankles and knees fully dislocated and I can't remove the painful and difficult path to recovery for the player from what I'm thinking about whilst watching the game.

Maybe I'm soft or too squeamish, but I actually think it's cruel and unusual punishment at this stage and we don't even tolerate that for society's criminals.

It was exactly the same type cleanouts back in 2015 aswell and has been for some time

To be honest if anything I think players have probably got a bit lighter over the last 3-4 years. Although not at u20 level

Overall it's a very positive tournament, we had a large squad of players compete successfully at a high level, if the goal is to prepare as many players as possible for pro rugby, I'd say we've achieved that.

I can't see us beating England. We're down to the bare bones and some. England had a big result yesterday and will have some confidence from that. They're in far better shape than us and the fact that they played almost half the game with a man down was a factor in our first meeting.

I would imagine that the Irish squad will be absolutely shattered and have one foot on the plane by the time the final game comes along and I couldn't blame them. They went out there with an injury hit team....the situation now is just a bit of a joke.