Disappointing. There was an improvement in strength but just not enough. They were so close against both NZ and France.Armchair wrote:Pity after a great start to the tournament. We finished where people outside of Ireland would have picked us to finish. Outsiders will say we played to form. Personally thought we were good enough to finish ahead of Agentina & France but it wasn't to be!ormond lad wrote:With all games now played the final rankings and the pool draw for next year are below
1 england
2 wales
3 south africa
4 new zealand
5 france
6 argentina
7 australia
8 ireland
9 samoa
10 scotland
11 fiji
12 usa
world trophy
1 italy
england. argentina, australia, italy
wales, france, ireland, fiji
south africa, new zealand, samoa, scotland
Ireland Under-20s squad?
Moderator: moderators
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Against Australia they were missing Tom Daly, Sweetnam, Taylor, Dooley, Olding, Henshaw and Ryan Murphy. Not a bad effort overall especially considering they lacked a kicker.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Luke McGrath finishes his U20 career with 19 of a possible 20 caps [13 starts + 6 substitute appearances]. Excellent going for the lad and a great preparation for his senior career.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Hopefully he can continue to work on his pass.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Joe already has trusted Luke to start a vital, must win, end of season fixture against our bogey team. And he did pretty well.hugonaut wrote:Luke McGrath finishes his U20 career with 19 of a possible 20 caps [13 starts + 6 substitute appearances]. Excellent going for the lad and a great preparation for his senior career.
Ouh Ahh Luke McGrath I said Ouh Ahh Luke McGrath!!!!
Just sayin, we could do with a few more chants.
You know I'm going to lose,
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
And gambling's for fools,
But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Oi!!!! That was already used for Jack McGrath a couple of times towards the end of the season, so hands off buddie!!!blockhead wrote:Joe already has trusted Luke to start a vital, must win, end of season fixture against our bogey team. And he did pretty well.hugonaut wrote:Luke McGrath finishes his U20 career with 19 of a possible 20 caps [13 starts + 6 substitute appearances]. Excellent going for the lad and a great preparation for his senior career.
Ouh Ahh Luke McGrath I said Ouh Ahh Luke McGrath!!!!
Just sayin, we could do with a few more chants.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
whispers going around that Tom Farrell has been offered a Munster Academy spot, Leinster only offering another year at sub-academy. Would be a strange decision if true from Leinster. Girv and co seem to be the only ones not rating him!
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Well, they've already taken in two centres this year and have Coughlan and O'Shea there already. Only so many places they can give for certain positions. Farrell had a good JWC but made some very silly mistakes too. He's probably good enough for a contract but wrong time for him.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
2 centres?
Byrne doesn't look like a centre to me, barely looked like a wing at the JWC especially defending.
Daly is a pure inside centre aswell, not suited to any other position.
Byrne doesn't look like a centre to me, barely looked like a wing at the JWC especially defending.
Daly is a pure inside centre aswell, not suited to any other position.
- LeRouxIsPHat
- Jamie Heaslip
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Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Bump.tackle-bag wrote: ↑February 1st, 2013, 9:26 pm McGrath aside, there are no players who look bound for a standout professional career.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
The more things change, the more they say the same
Ruddock's tackle stats consistently too low for me to be taken seriously as a Six Nations blindside..... Ruddock's defensive stats don't stack up. - All Blacks Nil, Jan 15th, 2014
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles
- Oldschoolsocks
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- Location: Stepping out of the Supernova
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Tbf in retrospect that was a good yearLeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑November 21st, 2022, 12:52 amBump.tackle-bag wrote: ↑February 1st, 2013, 9:26 pm McGrath aside, there are no players who look bound for a standout professional career.
- LeRouxIsPHat
- Jamie Heaslip
- Posts: 15008
- Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 7:49 pm
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
I'm sure this is only interesting to me but I had a look back through my own posts here hoping that I'd predicted VDF would win WPOTY. I said he was excellent but didn't talk him up to that extent unfortunately(mods must have edited my posts) but saw some posts that stood out.
What might have been...
What might have been...
I don't remember having this opinion but perhaps it hints to why Dooley never kicked on. I'm glad I decided to stop being overly harsh on underage players at some point, definitely too much here.LeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑June 10th, 2013, 10:04 am I'm trying not to get too excited but have to echo what everyone has said about Leavy, what a prospect. I know he's a flanker but he has a presence and maturity that reminds me of Poc at his best. When you need him, he's there, and always (bar the offload against Oz) seems to do the right thing. If he was to suffer an injury and lose some pace and power then he'd still be a really effective player because he just always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. His workrate is phenomenal and his technique is just perfect for most things. He strikes me as someone who soaks up everything a coach says.
And it seems I've been defensive of Luke from the startLeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑June 18th, 2013, 10:37 am I can remember criticising Dooley for an embarrassingly bad workrate in one of the 6N games but he got better and better throughout that game and really changed my opinion of him.
His workrate in the last few games has generally been very good again but I do think he drifts in and out of games and tends to need to walk around (literally) for spells during a game. He's certainly a talent, just needs to get a bit fitter imo. I'd certainly prefer a prop with good technique who needs to do some conditioning work over an athlete who can't scrummage!
LeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑June 14th, 2013, 11:35 am
For those criticising McGrath, I didn't actually think he was too bad but regardless of that he took a couple of very heavy knocks which may explain why he wasn't at his best.
Re: Ireland Under-20s squad?
Oldschoolsocks wrote: ↑November 21st, 2022, 1:31 amTbf in retrospect that was a good yearLeRouxIsPHat wrote: ↑November 21st, 2022, 12:52 amBump.tackle-bag wrote: ↑February 1st, 2013, 9:26 pm McGrath aside, there are no players who look bound for a standout professional career.
Not particularly. 2012 and 2016 were good years. 2019, 2020 and 2022 were good years also and I'd say next year is shaping up to be good too.