Ireland U20

Forwards:
James Bollard (Dublin University / Leinster)
Kelvin Brown (Shannon / Munster)
Peter Claffey (Galwegians / Leinster)
Will Connors (UCD / Leinster)
Max Deegan (Lansdowne / Leinster)
Shane Fenton (Young Munster / Munster)
John Foley (Shannon / Shannon)
Cillian Gallagher (Sligo RFC / Connacht)
Greg Jones (UCD / Leinster)
Conor Kenny (Buccaneers / Connacht)
Adam McBurney (Ballymena / Ulster)
Sean O'Connor (Cashel / Munster)
Conan O'Donnell (Sligo / Connacht)
Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster)
James Ryan (Lansdowne / Leinster)
Dan Walsh (Cork Con / Munster)

Backs:
Matthew Byrne (Terenure / Leinster)
Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons / Exlies)
Shane Daly (Cork Con / Munster)
Hugo Keenan (UCD / Leinster)
Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's / Leinster)
Stephen Kerins (Sligo / Connacht)
Paul Kiernan (UCC / Leinster)
Robert Lyttle (Queen's University / Ulster)
Johnny McPhillips (Queen's University / Ulster)
Conor O'Brien (Clontarf / Leinster)
Jimmy O'Brien (UCD / Leinster)
John Poland (Cork Con / Munster)
Jack Power (UCD / Leinster)
Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins / Ulster)

Not too familiar with a lot of the connacht lads, but I know Conan o Donnell is well regarded as one for the future in the front row.

Leinster -14
Munster - 7
Connacht -4
Ulster -4
Exile - 1

Only one forward from Ulster. You guys seem to have difficulty bringing through the fatties. No problem with the backs though. Maybe a few more Ulster frys needed?

Porter and Ryan are rated from the Leinster boys. Not too familiar with the rest.

Kiernan is Munster (the Cork Kiernans) and Claffey is Connacht.

Irishrugbyua listed their positions.
LH
James Bollard(Leinster)
Andrew Porter(Leinster)
TH
Conan O'Donnell(Connacht)
Conor Kenny(Connacht)
Hooker
Shane Fenton(Munster)
Adam McBurney(Ulster)
Lock
James Ryan(Leinster)
Sean O'Connor(Munster)
Peter Claffey(Connacht)
Cillian Gallagher(Connacht) - u19
Backrow
Greg Jones(Leinster)
Will Connors(Leinster)
Max Deegan(Leinster)
Dan Walsh(Munster)
John Foley(Munster) - u19
Kelvin Brown(Munster)
Scrumhalf
John Poland(Munster)
Stephen Kerins(Connacht)
Outhalf
Brett Connon(Newcastle)
Johnny McPhillips(Ulster) - u19
Centre
Paul Kiernan(Munster)
Jimmy O'Brien(Leinster)
Conor O'Brien(Leinster)
Jacob Stockdale(Ulster)
Back Three
Matthew Byrne(Leinster)
Terry Kennedy(Leinster)
Rob Lyttle(Ulster) - u19
Hugo Keenan(Leinster)
Shane Daly(Munster)
Jack Power(Leinster)

42.ie did 2 articles on Paul Kiernan and James Ryan.

http://www.the42.ie/paul-kiernan-ireland-u20-munster-2579414-Feb2016/


http://www.the42.ie/james-ryan-ireland-u20-captain-2578768-Feb2016/

Are you allowed to have a Bollard as a prop? Seems a little unfair to me

Golden wrote:Leinster -14
Munster - 7
Connacht -4
Ulster -4
Exile - 1

Only one forward from Ulster. You guys seem to have difficulty bringing through the fatties. No problem with the backs though. Maybe a few more Ulster frys needed?

Porter and Ryan are rated from the Leinster boys. Not too familiar with the rest.

Actually when it comes to the front 5 we are doing fine thanks
Taking 25 as the cut off, on and below that we have
LH - McCall, Warwick
Hooker - Herring, Andrew
TH - Herbst (in 2017)
Lock - Henderson, AOC, Treadwell

That's pretty good.
True a few 'blow ins' there but still eligible.

Some further decent prospects in the wings as well

Ireland U20 (v Wales, Friday 5 February 2016)
15. Jack Power (UCD / Leinster)*
14. Matthew Byrne (Terenure / Leinster)*
13. Shane Daly (Cork Con / Munster)*
12. Jimmy O’Brien (UCD / Leinster)*
11. Hugo Keenan (UCD / Leinster)*
10. Johnny McPhillips (QUB / Ulster)*
9. John Poland (Cork Con / Munster)*
1. Andrew Porter (UCD / Leinster)
2. Adam McBurney (Ballymena / Ulster)
3. Conan O’Donnell (Sligo / Connacht)
4. Peter Claffey (Galwegians / Connacht)*
5. James Ryan (Lansdowne / Leinster)* Captain
6. Cillian Gallagher (Sligo / Connacht)*
7. Will Connors (UCD / Leinster)*
8. Max Deegan (Lansdowne / Leinster)*
Replacements:
16. Shane Fenton (Young Munster / Munster)*
17. James Bollard (Dublin University / Leinster)*
18. Conor Kenny (Buccaneers / Connacht)*
19. Sean O’Connor (Cashel / Munster)*
20. Kelvin Brown (Shannon / Munster)*
21. Stephen Kerins (Sligo / Connacht)*
22. Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons)*
23. Conor O’Brien (Clontarf / Leinster)*


* new caps

Stockdale and maybe Lyttle have been retained by Ulster.
Porter, O'Donnell, captain Ryan and Deegan are the most hyped in the team. All forwards.
The backrow are all tall. All 6'4" or greater. Don't ask why, maybe Carolan is a bit paranoid of getting bullied again.

RubyGuby wrote:Are you allowed to have a Bollard as a prop? Seems a little unfair to me

If he goes backward he'll have to change his name!

McPhillips is apparently very highly rated in Ulster

He is.

Is the game on RTE or TG4 by any chance, would like to record as it clashes with Ulster v Dragons

RTE 2 7:25

Cheers - I'll set the record button

Anyone watching the Wales game? Good start by Ireland, Jonny McPhillips looks a prospect!

Slow start for Wales the Wales defender showed a lack of commitment for the Ireland try.

Crap kick even worse catch

glamorganalun wrote:Slow start for Wales the Wales defender showed a lack of commitment for the Ireland try.

Lots of lads already with Pro 12 experience, future looks bright for Wales!

glamorganalun wrote:Slow start for Wales the Wales defender showed a lack of commitment for the Ireland try.

Lots of lads already with Pro 12 experience, future looks bright for Wales!

Looked like snother harsh pen

Wales seem to be scoring the Irish way, two good teams should be a good 2nd half.

The wales wing is 17 he looks like s handfull

So refreshing watching two teams who look to offload and keep the game moving.

Great game to watch. Wales deserve the lead.

glamorganalun wrote:The wales wing is 17 he looks like s handfull

Turned 18 last week. There's a lot of guys in this under 20s team that were in a good Wales under 18s team last year that beat england, France and Ireland. However, I've been impressed by one of the older guys in the squad, Harrison keddie

Great offloading by Ireland

Wales SH is dire, costing us a lot so far

Is Ruddock still coaching the Irish team?

Good try even if not grounded

glamorganalun wrote:Good try even if not grounded

Yeah, no way he grounded that

New scrumhalf...yay!

Never a yellow or a penalty

Harsh yellow worst was a hatsh pen

What was that decision all about - a footballers dive by the 10 & the forward gets a yellow?

Seems to have made a miracle recovery to take the kick - what a load of nonsense.

I wonder does the Welsh No.10 bump into things a lot..

Yeah, that is ridiculous. Tough on Ireland

Terrible decision. Dive by the Welsh boy.

On the replay he does move a bit, still never a yellow

I really dont like the way the welsh players at this age are moaning about every decision...very poor

Booth teams putting pressure on themselves, nice to ambition

Welsh are vicious at the breakdown, fantastic effort. The 10 doesn't need to be flopping about like that to get a penalty.

Good consolation try for Ireland, good win for Wsles

Motm the Irish 9 that helped Wsles win

Congrats Wales! Some good players coming through, play with that intnsity on Sunday you go home with the win

I enjoyed that match much better than last years encounter. Deserved win for Wales. Looked like boys against men at times.


I don't think the Irish backs are great although they had no platform to work with. Poland looked good apart from his mistake. McPhillips blew hot and cold. Johnston, Stockdale and Arnold can potentially come in which should help.

Good game but Ireland played some suicide rugby in their own 22. That yellow card on the Irish 4 was dreadful and made a difference IMO. Some big boys out there. Scotland hammering England by 4 trys to nil has really opened things up in this comp

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:What was that decision all about - a footballers dive by the 10 & the forward gets a yellow?

Seems to have made a miracle recovery to take the kick - what a load of nonsense.

The yellow card was for the try which Ireland didn't score from a driving lineout, which unsurprisingly you were very quiet about. Seen it from multiple angles; held up from two different angles and didn't see it scored in the others.

Anyway, rusty from both teams but Ireland tired and Wales took it. Thought the ref whilst allowing a free-flowing game gave a lot of harsh penalties against Wales. Ireland weren't good in the scrum or lineout drives, so I'm assuming their weight advantage was in the back-row. It was likely their back row who were the ones everywhere stopping our players for a lot of the game, thus we struggled to gain ground and momentum. I also think if we were a little less lazy and stupid at times then we wouldn't have let in that many tries.

Good game.

Congrats Wales. 1-0 up for the weekend. Two to go.

Poland had a good game apart from the intercept which was incredibly bad. It effectively cost Ireland the game yet he still got Irish MOTM!

On the Ulster lads:
McPhillips was good apart from one miscued penalty touch miss, but he generally made good decisions.

McBurney was good in the loose and looks to have a lot of leadership potential. With John Andrew and Zak McCall both showing a lot of potential Ulster look well-stocked at Hooker.

The Ireland Under-20 team (sponsored by PwC) to face France in Narbonne on Friday night (kick-off 9.05pm local time/8.05pm Irish time) has been named. The game will be broadcast live on RTÉ Two and www.rte.ie/live (island of Ireland only).

Head coach Nigel Carolan has made several changes to the side that lost to 35-24 to Wales at Donnybrook last Friday night.

In the backs, UCD's Hugo Keenan, who started on the wing last week, moves to full-back in place of the injured Jack Power. Conor O'Brien (Clontarf), who won his first cap off the bench in the opening round, will start on the left wing and St. Mary's College and Ireland Sevens player Terry Kennedy will look to win his first Under-20 cap as a replacement.

Up front, prop Conor Kenny from Buccaneers takes the place of Sligo's Conan O'Donnell, who moves to the replacements. Cork Constitution's Dan Walsh, who will win his first U-20 cap, comes straight into the back row for the injured Will Connors.

Speaking ahead of the squad's departure for France, Carolan said: "We were disappointed with how things went against Wales. I thought that we played well overall but mistakes proved costly in the end. We've hopefully addressed the key areas and we'll be looking for an improved performance on Friday night.

"Our training sessions this week have been very positive and the players are looking forward to the game in Narbonne. If we can maximise on our opportunities, I'd be confident of a result against the French."

IRELAND UNDER-20 Team & Replacements (v France Under-20s, Under-20 RBS 6 Nations, Stade d'Honneur du Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne, Friday, February 12. kick-off 9.05pm local time/8.05pm Irish time):

15. Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster)
14. Matthew Byrne (Terenure College/Leinster)
13. Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster)
12. Jimmy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)
11. Conor O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
10. Johnny McPhillips (Queen's University/Ulster)
9. John Poland (Cork Constitution/Munster)
1. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster)
2. Adam McBurney (Ballymena/Ulster)
3. Conor Kenny (Buccaneers/Connacht)
4. Peter Claffey (Galwegians/Connacht)
5. James Ryan (Lansdowne/Leinster) (capt)
6. Cillian Gallagher (Sligo/Connacht)
7. Dan Walsh (Cork Constitution/Munster) *
8. Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster)

Replacements:

16. Shane Fenton (Young Munster/Munster)
17. James Bollard (Dublin University/Leinster)
18. Conan O'Donnell (Sligo/Connacht)
19. Sean O'Connor (Cashel/Munster)
20. Kelvin Brown (Shannon/Munster)
21. Stephen Kerins (Sligo/Connacht)
22. Brett Connon (Newcastle Falcons/Exiles)
23. Terry Kennedy (St. Mary's College/Leinster) *

* Denotes uncapped player at this level

Not Considered -

Jack Power (UCD/Leinster) - injured
Will Connors (UCD/Leinster) - injured
Jacob Stockdale (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) - involved with Ulster (PRO12)
Robert Lyttle (Queen's University/Ulster) - involved with Ulster (PRO12)

France won 34 - 13. Ireland leading after 40 min on the clock but they then collapsed. They look a very unfit side.

Ireland looked unfit against Wales, something must not be right. In order for us two to be any good at this level we need players with exposure to Pro12 rugby. This doesn't seem to be the case in England or France who can somehow put out inexperienced teams and still be competitive.

James Ryan looks like having everything to become a great lock though. Not sure if it's fitness or mental weakness but Ireland pretty much gave up in the 2nd half.