2014 Junior World Championship - June 2 to 20

[Darwin]

Careful what you wish for. Hickey has some good attributes and runs a game well.

No-one is suggesting Hickey doesn't have some good attributes, but he has been poor this tournament, and we are not going to beat this South African side playing conservative rugby. Richie Mo'unga (who will start in his place) is a very good player in his own right - he had a fantastic debut for Canterbury last season (as an 18 year old), and has looked much better than Hickey this tournament. We could also play McKenzie at 10 (with Mo'unga at fullback), but I suspect they will stick with McKenzie in the 10 jersey though he and Mo'unga will interchange a bit throughout the match.

 

[Peat]

Not so much lacking talent but they were not as good as the 2013 or 2014 outside backs. None of SCM, Nelson, Horan, Sherlock or Farrell has done well in their careers since. Thats what we do know. Chris Farrell has the talent to make it to international (odds lengthening though) but the others do not.

The point is that there was enough talent there to not qualify as a weak link. The 2013 lot was pretty good, probably better, I haven't watched the 2014 team - but the 2012 outside backs were not a weak point. That is my memory. You believe otherwise - fine - but I completely disagree.

And what they go onto after the tournament is irrelevant to how good they were at the time. Regardless of what they do afterwards, there were some good players there at the time. Not that I agree with your assessment of their future potential.

 

[big ginger 8]

Ireland Under-20 Team to play England Under-20 (IRB Junior World Championship Semi-Final, QBE Stadium, Auckland - Sunday 15th June, kick-off 17.05hrs local time/06.05hrs Irish Time)
15 Cian Kelleher (Lansdowne/Leinster)
14 Ciaran Gaffney (Galwegians/Connacht)
13 Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster)
12 Dan Goggin (Young Munster /Munster)
11 Alex Wootton (Garryowen/Munster)
10 Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster)
9 Nick McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)
1 Peter Dooley (Lansdowne/Leinster)
2 Max Abbott (Cork Constitution/Munster)
3 Rory Burke (Cork Constitution/Munster)
4 Stephen Gardiner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
5 Ross Molony (UCD/Leinster)
6 Peadar Timmins (UCD/Leinster)
7 Frank Taggart (Belfast Harlequins/ Ulster)
8 Jack O' Donoghue (ULBohemians/Munster) (Capt)

Replacements
16 Dylan Donnellan (UCD/Leinster)
17 Denis Coulson (Lansdowne/Leinster)
18 Oisin Heffernan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
19 Darragh Moloney (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 Rory MNoloney (Buccaneers/Connacht)
21 Ryan Foley (Lansdowne/Leinster)
22 Conor McKeon (Lansdowne/Leinster)
23 Harrisson Brewer (Terenure/Leinster)

 

[Darwin]

New Zealand:

1 Atunaisa Moli
2 Epalahame Faiva
3 Tau Koloamatangi
4 James Tucker
5 Geoffrey Cridge
6 Kyle Harris
7 Lachlan Boshier
8 Tom Sanders
9 Mitchell Drummond
10 Richie Mo'unga
11 Tevita Li
12 TJ Faiane
13 Anton Lienert-Brown, captain
14 Vince Tavae –Aso
15 Damian McKenzie

Reserves

16 James O'Reilly
17 Scott Mellow
18 Tim Cadwallader
19 Mathew Peni
20 Troy Callander
21 Josh Renton
22 Kaveinga Finau
23 David Havili

South Africa:

15. Warrick Gelant
14. Lloyd Greeff
13. Jesse Kriel
12. Andre Esterhuizen
11. Sergeal Petersen
10. Handré Pollard (captain)
9. JP Smith
8. Aidon Davis
7. Cyle Brink
6. Jacques Vermeulen
5. Nico Janse van Rensburg
4. JD Schickerling
3. Dayan van der Westhuizen
2. Corniel Els
1. Thomas du Toit

Reserves

16. Joseph Dweba
17. Pierre Schoeman
18. Wilco Louw
19. Abongile Nonkontwana
20. Victor Sekekete
21. Zee Mkhabela
22. Jean-Luc du Plessis
23. Dan Kriel

I think the NZ side named for this match is clearly better than the one we had for the 1st match between the two sides. The loose-forward trio is smaller (without Peni), but will have a much better work-rate. I would have liked to see Jacobsen at 7 (or on the bench) though. Mo'unga offers a much better running/passing game than Hickey at 10, which we needs versus South Africa. The only issue is his goal-kicking is not in Hickey's class. Faiane finally gets a start in his preferred position and should form a good combination in the midfield with Lienert-Brown. I like the look of Finau on the bench too - he is didn't look the most creative midfielder against Scotland, but he was always happy to straighten the line on attack.

Despite these improvements South Africa still obviously enter the match as firm favorites. We are not going to match South Africa up front - out best option is to not let them get in positions where they can exploit their forward dominance. We need to get the ball into the lineout as quickly as possible, and it would be nice if we could throw it somewhere in the direction of our jumpers! Our best tactic on their lineouts may well be not to compete and stop the maul before it gets going (though that can be easier said than done). Likewise at scrum-time we need to get our own ball out quickly, and if we don't knock it on it will limit there ability to show off their scrum dominance The forwards need to provide quick ball for the backs - we need to be committing bigger numbers than we did last time - while I would like to see the backs running straighter. While we need to play with width we need to do that with our passing game rather than lateral running! If in doubt our best option may be to use the classic "give the ball to Tevita Li" tactic.

Unless we make big improvements South Africa will win comfortably again, but I do think we have a chance to pull off an upset. We will be relying very heavily on some individual brilliance of some of our backs though....

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

I actually think this is the best lineup NZ has fielded so far (though Hickey for Mo'unga is pretty marginal). That midfield is definitely the most balanced we've seen, and the forward pack is very close to being full strength.

I'd say SA are probably 60/40 favourites. I would not be surprised to see NZ come away with a narrow victory.

For what it's worth:

1 Moli (Waikato)
2 Faiva (Waikato)
3 Koloamatangi (Waikato)
4 Tucker (Waikato)
5 Cridge (Hawke's Bay)
6 Harris (Otago)
7 Boshier (Taranaki)
8 Sanders (Canterbury)
9 Drummond (Canterbury)
10 Mo’unga (Canterbury)
11 Li (North Harbour)
12 Faiane (Auckland)
13 Lienert-Brown (Waikato)
14 Tavae-Aso (Auckland)
15 McKenzie (Waikato)

Reserves

16 O’Reilly (Wellington)
17 Mellow (Taranaki)
18 Cadwallader (Manawatu)
19 Peni (Wellington)
20 Callander (Bay of Plenty)
21 Renton (Otago)
22 Finau (Canterbury)
23 Havili (Tasman)

That's very different to past representation, that's for sure!

 

[Peat]

The Baby Orcs will be in the final

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Forward a mile, but great try otherwise!

 

[Darwin]

Brilliant opening try by New Zealand (ignoring the fact the last pass was forward!).

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

NZ sealing of the breakdowns illegally...

 

[Darwin]

Early days, but we are looking much better than last time we played South Africa.

EDIT: And then we gift them 7 points....

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Damnit Darwin.

 

[Darwin]

We need to cut out these basic handling errors though!

 

[goodNumber10]

some shocking handling going on

 

[Darwin]

McKenzie - brilliant. Gelant - even better!

 

[SomeOke]

Kicking it to Mckenzie is not a winning tactic. Sa dont look up for it.

 

[Darwin]

And we blow another chance. We need to start taking these chances if we want to win...

 

[SomeOke]

NZ errors keeping us in it. Something has got to change before NZ find their rhythm.
Edit: yellow... even more screwed

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

The issue with that tackle is that the South African player almost twists the Mo'unga's head off. Accidental obviously, but still dangerous!

 

[Darwin]

Is there anything McKenzie can't do?

EDIT: Happy to be leading at halftime, but can't help but feel we should be a lot further ahead than we are. If we lose this match we are going to regret those numerous missed chances in the 1st half....

 

[SomeOke]

We're lucky to be only 5 points behind which is quite obvious. Aimless kicking, slow line speed, heads down, 16 missed tackles. I hope something changes after half-time because we won't beat NZ playing like this.