2014 Junior World Championship - June 2 to 20

[djwizard84]

It was a very entertaining game, some mistakes but nevertheless full passion.
South Africa deserve the trophy!!!

 

[Gena_ZA]

Come England, lets settle this

 

[Peat]

Come England, lets settle this

 

[danmorrissey]

Ireland simply couldn't compete with England's size this morning

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Ireland simply couldn't compete with England's size this morning

....or their talent. It's not a great Ireland age-grade team. Next year they'll be a lot better with Oisín Heffernan, Rory Moloney, Josh Murphy, Nick McCarthy, Ross Byrne, Harrison Brewer, Garry Ringrose, Billy Dardis and Ciaran Gaffney all returning. On top of that Seán McNulty, Lorcan Dow and Jack Cullen all featured for Ireland at u20 level this season a year ahead of schedule. There should be a favourable draw too since a semi final spot means Ireland avoid England, South Africa and New Zealand in the group phase.

 

[big ginger 8]

....or their talent. It's not a great Ireland age-grade team. Next year they'll be a lot better with Oisín Heffernan, Rory Moloney, Josh Murphy, Nick McCarthy, Ross Byrne, Harrison Brewer, Garry Ringrose, Billy Dardis and Ciaran Gaffney all returning. On top of that Seán McNulty, Lorcan Dow and Jack Cullen all featured for Ireland at u20 level this season a year ahead of schedule. There should be a favourable draw too since a semi final spot means Ireland avoid England, South Africa and New Zealand in the group phase.

We have New Zealand next year apparently. There's only three groups.

Next years team has a lot of talent across the pitch but I'd be very worried about the scrum.

 

[danmorrissey]

Watch out for this name , Calvin Nash

 

[Jaguares]

Danny Hobbs, an interesting loose head prop

 

[conorsinnott]

Is it just me or is the Aussie ginger winger playing astonishingly well this JWC. I was scrolling waiting for somebody to mention him but nobody has. Kellaway i think his name his and he has scored loads of tris and just in gneral been playing very well.
Onto the size thing in the England vs Ireland game, that's evident through all the age groups. I was watching the FIRA-AER u18 final between the two countries and even then England were physically a lot bigger than the Irish lads. Now i know this is isn't just down to what i am about to say but i can't help but think the fact that in England players are bought into academies from around the age of 13/14 and are put in the gym from around 15. This leads to them having a more physical look about them. While in Ireland they don't recieve nearly as much "pushing" they're kind of just left to DIY it. A flaw in the Irish system if you ask me.

 

[danmorrissey]

Yeah you're right about that but it's something they've started to fix, In all the rugby schools they've brought I'm summer weight programmes from 14 year olds upwards , with a focus on body weight exercises and nutrition with the younger players and then at 16 they properly introduce heavy weight training programmes

 

[ratsapprentice]

What's with this focus on size?
England have been so strong because they've been executing basic skills accurately and pushing the pace.

They might be bigger, but that's secondary to their advantage in rugby skills.

 

[danmorrissey]

Yeah good point, people do forget the amount of people actually playing rugby in Ireland, it's the 3rd sport in a country of 5 million people.. Astonishing when you think they got to a World Cup quarter final

 

[Jaguares]

Is it just me or is the Aussie ginger winger playing astonishingly well this JWC. I was scrolling waiting for somebody to mention him but nobody has. Kellaway i think his name his and he has scored loads of tris and just in gneral been playing very well.
Onto the size thing in the England vs Ireland game, that's evident through all the age groups. I was watching the FIRA-AER u18 final between the two countries and even then England were physically a lot bigger than the Irish lads. Now i know this is isn't just down to what i am about to say but i can't help but think the fact that in England players are bought into academies from around the age of 13/14 and are put in the gym from around 15. This leads to them having a more physical look about them. While in Ireland they don't recieve nearly as much "pushing" they're kind of just left to DIY it. A flaw in the Irish system if you ask me.

Yeah, Andrew Kellaway an interesting winger. I like Rowan Perry too

 

[Rumpi]

Yeah good point, people do forget the amount of people actually playing rugby in Ireland, it's the 3rd sport in a country of 5 million people.. Astonishing when you think they got to a World Cup quarter final

... I wouldn't get too excited, they got to the quarter final by beating Wales & Fiji, strange competition structure.

 

[profitius]

One of the groups next year is

NZ
Ireland
Argentina
Scotland

What's with this focus on size?
England have been so strong because they've been executing basic skills accurately and pushing the pace.

They might be bigger, but that's secondary to their advantage in rugby skills.

Not so much size but strength and conditioning. Remember, its a lot easier to execute skills when you've more time on the ball and forward momentum.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Not so much size but strength and conditioning. Remember, its a lot easier to execute skills when you've more time on the ball and forward momentum.

And our props were only offloading, scoring tries and putting in accurate grubber kicks because they were on the front foot then...?

Ireland were on the front foot for a good half an hour in the second half and they did not display anything like the skills England did throughout the match (and the rest of the tournament).

 

[danmorrissey]

I was talking about the rwc in 11

 

[profitius]

And our props were only offloading, scoring tries and putting in accurate grubber kicks because they were on the front foot then...?

Ireland were on the front foot for a good half an hour in the second half and they did not display anything like the skills England did throughout the match (and the rest of the tournament).

Did you see the Ireland game against Wales? They hardly made any handling errors.

I'm taking nothing away from England but its a lot easier to look good when your on the front foot. England were on the front foot against Ireland which ment they had more time and Ireland less time on the ball. The England defence was speedier and the Irish defence were falling off tackles. Most of the England team were rested in the previous match while Ruddock played almost the full Ireland side.

Last weekend the Emerging Ireland side looked like the AB's on steroids. They were scoring tries from everywhere every time they got the ball. The reason was they were up against a Russia side that had no defence.

 

[ratsapprentice]

So England were dominant because Ireland were bad defensively now?

...I thought it was because the England lads have better s&c?

The reason they were on the front foot was because of their execution of basic skills at a pace the Irish couldn't live with - not because they were bigger... in fact the England team is on average smaller than the Irish one.

 

[Rumpi]

So England were dominant because Ireland were bad defensively now?

...I thought it was because the England lads have better s&c?

The reason they were on the front foot was because of their execution of basic skills at a pace the Irish couldn't live with - not because they were bigger... in fact the England team is on average smaller than the Irish one.

It is the default excuse when our u20s lose. That the big bad Opposition team beat our poor slips of lads up. By putting it down to size, we somehow try to fool ourselves that we had the better footballers, which to anyone actually watching the game was clearly not the case.

The same excuse can be heard any time the Dublin hurlers beat a 'traditional' hurling county. Dublin couldn't out hurl them, so it can only be better strength & conditioning. It's a condacending, stubborn & unsporting unwillingness to praise the opposition.

The reality is that Ireland did very well to get out of the group, possibly overachieved truth be told. We were outclassed by a far superior team in the semi final. Could be another tough match v nz.