Provincial Schools thread 2012-2013 *MOD WARNING POST 1*

ormond lad

lurtz wrote: »

Id expect him to be involved with Leinster this summer,maybe 20s if thats his age group,I think hes a fantastic talent. If people actually watched him closely in matches instead of hearing about his kicking they'd see he has a fantastic pairs of hands and good pace

Ringrose is 20s next season but the likes of Adam Byrne as well as some of this seasons 18s will be ahead of him in the centre from what ive seen of him play.

Yes Ringrose is good enough. As I said,kicking aside,he offers alot in attack and defence,and has plenty capacity to learn and develop

Of course he has plenty of capacity to learn and develop Its just my opinion others are better choices.
I have seen him play and he is a good player but not a very good player and would also have the likes of Fergal Cleary plus those mentioned above ahead of him.

This is quite irrelevant, Barry Daly in 2011 and Eoghan Quinn last year werent in a setup til they left school. Neither were jordan coghlan or josh van der flier. Are they not as good as people think? Its like the AIL,players should be rewarded for performing in the cup with higher honours

Not irrelevant at all. He's a fine player but is getting a lot of hype. If he is as good as people have been saying he is then why hasn't he been involved before in provincial set up?
Eoghan Quinn was in the set up while still in School. Played irish 19s last year and was still in Castleknok and Barry Daly was still in school in 11 and played irish 19s

FellasFellas

ormond lad wrote: »

Ringrose is 20s next season but the likes of Adam Byrne as well as some of this seasons 18s will be ahead of him in the centre from what ive seen of him play.

Of course he has plenty of capacity to learn and develop Its just my opinion others are better choices.
I have seen him play and he is a good player but not a very good player and would also have the likes of Fergal Cleary plus those mentioned above ahead of him.

Not irrelevant at all. He's a fine player but is getting a lot of hype. If he is as good as people have been saying he is then why hasn't he been involved before in provincial set up?
Eoghan Quinn was in the set up while still in School. Played irish 19s last year and was still in Castleknok and Barry Daly was still in school in 11 and played irish 19s

I think Byrnes future is at wing and full back rather than 13. Played all his rugby this year on the right wing anyway. Leinster 19's and UCD last year was at 13 but think back 3 will be his focus.

CGD

Eoghan Quinn was in the set up while still in School. Played irish 19s last year and was still in Castleknok and Barry Daly was still in school in 11 and played irish 19s

I think he scored a hat-trick of tries against England when he came on early as a sub

lurtz

ormond lad wrote: »

Ringrose is 20s next season but the likes of Adam Byrne as well as some of this seasons 18s will be ahead of him in the centre from what ive seen of him play.

Of course he has plenty of capacity to learn and develop Its just my opinion others are better choices.
I have seen him play and he is a good player but not a very good player and would also have the likes of Fergal Cleary plus those mentioned above ahead of him.

Not irrelevant at all. He's a fine player but is getting a lot of hype. If he is as good as people have been saying he is then why hasn't he been involved before in provincial set up?
Eoghan Quinn was in the set up while still in School. Played irish 19s last year and was still in Castleknok and Barry Daly was still in school in 11 and played irish 19s

Because some people don't get into a provincial setup until after they finish school,like Eoghan Quinn and Barry Daly..not involved with Leinster 20s until July 2012 and 2011 respectively. Making the provincial setup isnt everything,sometimes they miss players

Hagz

Rory O'Loughlin is a banker for the 13 shirt next year.

Hagz

13-0 England

opinionatedfan

not going well at all.

.ak

England are always massive at underage level, figuratively and literally. I'm more interested in how the players are playing, rather than the score - especially the future Leinster backline!

Hagz

Thankfully they've said they're putting highlights of the game up online. It's great that we get to see some footage of it. Half-Time now.

Hagz

13-7. O'Loughlin try.

Hagz

13-12 now! Peter Robb finishes off a chip by McKeon.

Hagz

And McKeon drops a goal to make it 15-13!

opinionatedfan

great stuff, team woke up

Hagz

16-15 England. drop goal.

Hagz

Full-time - 16-15 England. Oh well. They fought back well in the second half.

opinionatedfan

you can take a loss when its close like that.

any standouts?

Hagz

I was just relaying what was on twitter so have no idea.

lurtz

O'Loughlin was very good,Sean o'brien and jack o'donoghue look like excellent prospects

opinionatedfan

lurtz wrote: »

O'Loughlin was very good,Sean o'brien and jack o'donoghue look like excellent prospects

What about McKeon?

TheKeenMachine

opinionatedfan wrote: »

you can take a loss when its close like that.

any standouts?

Peter Robb was very good I thought.

Liveforrugby

TheKeenMachine wrote: »

Peter Robb was very good I thought.

Who is he? I've heard his name around here quite a bit, is he any good?

opinionatedfan

Liveforrugby wrote: »

Who is he? I've heard his name around here quite a bit, is he any good?

inside centre, used to play for blackrock.

Hopefully the IRFU get the highlights up asap.

although if they have a recording of the whole game, i can't for the life of me understand why they don't put the whole thing up.

Liveforrugby

opinionatedfan wrote: »

inside centre, used to play for blackrock.

Hopefully the IRFU get the highlights up asap.

although if they have a recording of the whole game, i can't for the life of me understand why they don't put the whole thing up.

Because most people don't want to watch the full game, they want the highlights, they should put up both but I guess that just doesn't happen

Hagz

Some pics
http://www.sportsfile.com/more-images/1304019/
http://www.inpho.ie/assignment/Under-19-Friendly-International-Ireland-U19-vs-England-U19/LIVtim9CyZOqtmNf5DlDzA..a?ts=uZ5eJVLXW5XVAhHY2J5UDw..a

opinionatedfan

Robb is a big unit.

Hagz

Throw Dooley and Leavy in with the forwards and you have yourself a mighty pack.

Quint2010

So we are looking mainly here at the team for the U20 6n next season-save for the additions of Leavy, Dooley and possibly Billy Dardis?

Liveforrugby

opinionatedfan wrote: »

Robb is a big unit.

How big?

Tox56

Quint2010 wrote: »

So we are looking mainly here at the team for the U20 6n next season-save for the additions of Leavy, Dooley and possibly Billy Dardis?

Surely there'd be more from this year's schools team? Brewer's got the size for it anyway, the flanker (Molony?) was outstanding in the FIRA tournament too

opinionatedfan

Give or take a few guys.. the majority of next years u20 team was playing today.

Hard to really know though.

Quint2010

Tox56 wrote: »

Surely there'd be more from this year's schools team? Brewer's got the size for it anyway, the flanker (Molony?) was outstanding in the FIRA tournament too

By the sounds of things Brewer as an U19 next year would have a hard job getting past Peter Robb. Maybe Moloney but then you have Leavy coming back into the back row

Hagz

http://www.irishrugby.ie/rugby/28873.php

Despite starting the game in bright fashion, the Ireland Under-19s soon found themselves on the back foot as England were starting to get plenty of joy out on the right flanker.
Dynamic wing play from Zach Kibirige, along with strong scrummaging by lock Tom Ellis, went close to breaching the Irish rearguard, but some fine tackling by the hosts managed to keep them at bay during the opening ten minutes of action.

The pressure from the English side was relentless though and it came as no surprise when scrum half Jordan Burns from Harlequins touched down to the left posts after showing plenty of initiative in one of England's more enterprising attacks.

This was certainly a setback for Colin McEntee's charges but with out-half Olver coming up short with his conversion attempt, the blow was lessened somewhat.

England were the dominant force during the opening period and they increased their lead to 8-0 in the 21st minute when Olver easily slotted a close-in penalty.

Ireland did have a chance to cancel out this score just four minutes later when Conor McKeon stepped forward to take a 30-metre place-kick, but the Gonzaga man was wide of the mark with an uncharacterstically wayward strike.

Ireland suffered another blow when flanker Joe Bercis was sent to the sin-bin moments later, and England took full advantage during his time off the pitch.

Ross Moriarty powered over on the left for a try just past the half hour mark. Olver was narrowly off target once more with the conversion attempt, but England were nevertheless full value for their 13-0 interval advantage.

However, it was far from being an insurmountable lead and although they took a while to settle into the second half proceedings, the Irish team eventually found a way to deal with the threat offered by England.

The introductions of Shane Delahunt, Jacob Walshe and Rory Burke provided plenty of bulk in the Irish scrum, but it was the intricate link play between centres Rory O'Loughlin and Peter Robb that led to Ireland's first score of the
afternoon with 30 minutes remaining.

Robb was the playmaker on this occasion, as his neat offload made it possible for outside centre O'Loughlin to cross for a try on the right hand side.

The well-taken score was converted with relative ease by McKeon, which suddenly gave McEntee's youngsters a real chance of getting a positive result from this encounter.

Indeed, matters became even more interesting on the 55th minute mark when a tricky kick downfield by the increasingly influential McKeon deceived England full-back Nathan Earle. He was unable to deal with the bounce, and Old Belvedere's Robb was on hand to reach over in dramatic fashion for another try.

McKeon's conversion shot was a lot more difficult this time and although he hit it with plenty of conviction, his kick drifted just past the right hand post.

The momentum was very much with Ireland at this point and when McKeon registered a breathtaking drop goal with two minutes of normal time to play, a victory looked well within the reach of the hosts.

Yet, Olver and England had other ideas, and his equally well-struck drop goal from open flew between posts, giving his side a hard-earned triumph in spite of some late pressure from Ireland which included two missed drop goal attempts.

The England line-up contained five players who played in the recent Under-20 Six Nations campaign, so the McEntee-led Irish management team will draw plenty of encouragement from their side's second half comeback.

The Ireland Under-19s have a second match to play against France on Saturday, with Montargis' Stade Champfleuri the venue (kick-off 4.30pm local time/3.30pm Irish time).

ormond lad

Was at the game. Missed first 15mins or so but here's my thoughts
Mc Keon, Jack O D, O Loughlin, Robb and O'Brien were all very good
England had some huge forwards and Ireland struggled against the sheer size of the english until a few mins into the second half and the introduction of a few players off the bench and from then on Ireland were in the ascendancy.
Very unlucky to lose the game
Good performance overall. Irish 20s will be a fine side with the bulk of this side as well as the likes of Dooley and the others currently playing 20s

Hagz

Ross Moriarty (England no.6) and Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (England Loose-head) both started against our u20s side back in February.

opinionatedfan

Moriarty is the player who tried to piledriver Luke McGrath

CGD

Liveforrugby wrote: »

Who is he? I've heard his name around here quite a bit, is he any good?

Plays 21's for Belvo hasn't done much this season to be honest. Looks the part but his skills were basic enough but must be improving

funtime93

Quint2010 wrote: »

So we are looking mainly here at the team for the U20 6n next season-save for the additions of Leavy, Dooley and possibly Billy Dardis?

Peadar Timmins and Adam Byrne also.

lurtz

Liveforrugby wrote: »

How big?

6 foot or 6'1,pushing 100kg Id say. He was certainly much better than anticipated. With the lads coming down from 20s next year and the ones coming up from 18s this 20s team could look quite the prospect indeed

opinionatedfan

My under projected under-20 team for next season:

1. Peter Dooley
2.
3. Saba Meunargia
4. Ross Molony
5. Sean O'Brien
6. Peader Timmins
7. Dan Leavy
8. Jack O'Donoghue
9.
10. Conor McKeon
11.
12.
13. Rory O'Loughlin
14. Adam Byrne
15. Billy Dardis

Pretty unsure about the other 4 spots right now.

Leinster5

Good game today, could of gone either way to be honest. Thought Sean O'Brien and Peter Robb were the stand-out performers. England's bigger did dominate the forwards battle, but the Irish backline was impressive. Would have to say that I wasn't impressed with the scrum-half or hooker

opinionatedfan

pretty poor group of SH's coming through after McGrath.

was hoping Holland might be an option there.

opinionatedfan

DementedMole posted this on LR

I thought Sean O'Brien [Roscrea version] was pretty outstanding. He was at the heart of all the good work we did in the pack – receiving kick-offs, disrupting their maul, competing over the ball and putting in good tackles. He's a big strong lad and was one of the few who were able to compete on an equal footing with an extremely big and powerful English eight. We would have been mental to try and bash it up through the pack, so he didn't have many opportunities to carry the pill – but if you've seen him in the Senior Cup, you know that he's a good ball-carrier and handler. If he didn't have his Leaving Cert to do, I'd imagine he'd have a pretty good chance of going to the JWC.

No8 Jack O'Donoghue was our next best forward [in my opinion]. He's a good footballer in terms of his handling and passing and an aggressive runner without really being a big tackle-breaker. He's currently in Year 1 of the Munster Academy, and I thought that you could definitely tell that he has almost a year of full-time training behind him.

Hype710

Good luck to the commentators when two Sean O'Briens line out for Ireland!

Inspector Coptoor

Liveforrugby wrote: »

How big?

I'd day he's 6'2" & 100-105kg.

Very very strong guy.
I don't like to measure a guy based on his bench press alone, but I've seen Robb bench 130kg for 6 reps and it was easy for him

opinionatedfan

More from the Mole.

Have to say that I was disappointed again in the fullback, Kelleher from Michaels. I'd heard that he was a big talent, but I thought he played pretty selfishly and not particularly well in the Senior Cup final and he was just poor today. He's got a fairly brutal sense of positioning, and even when he had a chance of running on to a dropping ball, he let it bounce a couple of times. He missed a pair of one-on-one tackles as well [and maybe a third at the other end from where I was sitting], and while he's got pace, he doesn't really create space for anybody else when he's counter-attacking, run good angles when he's hitting the line ... or pass. Ever. A lot of holes in his game, and to be honest, he comes across as a bit of a show pony. Maybe a harsh criticism for a 18/19 year old, but there you go.

Centre combo were pretty good – Robb a very tidy player, good hands, combative in contact, works hard, puts in his tackles and distributes pretty well. O'Loughlin looks dangerous when he gets the ball and has a good competitive attitude that he showed a couple of times competing for restarts [winning once] against the very big English No5. Showed a lot of gas breaking down the left wing before our first try [which he scored a bunch of phases later]. They're quite a complementary pairing as well, seemed to work quite well together.

Impressed with McKeon at outhalf, put a lot of shape on the game for us. Reminds me of O'Gara a little bit! Badly scuffed his first place-kick and put his next kick from hand way out on the full, but shrugged it off and got back in the game quickly. Very brave and quite effective tackler for a slight chap as well, which is a big plus in most peoples' books [including mine]. I thought he did a lot of things quite well in terms of moving the ball away from their huge pack [whether that was through kicking behind their wingers, cross-kicking or putting it through the hands] and his drop-goal was a good decision and well-taken.

Molony in the second row had a reasonable enough game, but the two English lads dwarfed him [they wouldn't have looked out of place in a senior game, and their No4 was a line-out king] and O'Brien was very much the dominant second row on the Irish side. Delahunt and O'Neill came on midway through the second half and contributed, but didn't really have the opportunity to shine.

hype101

Would the Blackrock No 8 turned winger Sean Coughlin not be in the reckoning?.. Thought he was u19s.. Looked like a fine player in the SCT.

Also would have expected Stephen O'Neill of Terenure to be involved.

Hagz

I don't think O'Neill was that impressive in the Senior Cup. Coughlan was impressive but I think his move to wing is quite recent. He might be in the reckoning next year if keeps it up at club level, although I am a fan of Ian Fitzpatrick.

hype101

Haven't seen much of Fitzpatrick but i've heard he's handy alright.. Agree O'Neill wasn't that impressive in the cup but he was out for the whole season injured and I could be wrong but I think the first cup game was his first game back.. Looked handy against Roscrea I thought.. Couple of searing breaks

Not a Nure guy or anything but just thought he would've been involved

opinionatedfan

O'Neill is pretty small.

No nothing about Fitzpatrick. Big winger?

Hagz

opinionatedfan wrote: »

O'Neill is pretty small.

No nothing about Fitzpatrick. Big winger?

Yeh, I didn't want to say it as it's sounds a bit harsh, but he is quite small.

I wouldn't say Fitzpatrick is noticeably big, as wingers go, but his size isn't an issue. Especially as he plays more on the left than right. He's just one of those players who is "tidy". A good footballer as they say. I'm interested to see how he gets on at club level.