Most Talented Irish Rugby Player 21 and under

bilston

leonard7 wrote: »

Gilroy played backrow for MCB 3rds until 5th year then went to B.R.A. for a year where he got a fresh start and excelled at wing. when he came back to MCB he was then put on the wing and started for the 1sts the majority of the rest of his school time. there was definitely some shock at the fact that he had been playing so well for BRA

Interesting, I think I'd heard that Gilroy had played back row in the past, I'd no idea he spent a year at BRA though.

Anyway it goes to show that young players shouldn't be written off at any age really. Doesn't the story go that BOD was a scrum half who didn't make the Blackrock JCT (Medallion to you and me)?

bilston

leonard7 wrote: »

also re: jackson he was very good from a young age but there were worries about his size as he was literally tiny until about 16ish still remember him kicking at the age of 11 and trying to kick from the 22 and not having the legs when everyone else would be trying from as close as possible

Thankfully he grew then. It's funny when you see teams that come to Ravenhill trying to attack the 10 channel now because they see not the biggest out half in the world, coupled with the fact that we've been used to the Humphreys brothers trying to tackle for the last 15 years and it's quite refrshing to see.

leonard7

regardless of what people want to say about his kickin (which i think is nothing to worry about) hes a bloody reliable tackler

shuffol

Gilroy hasnt kicked on from his debut season for me, I remember the game against Leinster in the RDS 2 seasons ago, Ulster were hockeyed but Gilroy was the best player on the park. I cant fathom why Ulster consistantly selects him on the left wing, he's totally right sided, only steps off his right and carries the ball almost exclusively in his right hand, he has a strong fend but its no good when he's on the left wing trying to beat players on the outside with the ball in his right hand.

Hagz

shuffol wrote: »

Gilroy hasnt kicked on from his debut season for me, I remember the game against Leinster in the RDS 2 seasons ago, Ulster were hockeyed but Gilroy was the best player on the park. I cant fathom why Ulster consistantly selects him on the left wing, he's totally right sided, only steps off his right and carries the ball almost exclusively in his right hand, he has a strong fend but its no good when he's on the left wing trying to beat players on the outside with the ball in his right hand.

I agree that he's better on the right, but he can still do a heck of a lot of damage on the left. Correct me if I'm wrong but his amazing try in Thomond last season involved him stepping off his left twice, so he's quite capable of stepping off both feet. I'm not sure how he could have kicked on from his debut season. Didn't he score like 8 tries in his debut season? pretty hard to kick on from that. He's shown right from the off that he has pace, agility and a nose for the line so now it's all about refining the other aspects of his game like defence, high ball and positioning etc, and considering he's proved himself more than capable in HC knockouts, I would say he has kicked on from his debut season.

Neil3030

Go up just one more year (22 and younger) and you could make a decent enough team:

1. Buckley
2. Sexton
3. Furlong
4. O'Callaghan
5. Henderson
6. Ruddock
7. Murphy
8. McKeon
9. Marmion
10. Jackson
11. O'Halloran
12. Marshall
13. JJ
14. Gilroy
15. Conway

wp_rathead

Neil3030 wrote: »

Go up just one more year (22 and younger) and you could make a decent enough team:

1. Buckley
2. Sexton
3. Furlong
4. O'Callaghan
5. Henderson
6. Ruddock
7. Murphy
8. McKeon
9. Marmion
10. Jackson
11. O'Halloran
12. Marshall
13. JJ
14. Gilroy
15. Conway

Exciting enough, be a great Wolfhound team
..but I'd have McSharry at 12- lad is still only 22;)

bamboozle

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Has Henderson even played in the second row at senior level? I certainly don't see what he has done to get ahead of Donnacha Ryan who has probably been Ireland's best player this year. As a lock, Henderson would be miles down the list in terms of an Irish jersey; he wouldn't even be in the top 10 at present.

sorry forgot about Ryan, yeah i'd have him ahead of Henderson also. Its only a matter of time before Henderson gets game time at lock at senior level, such is his talent he'd be good enough to step into HC 2nd row just like he did at 6.

I'd struggle to think of 10 Irish players i'd rather in the 2nd row ahead of him.

Fishooks12

bamboozle wrote: »

sorry forgot about Ryan, yeah i'd have him ahead of Henderson also. Its only a matter of time before Henderson gets game time at lock at senior level, such is his talent he'd be good enough to step into HC 2nd row just like he did at 6.

I'd struggle to think of 10 Irish players i'd rather in the 2nd row ahead of him.

McCarthy
Toner
Touhy
DOC
POC
Ryan
Locky
Toner
Cullen
Browne

All deserve to be ahead of Henderson at lock until he proves himself there at senior level like he has done at 6

Deano7788

Also Caldwell and even Tom Hayes until Henderson actually plays there

jorgejorgeson

Henderson, Furlong, Jackson, and Henshaw are all blue chip investments. I would be confident they will all have long careers in green. Marmion, Marshall, JJ and Buckley are all serious prospects who have a great chance. I wouldnt be so confident about OCallaghan, Murphy, Conway and McKeon as international prospects. I think they will all be decent club players and they may all win caps but for various reasons wont make an impact at the highest level. There are others like Luke McGrath, Jack McGrath, Chris Farrell, Peter Nelson, Eoin Griffen, Dave McSharry whos future prospects arent fully clear to me yet. Time will tell

Ciaran-Irl

Fishooks12 wrote: »

McCarthy
Toner
Touhy
DOC
POC
Ryan
Locky
Toner
Cullen
Browne

All deserve to be ahead of Henderson at lock until he proves himself there at senior level like he has done at 6

I agree with the sentiment, but you have picked Toner twice, and it's a stretch to say we should pick McLoughlin in the second row ahead of him, who is all of 6'4" and quite obviously not a second row these days.

I'd pick the rest of that lot ahead of him if we had to play a world cup final in the morning, say, but I wouldn't be in a rush to pick most of those lads otherwise. Some, like Cullen or Caldwell are very unlikely to play for Ireland again, and others, like Hayes and Browne, are unlikely to ever play for Ireland. I'd be delighted if Henderson was selected on the bench for the Fiji game.

thomond2006

Anyone know how good this young lad is?

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone know how good this young lad is?

He looks like he'll be above international class.

Cpt_Blackbeard

thomond2006 wrote: »

Anyone know how good this young lad is?

He's no Jeremy Staunton, but he should hopefully have a good career.

CatFromHue

It was good of one of the bigger boys to give him their jersey to play in! :pac:

bamboozle

Fishooks12 wrote: »

McCarthy
Toner
Touhy
DOC
POC
Ryan
Locky
Toner
Cullen
Browne

All deserve to be ahead of Henderson at lock until he proves himself there at senior level like he has done at 6

well you're entitled to your opinion but you've picked Toner twice and Locky hasnt started 2 senior games in a row in the second row and certainly is not proven there.

If the November internationals are to be treated propertly as an opportunity to give players international exposure then there's not a chance i would consider the likes of Cullen, DOC, Brown who are good for no more than 50-60 mins at HC level.

Winters

shuffol wrote: »

Gilroy hasnt kicked on from his debut season for me, I remember the game against Leinster in the RDS 2 seasons ago, Ulster were hockeyed but Gilroy was the best player on the park. I cant fathom why Ulster consistantly selects him on the left wing, he's totally right sided, only steps off his right and carries the ball almost exclusively in his right hand, he has a strong fend but its no good when he's on the left wing trying to beat players on the outside with the ball in his right hand.

From his point of view he must have been disappointed to see Tommy Bowe back at Ulster. Yes he'll play during the AI and 6N but he's got two full internationals ahead of him for all the big games now.

I would have put him on a par with Zebo if not better last season but the difference now is that Zebo is a starter for his province and Gilroy is not.

mogwai81

Winters wrote: »

From his point of view he must have been disappointed to see Tommy Bowe back at Ulster. Yes he'll play during the AI and 6N but he's got two full internationals ahead of him for all the big games now.

I would have put him on a par with Zebo if not better last season but the difference now is that Zebo is a starter for his province and Gilroy is not.

It's the same situation for Madigan falling behind Jackson. Ability wise it's close, but Jackson's exposure to all
of Ulster's big games puts him in the driving seat.

jacothelad

jm08 wrote: »

I was as impressed with Gilsenan as I was with Henderson at the Junior World Cup.

JJ is the most talented. He is a Contempomi, Jackson is a ROG.

Total nonsense. Jackson has pace and can run, make breaks and tackles superbly. Neither of them are a 'ROG' thank God.

Fireball07

jacothelad wrote: »

Total nonsense. Jackson has pace and can run, make breaks and tackles superbly. Neither of them are a 'ROG' thank God.

ROG was able to run a bit when he was younger, although it was never his strong point.

But I agree, Jackson reminds me a lot more of Sexton than ROG. He's an all-rounder.

Again people might (will) disagree with me here but I don't think Sexton is as good at what ROG did best as ROG was. Likewise, I don't think his running game is quite as good as Contepomi's at his best. But he is very good at both and combines them both brilliantly, as well as being very strong in defence and an excellent decision-maker. I think Jackson is in a similar mould.

irishbucsfan

Contepomi was more talented than ROG though. That's what I take from that.