Schools Cup 2014/2015 *mod warning post 1*

Espn88uk

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Calling this year's olayers a bad crop is a ridiculously unfair statement

It's crap too, there aren't many star backs in 6th year but there is some very talented forwards this year - James Ryan, Max Deegan, John Molony, Hugo Kean, Will Connors.

The 5th year group have some very talented backs - Gavin Mullin, Conor Dean, Conor Jennings, James McKeown, Jack Kelly.

While in 4th year there is signs of a lot of talent who got varying degrees of exposure this year - Charlie Ryan, Jack Dunne, Hugh O'Sullivan, Patrick Patterson, Andrew Murphy, Max Kearney, Peter Sullivan, Sean McCrohan, Harry Byrne.

Bridge93

I don't think its a weaker tournament than previous years but if you look at interpro results and squad makeups it appears to be a poor standard in 6th year. A lot of teams are heavily reliant on 4th and 5th years who I wouldn't class as this years crop (generally I reserve that for the outgoing 6th years.)
The standard the next two years should go up. As a comp though it is quite entertaining.

Espn88uk

There weren't many 6th years starting for Leinster u19 or Leinster u18:

Rory Mulvihill(u18)
Hugo Kean(u19), Conor Johnson(u18)
James Ryan(u19)
Max Deegan(u19), Will Connors(u19), David Aspil(u19), Jonny Guy(u18)
Nick Peters(19), Dave Duggan(u18)
Jimmy O'Brien(u19)
Tim Foley(u18)
Alan Hughes(u19), Tim Carroll(u18)

I think thats it and this year's u18 underperformed, although they could have easily won if Foley took his kicks.

Espn88uk

Heard Sam Dardis and Dave Hawkshaw are two standouts at JCT level, anyone else so far?

Bridge93

Espn88uk wrote: »

There weren't many 6th years starting for Leinster u19 or Leinster u18:

Rory Mulvihill(u18)
Hugo Kean(u19), Conor Johnson(u18)
James Ryan(u19)
Max Deegan(u19), Will Connors(u19), David Aspil(u19), Jonny Guy(u18)
Nick Peters(19), Dave Duggan(u18)
Jimmy O'Brien(u19)
Tim Foley(u18)
Alan Hughes(u19), Tim Carroll(u18)

I think thats it and this year's u18 underperformed, although they could have easily won if Foley took his kicks.

Well if there were only a few 6th years that just emphasizes the point that it's a below standard year, and it's the 4th and 5th years where the depth of potential is. That's not to say theres no 6th years, Deegan, Ryan and Connors I think? (Clongowes 6) are all excellent players

Bridge93

Espn88uk wrote: »

Heard Sam Dardis and Dave Hawkshaw are two standouts at JCT level, anyone else so far?

Joey Caputo, the Rock 10 is meant to be a wonderful player. Got injured first round so I don't know if he will be playing this week.

ShamrockRugby

Espn88uk wrote: »

Heard Sam Dardis and Dave Hawkshaw are two standouts at JCT level, anyone else so far?

Liam turner of Blackrock is a serious player. Roscrea have a very impressive 12, very big unit.
Pres Bray 9 Elliott Ryan is easily the best kicker in the competition, and is electric around the fringes. Gonzaga 7 and 12 are two nice players aswell

Espn88uk

Bridge93 wrote: »

Well if there were only a few 6th years that just emphasizes the point that it's a below standard year, and it's the 4th and 5th years where the depth of potential is. That's not to say theres no 6th years, Deegan, Ryan and Connors I think? (Clongowes 6) are all excellent players

it's not as good as the year(2013) when there was a lot of very talented players in 6th year - Ross Molony, Ross Byrne, Garry Ringrose, Billy Dardis, Harrison Brewer, Nick McCarthy to name just a few.

But Deegan/Ryan/Connors are excellent players, proven at provincial and international level, if Ryan had left school last season he would have joined the academy straight from school.
Deegan and Connors are very strong contenders for academy spots despite the continued depth at backrow.

Last year's 6th years had no players join straight from school, this year more than likely will with Ryan.

Espn88uk

Bridge93 wrote: »

Joey Caputo, the Rock 10 is meant to be a wonderful player. Got injured first round so I don't know if he will be playing this week.

Marco's son. I wonder will he still be here in 6th year?
Much like Plumtree's son who was impressive for Rock too.

RedemptionZ

Bridge93 wrote: »

I don't think its a weaker tournament than previous years but if you look at interpro results and squad makeups it appears to be a poor standard in 6th year. A lot of teams are heavily reliant on 4th and 5th years who I wouldn't class as this years crop (generally I reserve that for the outgoing 6th years.)
The standard the next two years should go up. As a comp though it is quite entertaining.

Despite a mediocre tournament, James Ryan is still probably the most likely of any schools player in the last five years to have an international career. Now how much of that is due to him being a second row and the traditional lack of depth associated with the position is up for debate but I think it still stands that he looks very likely to be playing professional rugby in the coming years.

Edit: Henshaw admittedly has already broken into the team so I suppose I should say most likely to have a prolonged career, far more centres coming through the ranks because of how much easier they are to develop.

Bridge93

Espn88uk wrote: »

Marco's son. I wonder will he still be here in 6th year?
Much like Plumtree's son who was impressive for Rock too.

Like Plumtree a lot will depend on whether Marco heads back to Australia before his son is finished in school. The nature of coaching I would imagine he could be gone before then but if Joey is in the senior cycle by then he may stay as a boarder.

Bridge93

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Despite a mediocre tournament, James Ryan is still probably the most likely of any schools player in the last five years to have an international career. Now how much of that is due to him being a second row and the traditional lack of depth associated with the position is up for debate but I think it still stands that he looks very likely to be playing professional rugby in the coming years.

Yeah he's an exceptional talent, he looked the best player in the final in 2013 when only a 4th year.

And when you look at the progression of some who played that day thats some achievement. His lock partner Ross a Moloney, Ross Byrne, nick McCarthy, Denis Coulson, Cian Kelleher, Garry Ringrose, Sean Coughlan all involved and a host of the Rock team from last year who play 20s now

Espn88uk

ShamrockRugby wrote: »

Liam turner of Blackrock is a serious player. Roscrea have a very impressive 12, very big unit.
Pres Bray 9 Elliott Ryan is easily the best kicker in the competition, and is electric around the fringes. Gonzaga 7 and 12 are two nice players aswell

Forgot about Turner, small but electric pace. He was impressive last season for rock as a 2nd year.

Another name is Dan O'Donovan from Michaels, he was badly missed yesterday for Michaels.

Roscrea 12 is Adi Donovan, Gonzaga 12 - Max Neville, 7 - Colm Kirby O’Briain,

The Lost Sheep

2nd last round of group stage in Connacht Senior Schools Cup tomorrow
Garbally host the Jes and Sligo Grammar host Marist in tomorrows games and then Marist host the Jes and Summerhill play Sligo Grammar in the final round next week

Top 2 make the final. Summerhill currently top on 9 points having played 3 games with Sligo Grammar and Garbally next both on 7 points having played twice.

Hard to say who'll qualify for the final.

Espn88uk

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Despite a mediocre tournament, James Ryan is still probably the most likely of any schools player in the last five years to have an international career. Now how much of that is due to him being a second row and the traditional lack of depth associated with the position is up for debate but I think it still stands that he looks very likely to be playing professional rugby in the coming years.

I wouldn't go that far as your including some very talented players in that list but he is very talented and has all the physical tools to be a top level lock.

Espn88uk

Bridge93 wrote: »

Yeah he's an exceptional talent, he looked the best player in the final in 2013 when only a 4th year.

And when you look at the progression of some who played that day thats some achievement. His lock partner Ross a Moloney, Ross Byrne, nick McCarthy, Denis Coulson, Cian Kelleher, Garry Ringrose, Sean Coughlan all involved and a host of the Rock team from last year who play 20s now

And since then he has gone onto captain Leinster u18 and Ireland schools, leading Ireland to the final of the FIRA AER, he aslo captained Leinster schools u19 against Australia and won then he captained Leinster u19 to another interpro win.

He has gotten taller and not put on much more weight resulting with him being a less effective carrier of the ball and because he wasn't physically carrying a poorly coached st. michaels team past an excellent coached clongowes team some people arent impressed with him.

ShamrockRugby

Espn88uk wrote: »

Forgot about Turner, small but electric pace. He was impressive last season for rock as a 2nd year.

Another name is Dan O'Donovan from Michaels, he was badly missed yesterday for Michaels.

Roscrea 12 is Adi Donovan, Gonzaga 12 - Max Neville, 7 - Colm Kirby O’Briain,

Yes there the ones. Dan O 'Donovan was a big loss to michaels yesterday. All nice players. Yeah

TommyOM

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Despite a mediocre tournament, James Ryan is still probably the most likely of any schools player in the last five years to have an international career. Now how much of that is due to him being a second row and the traditional lack of depth associated with the position is up for debate but I think it still stands that he looks very likely to be playing professional rugby in the coming years.

Edit: Henshaw admittedly has already broken into the team so I suppose I should say most likely to have a prolonged career, far more centres coming through the ranks because of how much easier they are to develop.

Did Henshaw play in the Leinster schools cup? I always thought he was Connacht?

RedemptionZ

TommyOM wrote: »

Did Henshaw play in the Leinster schools cup? I always thought he was Connacht?

Played with Marist in Connaught 2012 if I recall correctly

OceanSixteen

Any standout preformaces from the Terenure/Castleknock match today?

AFAIK Belvedere's no 6 is out of Clongowes match with Concussion

FrannoFan

OceanSixteen wrote: »

Any standout preformaces from the Terenure/Castleknock match today?

AFAIK Belvedere's no 6 is out of Clongowes match with Concussion

Dardis kid brother looked good for Terenure but didn't get on the ball that much. wings looked very pacey but again not much ball.(knock really dominated most of the game)
Knock props both carried well, big lads. Knock 7 got a good few turnovers and 8 was big and quickl. 10 was a good kicker from hand.

RugbyLover123

OceanSixteen wrote: »

Any standout preformaces from the Terenure/Castleknock match today?

AFAIK Belvedere's no 6 is out of Clongowes match with Concussion

Both 7s I thought played well. Nure's back 3 looked dangerous when they ran. Knock's pack as a whole was impressive, had a solid scrum and a few great mauls.
Did Nure play poorly today? Thought they were favourties, however Knock looked more dominant and shouldv'e won.

its_phil

24-3 to Roscrea after 36 mins

Annabella1

OceanSixteen wrote: »

Any standout preformaces from the Terenure/Castleknock match today?

AFAIK Belvedere's no 6 is out of Clongowes match with Concussion

What's the story with the Clongowes Hooker/Captain after the concussion story in the IT last week?

its_phil

24-16 and by the sound of things the Pres Bray 9 is a cracking player. Picked up all their points.

Roscrea with semi-finals at junior and senior level. Very proud day for the school.

Espn88uk

its_phil wrote: »

24-16 and by the sound of things the Pres Bray 9 is a cracking player. Picked up all their points.

Roscrea with semi-finals at junior and senior level. Very proud day for the school.

Roscrea's recruitment paying off.

I wonder if the Pres Bray 9 will end being poached...

its_phil

Espn88uk wrote: »

Roscrea's recruitment paying off.

I wonder if the Pres Bray 9 will end being poached...

You stay classy, while I enjoy the semis.

Espn88uk

its_phil wrote: »

You stay classy, while I enjoy the semis.

I don't have a favourite school and in fact wouldn't mind seeing roscrea win as it would be something new to the competition but to ignore that Roscrea have recruited players at JCT and SCT level is to ignore the facts.

its_phil

Espn88uk wrote: »

I don't have a favourite school and in fact wouldn't mind seeing roscrea win as it would be something new to the competition but to ignore that Roscrea have recruited players at JCT and SCT level is to ignore the facts.

Didn't ignore anything, but I certainly don't know how true your statement is about the JCT and I doubt you do either.

The Lost Sheep

Sligo Grammar beat Marist 12-9 and Garbally beat the Jes 38-0 in Connacht Senior Schools Cup today
Final round next weekend to decide who the finalists will be. Grammar v Summerhill derby game should be super. Both with chance of making the final!

Espn88uk

its_phil wrote: »

Didn't ignore anything, but I certainly don't know how true your statement is about the JCT and I doubt you do either.

Number 7 today was recruited from the Midlands Shane Horgan Cup team.
Don't know who else is but I doubt he is the only one, unless its by chance Roscrea have such a physically large team, weird as Roscrea has such small numbers they must have an abnormal amount of big kids enrolling in 1st year.

Zzippy

Mod Note: There will be no further allegations of poaching, enticing, offering scholarships or players moving school to play rugby. All discussion of players moving schools for rugby reasons is off limits. Far too many allegations being thrown around that could leave Boards open to legal action. Anyone flouting this rule will be banned from the forum.

firstshorn

Wins for CBC, Crescent, and Castletroy in the Munster Junior Cup with PBC playing Glenstal tomorrow. CBC are looking like favourites to win with a 32-14 win over Ard Scoil and a 33-15 win over Rockwell in the quarters, An absolutely massive pack for 15/16 year olds.

milosh

I went along to Donnybrook today. The Roscrea side are massive and will be a tough draw for anyone. Their back row were immense and by all accounts they were missing a regular from it too.

The star on show was without question the Pres No 9. Going back to my day they were famous for their scrum halves (does anyone remember Bobby Montfort?). This guy Ryan is of that caliber. He scored 16 points with a couple of his kicks sublime. It was his control of the game and the standard of his kicking game that sets him apart from anyone else in the competition. Pres were the only team I had not seen and I reckon after seeing them that he was the best 9 on show by a country mile.

I would imagine that it is the best Roscrea Junior side in years. I don't remember them doing a whole lot at Junior level lately. Apart from their forwards, their 9 is a good player too and while the 12 wasn't as good as in the Mary's game he looks a prospect too. The only thing that could hinder them is a slightly naive back three who found the going tough today.

FrannoFan

Roscrea lost in a close game against Castleknock in the league final which could have gone either way. I reckon they can take any team left in the competition. Massive pack of forwards. If they adopt a gameplan and execute it similar to what castleknock did to Terenure they will be hard to stop.

Gavin4

What are Gonzaga 's chances against Rock today?

FrannoFan

Gavin4 wrote: »

What are Gonzaga 's chances against Rock today?

pretty good if they don't "play the jersey" and get intimidated by the opposition. drew 10-10 just a few weeks ago. Gonzaga have a very good side.

Espn88uk

Caputo starts for Rock.

Expect a tight game.

Seymourbobs

Milosh
'The star on show was without question the Pres No 9. Going back to my day they were famous for their scrum halves (does anyone remember Bobby Montfort?)'

Remember Bobby very well, played against and with him, superb player.

Bridge93

14-0 Rock at halftime

Strong wind with Zaga second half.

Edit: 21-0 after 40 mins

21-7 after 45

Inspector Coptoor

Rock win 21-12 at full time.

Belvo vs Rock on Sunday 8th March


Roscrea vs Terenure on Tuesday 10th March

Imhof Tank

Seymourbobs wrote: »

Milosh
'The star on show was without question the Pres No 9. Going back to my day they were famous for their scrum halves (does anyone remember Bobby Montfort?)'

Remember Bobby very well, played against and with him, superb player.

Yes I played with Bobby all the way up through secondary school. He and Alain Roland were rivals for the Leinster and Irish schools 9 shirt in 84/85 season IIRC

Milosh, I think you are slightly over the top in your praise for the scrum half yesterday Elliot Ryan. He is an excellent place kicker certainly but his pass and defence could both have been better. His try was a flop over from a yard. Man of the match by a long way IMO was the Roscrea 7.

milosh

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Yes I played with Bobby all the way up through secondary school. He and Alain Roland were rivals for the Leinster and Irish schools 9 shirt in 84/85 season IIRC

Milosh, I think you are slightly over the top in your praise for the scrum half yesterday Elliot Ryan. He is an excellent place kicker certainly but his pass and defence could both have been better. His try was a flop over from a yard. Man of the match by a long way IMO was the Roscrea 7.

No doubt about it the Roscrea 7 was superb. He used his size and power better than their other big lads. Saying that, the Pres 9 was superb behind a beaten pack. His decision making, range of kicks etc were sublime. His pass looked quick to my (untrained) eye and didn't see anything wrong with his defence.

Belvo v Rock and Terenure v Roscrea are drawn for the semi finals. Rock were too strong for Gonzaga today and despite a valiant 2nd half effort Rock were comfortable enough. It seems set up for a final between the 2 favorites but I wouldn't rule out a Roscrea upset.

A disappointing end for Gonzaga who despite playing some exceptional rugby this year end up with nothing to show.

Inspector Coptoor

It could end up an all black and white affair in both Junior and Senior Cups.

Odds on Belvo vs Roscrea in both finals?

Quint2010

Fear for Terenure against Roscrea. Definitely a bogey team!

Espn88uk

Anyone standout today?

Fancy a Rock Roscrea final.

ken76

Belvo v Roscrea in senior final.
Belvo v Nure in Junior final

Belvo to win double

its_phil

ken76 wrote: »

Belvo v Roscrea in senior final.
Belvo v Roscrea in Junior final

Roscrea to win double

Fixed that for you

Espn88uk

Can Belvo finally beat Rock after falling to them twice in the last two years in the final?
Can Nure's exciting backline manage to overcome Roscreas monster pack?
Can Rock stay on course for a 3rd cup in 3 years?

RedemptionZ

Espn88uk wrote: »

Can Belvo finally beat Rock after falling to them twice in the last two years in the final?
Can Nure's exciting backline manage to overcome Roscreas monster pack?
Can Rock stay on course for a 3rd cup in 3 years?

No
No
Yes. Imo. Although I'd like to see Belvo or Roscrea do a job on them. With that pack reckon Roscrea could.