Irish Under-20's 2023

In fairness weve been fairly consitebtly smaller than france or ebgland and been the dominant team the last few years. Last years frence team looked way more powerful than us lookked like boys against men but oddly enough the boys won 😅. I think its just harder to show as much technical ability as its hard to be organised at this level

15. Henry McErlean (Terenure/Leinster)

14. James Nicholson (UCD/Leinster)

13. Hugh Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster)

12. John Devine (Corinthians/Connacht)

11. Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)

10. Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster)

9. Fintan Gunne (Terenure/Leinster)

1. George Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster)

2. Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(captain)

3. Paddy McCarthy (DUFC/Leinster)

4. Diarmuid Mangan (UCD/Leinster)

5. Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD/Leinster)

6. James McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster)

7. Ruadhán Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster)

8. Brian Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster)

Replacements:

16. Danny Sheahan (UCC/Munster)

17. George Morris (Lansdowne/Leinster)

18. Fiachna Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht)

19. Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians/Munster)

20. Jacob Sheahan (UCC/Munster)

21. Oscar Cawley (Naas/Leinster)

22. Harry West (Buccaneers/Connacht)

23. Rory Telfer (Queen’s University/Ulster).

12 Leinster.

2 Ulster

4 Connacht

5 Munster

La Rochelle not playing this weekend.

24 of 32 players will have been in match day squad after round 2. Thats fairly good. The goal is to develop players and we will likely see lot more change depending on injuries etc for the last few rounds.

Agree. Felt sorry for Cawley and West particularly Cawley, Gunne looked like he was running on fumes towards the end and Cawley well able to take over. Give the bench decent game time.

While I agree, I suppose the coaches are judged on results and will always go all out to win it. There's no weak team by the looks of it so I can't see there been huge changes game to game.

I wonder did Anagu pick up a knock, yeah would be harsh and damaging to him otherwise.

Don't agree. The best way to develop, is to win.

Don't think injured. He was having a shocker.

Makes you wonder how much goes on hearsay? Like obviously wasn't easy go watch him play based in france.

I think the improving standard of the AIL makes it a great place for the 20's to develop. Our players usually haven't played for their province the way the french counterparts will have played Top14 but we seem to be producing decent quality players using this pathway.

I think there is some sort of spectrum of development and winning focuses, and its not as simple as just winning being a panacea. However, i get your point. I might be undervaluing the importance of winning at this level.

But ultimately its about player development for the future and a lot can be said about hindsight and looking back at 20s a few years on and a team that may have done better in a world championship but less players progressed to have good long pro careers. which is better?

15 mins in and only one team playing rugby.

France havent done anything right yet. Great pressure by ireland

The quality of our ball skills, attacking play and set piece is far superior to the french. Their size and individual skills will keep them in the game but we should always be winning this game.