swift4prez wrote: WELL sean o brien's ireland lose 15 -16 england,
from following twitter, we were fairly crap in the 1st half and mid way threw the second, we scored 2 trys and a dropkick to take the lead 15- 13. england then themselfs got a dropkick.
with 4mins to go, ireland had a dropkick blocked down.

interesting last tweet#

great run by Cian Kelleher but a kick thru is taken by England. The game ends Ireland 15 England 16. A much improved 2nd half from Ireland.

why kick the ball away when time is up. highlights will be on irish rugby tv

Didn't the U20's do the same at the start of February against Wales? Nearly sure that we got into a kicking competition with a few teams near the end of the games we were losing in the 6 Nations as well, I am really starting to think that Irish rugby has lost all of its sense. The Munster of old showed us all how to win games and starved opposition of the ball in the dying stages of games, and kept the ball in close, or up the jumper until they could get close enough to the opposition line.

They say high risk equals high reward, but some of the stuff you see when panic creeps in is complete lunacy.

WELL sean o brien's ireland lose 15 -16 england,
from following twitter, we were fairly crap in the 1st half and mid way threw the second, we scored 2 trys and a dropkick to take the lead 15- 13. england then themselfs got a dropkick.
with 4mins to go, ireland had a dropkick blocked down.

interesting last tweet#

great run by Cian Kelleher but a kick thru is taken by England. The game ends Ireland 15 England 16. A much improved 2nd half from Ireland.

why kick the ball away when time is up. highlights will be on irish rugby tv

I was thinking 6 could be a viable option next year for him. At the moment I love for us to swoop and sign Jack Conan and Conor Gilsenan at Leinster and have those and Real as our 3rd string backrow next year. This backrow of 6. Sean O'Brien 7. Conor Gilsenan 8. Jack Conan could be 3 Irish internationals in the making. How did Jonathan Gardiner could this year does anyone know? Did he stand out? Is he one for the future?

if he gets a very good pre-season, maybe later in the season after few B+I cup games, i think he could be thrown in as a sub at least. we have good bunch of locks next season.
i think he could be used as a 6 if mul or browne were injured/covering another player.

for school he was used to carry ALOT, i mean every second phase, that was maybe due to his size.
would love to see his height and weight compared to pro's!

<strong>Ireland U19 Squad vs England is</strong>

15 - Cian Kelleher (St. Michael's College/Leinster)
14 - Ross Adair (Queen's University/Ulster)
13 - Rory O'Loughlin (St. Michael's College/Leinster)
12 - Peter Robb (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
11 - Ian Fitzpatrick (King's Hospital/Leinster)
10 - Conor McKeon (Gonzaga College/Leinster)
9 - Caolin Blade (Monivea/Connacht)
1 - Ross Kane (Methodist College/Ulster)
2 - Max Abbott (PBC Cork/Munster)
3 - Saba Meunargia (Marist College/Connacht)
4 - Sean O'Brien (CC Roscrea/Connacht) (capt)
5 - Ross Molony (St. Michael's College/Leinster)
6 - Ben Alexander (Queen's University/Ulster)
7 - Joe Bercis (Bedford Blues/Exile)
8 - Jack O'Donoghue (UL Bohemians/Munster)

Replacements:

16 - Shane Delahunt (Kilkenny College/Leinster)
17 - Jacob Walshe (CC Roscrea/Connacht)
18 - Rory Burke (CBC Cork/Munster)
19 - Darragh Moloney (CBC Cork/Munster)
20 - Jack O'Neill (Castleknock College/Leinster)
21 - Ryan Foley (CBC Cork/Munster)
22 - Rory Parata (Rockwell College/Connacht)
23 - David Johnston (UL Bohemians/Munster)

Pretty strong team and good to see the Real SOB getting the captaincy. Here's question for people that have seen Real as I shall call him for short. Could they see him playing senior next year or is it to soon? I hate to hype up a lad but he seems to be one of the few lads that might be able to play forwards out of school. I await the experts opinion.

Third Place Finish For Ireland Schools

The Ireland Under-18 Schools team completed their FIRA/AER U-18 European Championship run with a six-try 40-0 victory over Scotland to secure a third place finish in Grenoble.

The Ireland management made four changes to the team that lost to France in the midweek semi-final, with winger Cormac Brennan, front row duo Jeremy Loughman and Andrew Roche and lock Alexander Thompson all earning call-ups.

The 3rd-4th place play-off was played at Grenoble's Stade des Alpes and Noel McNamara's side delighted the large crowd with some fast-paced attacking rugby and high quality tries.

Scrum half and captain Nick McCarthy set the ball rolling with a seventh minute try converted by his St. Michael's College colleague Ross Byrne.

Both place-kickers missed penalty before Ireland struck for their second try 26 minutes in, this time number 8 Nick Timoney made his way over in the corner to make it 12-0.

Busy prop Loughman added a third try before the break, which Byrne converted, and tighthead Oisin Heffernan joined him on the scoresheet five minutes into the second half.

Ireland were well on the way to their second win of the tournament with their ability to turn spells of pressure into points helping them build a healthy cushion.

A series of Scottish errors were also ruthlessly punished, and keeping the Scots scoreless was a real positive for the coaching staff given the hard work put in at training.

Territorially the Irish were dominant and they added two more tries by the hour mark, Loughman completing his brace and a pushover effort resulting in flanker Josh Murphy dotting down.

Centre Fergal Cleary took over the kicking duties after Byrne was replaced and he landed both conversions to cap off an encouraging finish to the Easter campaign for the Schools squad.

Speaking afterwards, Ireland head coach Noel McNamara said: "I was delighted with that (performance), particularly with the defensive shutout. We worked hard during the week on that.

"We knew the Scots were a physical side so we worked hard on our body height at the breakdown, our body height at our ruck defence. We're very happy that the boys pulled through today.

"It's been a fantastic tournament, it's been a fantastic learning opportunity for the boys. i think they've really developed.

"Obviously we were disappointed with the France result, but the boys will learn and I've no doubt they will come back stronger and challenge for future honours at Under-19 and Under-20 level."

Try-scoring skipper Nick McCarthy added: "I'm really proud of the lads. We were hoping to get a good win because we were disappointed after the French game.

"We stood up to Scotland at the start, got points on the board early on and they just found it hard to get back into the game."

A good performance by Heffernan in this game.

McCauley is already in the academy

don't forget Mc Auley!

More info please

don't forget Mc Auley!

Academy Candidates:
Rory Parratta
Sean O'Brien
Oisin Heffernan
Caolin Blade
Seuba Meunargia
Jacob Walshe
David Panter
Alex O'Meara
Ciaran Gaffney
Joe Bercis
Sean O'Hagan
Conor Kyne
Dwayne Corcoran
Mark Roche

After his performance in the Lansdowne vs Clontarf game Roche is added to the list.

there is also interest in ulster bank 1a champions, lansdowne. few connacht players involved here,
Mark Roche centre, started today. 2trys and converstion
Marcus Walsh scrum half, bench today
matt heally winger, is usually running down the wings, i think he's injured.

oh and soon to be connacht outhalf Craig Ronaldson scored, penalty, drop kick and 2 converstions

Corinthians RFC was today promotion to division 1B.
they have a fine few connacht ademamy players like
prop Finlay Bealham,
hooker Kevin O'Byrne,
lock Ultan Dillane,
prop Jamie Dever,
flanker Aaron Conneely
and back David Panter

Thanks for the info Craichead. I've added them to the list.

Academy Candidates:
Rory Parratta
Sean O'Brien
Oisin Heffernan
Caolin Blade
Seuba Meunargia
Jacob Walshe
David Panter
Alex O'Meara
Ciaran Gaffney
Joe Bercis
Sean O'Hagan
Conor Kyne
Dwayne Corcoran

We've a lot of props there which is encouraging.

Other names which would not be too far away for next year and based on some performances that i saw last year would be two Exiles, Joe Bercis who played 7 for our U19's last year and was a great player and also Sean O'Hagan a 12 who was with our U18's last year. They both played Ireland U18 Clubs last year with Jacob Walsh and Caolan Blade. O'Hagan played centre with Adam Byrne last year who has gone on to great things with Leinster this year. Saw him play at Annacotty last year for us and he was the best player on the pitch by a mile for me, big, strong skilful lad. He is with Ireland youths again this year as was a year young last year. Bercis was really good, not the biggest, but a great ball winner. Lots will depend on if he gets into the Irish U19's squad next week. I would be amazed if they were both not on the radar. Nigel does not invite bad players here for the Summer.

Others would be Conor Kyne from Moycullen who is a prop with Irish youths this year, I think that he is a great player, big strong and quick for a prop and also Dwayne Corcoran a 13 from Westport who was also with CC Roscrea this year, good player who will do good with our U19's this year.

Some of these lads might be a bit young and not sure what levels they go in at, sub academies and all that is there different levels?

Nailed on for me would be Sean O'Brien, Jacob Walsh and David Panter who I think are all fantastic players.

Not sure what the situation with O'Meara is or whether he is realistically a candidate for an academy slot anymore, he either is attending or just playing for Hartpury College in Gloucester (Playing in NL 2 - RFU Tier 4). If attending you'd wonder what the duration of his course is..?

Also Parrata was a star for Rockwell in the run up to the Munster final, can see them sweeping him back into their stream....

Munster have made overtures to Paratta but I don't think anything has being decided yet. That could change fast of course.

As for O'Meara Hartpury are the College to go if you want to get in the shop window for a professional contract. They played one of the Georgia U18 or U19 teams recently as well. You'd imagine O'Meara picked this college with one eye on getting a rugby contract and the other in getting a degree.

swift4prez wrote: i wouldnt be getting anyway at all excited about gaffney, how he made ireland under 18's is a shock to most people, he lost the cup for roscrea last season and had to stand in this year in the semi vs blackrock. missed a few handy kicks.

in the quarter's vs tenuare he missed a converstion from 5 metres out under the post. comes across as a player who doesnt give a fuck what happens.

he did score a good try which is posted by its_phil

No he didn't lose the cup for Roscrea last year, Roscrea (and the ref in the first game) let themselves down in the replay. Unless you were there you can't really criticise because it wasn't on TV. His main flaw is his goal kicking but give him a break he was just back from a broken leg and barely made the cup as it was. Tim Foley, the guy who kept him out is an excellent prospect too so it was always going to be a battle. For him to make his first start of the year against Blackrock in Donnybrook at a Cup semi-final was always going to be difficult but he was excellent in his distribution and general play. The kick against Nure was wreckless but he certainly doesnt have that kind of attitude from what I'm told.

If Leinster had the same attiude about goal kicking in school Ian Madigan wouldn't have made it at all. Bottled two kicks in front of the posts to win the game with the last kick against the same opposition.