connemara man wrote: No Connacht representative on the U20s for the world cup

If supporters call some of our squad, Leinster players because where they are born. By this logic we have a player, Doris is a Mayo man......
I know I'm grasping at straws here

So who is the addition from our side to the BaaBaa's!?

McGrath and I think Cooney's box kicking is more dependable and consistent than Marmion, who if we're going to be critical, has known for years that this is a primary requirement from a Schmidt scrumhalf but does not appear to have brought it up to the level required. Schmidt doesn't appear to use his bench as a second strategy, he generally (imo) as much as possible benches similar players to those who are starting, so there's no place for a running scrumhalf to come on with 15-20 minutes to go.

Mark Mostyn wrote:

sea_point wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

sligsup wrote: Fanning in the Sindo yesterday stating that 9's travelling to Australia will be Murray, McGrath and Cooney. Cooney deserves to go but I dont believe that Marmion deserves to lose out to McGrath. Only other Connacht player to travel is Bundee. Dont read to much in to his articles.

This is gonna go down like a lead balloon but I thought Marmion had a pretty poor year, his passing especially has been very loopy and slow.

Ever player has work on's.
Upside is that Marmion as an attacking option he's a good bit ahead of the others, Cooney would be closest and then Murray from closer in..
His game management is very good and his box kicking is miles better in recent years...

Also Marmion is miles better than McGrath, it's not even close.
It's not just a returning form injury thing, he's been over-rated sine his U20 days....
Still can't get my head around Leinster letting Cooney go for the options they currently have...

Passing is not a work on for a scrum half it's the most important aspect of their game. Also it's extremely unfair to mention attacking ability and not even mention McGrath who runs the best support lines of all 4 (1 try every 3.5 games for Leinster, Marmion has one every 5.6 games for us, Murray 1 every 4.4 games, Cooney 1 every 6.1 games).

Leinster have made some decisions that look strange with hindsight e.g. having Reid at 12 while Farrell is a standout for us, Molony, Nagle, Kearney vs Thornbury, Roux, Beirne. Cooney was probably a casualty of being a young player in a Matt O'Connor team.

Ehhh yes it absolutely is, firstly players are always carrying knocks or recovering form injuries.
When an injury heals it isn't just normal service resumed they have to work hard to recover feel and rhythm of passes.

Marmion's lack of game time from being in Ireland squad (Eight games in total since start of the year (if you include Ireland) for avg 44mins each), and meant that he was still only reintegrating into the team for the last three games of the season rebuilding the connection with Carty ...

You mention tries per game but I don't know if that's a fair criteria. If Marmion was playing with a squad with the same depth as Leinster, his ratio would be easily at the same level if not more. ..

Watching McGrath on Saturday I thought his passing off his (stronger?) right hand was poor, and his defence/sweeping was marginal. His left hand pass and tracking/lines were excellent and his kicking has improved greatly. I'd still rate him as (a fairly distant) fourth in the Ireland 9 standings.

sea_point wrote:

Mark Mostyn wrote:

sligsup wrote: Fanning in the Sindo yesterday stating that 9's travelling to Australia will be Murray, McGrath and Cooney. Cooney deserves to go but I dont believe that Marmion deserves to lose out to McGrath. Only other Connacht player to travel is Bundee. Dont read to much in to his articles.

This is gonna go down like a lead balloon but I thought Marmion had a pretty poor year, his passing especially has been very loopy and slow.

Ever player has work on's.
Upside is that Marmion as an attacking option he's a good bit ahead of the others, Cooney would be closest and then Murray from closer in..
His game management is very good and his box kicking is miles better in recent years...

Also Marmion is miles better than McGrath, it's not even close.
It's not just a returning form injury thing, he's been over-rated sine his U20 days....
Still can't get my head around Leinster letting Cooney go for the options they currently have...

Passing is not a work on for a scrum half it's the most important aspect of their game. Also it's extremely unfair to mention attacking ability and not even mention McGrath who runs the best support lines of all 4 (1 try every 3.5 games for Leinster, Marmion has one every 5.6 games for us, Murray 1 every 4.4 games, Cooney 1 every 6.1 games).

Leinster have made some decisions that look strange with hindsight e.g. having Reid at 12 while Farrell is a standout for us, Molony, Nagle, Kearney vs Thornbury, Roux, Beirne. Cooney was probably a casualty of being a young player in a Matt O'Connor team.

Mark Mostyn wrote:

sligsup wrote: Fanning in the Sindo yesterday stating that 9's travelling to Australia will be Murray, McGrath and Cooney. Cooney deserves to go but I dont believe that Marmion deserves to lose out to McGrath. Only other Connacht player to travel is Bundee. Dont read to much in to his articles.

This is gonna go down like a lead balloon but I thought Marmion had a pretty poor year, his passing especially has been very loopy and slow.

Ever player has work on's.
Upside is that Marmion as an attacking option he's a good bit ahead of the others, Cooney would be closest and then Murray from closer in..
His game management is very good and his box kicking is miles better in recent years...

Also Marmion is miles better than McGrath, it's not even close.
It's not just a returning form injury thing, he's been over-rated sine his U20 days....
Still can't get my head around Leinster letting Cooney go for the options they currently have...

sligsup wrote: Fanning in the Sindo yesterday stating that 9's travelling to Australia will be Murray, McGrath and Cooney. Cooney deserves to go but I dont believe that Marmion deserves to lose out to McGrath. Only other Connacht player to travel is Bundee. Dont read to much in to his articles.

This is gonna go down like a lead balloon but I thought Marmion had a pretty poor year, his passing especially has been very loopy and slow.

Fanning in the Sindo yesterday stating that 9's travelling to Australia will be Murray, McGrath and Cooney. Cooney deserves to go but I dont believe that Marmion deserves to lose out to McGrath. Only other Connacht player to travel is Bundee. Dont read to much in to his articles.

Kieran Marmion or Shane Delahunt I would reckon

No Connacht representative on the U20s for the world cup

Who WHO??

Tom Farrell please!

Another addition due to be made to the baa baas Connacht contingent.

By far the best side in the tournament, and were absolutely ruthless. The only score conceded in six matches, the penalty try was even unecessary the defender actually had time to catch and ground the ball (for Her 5m scrum) but lazily batted it over dead ball line instead..

But needs to be borne in mind that French, English and Welsh squads are development squads and not their Grand Prix sides (the teams Ireland will face at RWC7's).

Saying that they way Ireland dispatched the French in the Semi was a delight, Conroy blitzed them with a hattrick of tried in the first half...

Semi-final Vs France (from 1:14:00 on)
www.dailymotion.com/video/x6jwt2m

Final Vs Germany : www.dailymotion.com/video/x6jx9ld

Amazed we've still seen nothing of Conroy for the seniors. He's been incredible so often for both the 7s and Buccs.

Tournament won, only try conceded was a penalty try in final. Kennedy and Conroy are seriously good finishers.