Ire v Eng U20's Stream

[fuzzylogic]

7-0 to Eng after 10 mins!

http://www.silversportz.co.uk/

[Tom]

Good game for the Ulster boys apart from numerous overthrows from Annet. Nice breaks from Gilroy and Marshall. Typical Leamy moment from the replacement Munster back row.

[Duckjnr]

Generally good show from the boys, especially after a nervous start. Some promising breaks and good to see both Ulster 10's getting a run out. However - Annett really struggled with his throwing at crucial times, once on his own line which resulted in try for Eng and then really good attacking position was lost. Apart from that the future looks bright!

[cables]

Result:
England 33 Ireland 25
4 tries to 1 win for England.

[cjp]

Two very soft tries conceeded. Going to struggle or the quarters as the boks look as if they are going to hammer the scots.

[rumncoke]

A few penalty misses too many . While the Irish backline tried to be creative they played far to much "flat line" back moves England running from deep always looked more dangerous. Although Ireland may have had little option since the scrumhalf wasn't really up to a fast accurate service necessary .

Given that Ireland were 7 points down in 3 mins it was a good performance .

[cables]

SA 33 Scotland 0

4 tries for SA

Puts us in P3 with the final pool positions (3/4) likely to be determined by the result of the Ireland v Scotland game.

7, 8, 9 or 10, 11, 12 seeding TBD.

[fuzzylogic]

Do we not still have to play SA as well?

[cables]

Yes we do and England have to play Scotland also.

I envisage wins by SA and England in the 2nd round of games.

[fuzzylogic]

I wouldnt be too sure about that.

Ireland v SA should be a fairly close one!

[mikerob]

Ireland are going to have to go up a gear to avoid a tanking from the S Africans. Ireland did give away a couple of soft tries to England, but Conway's try was very flukey (a rebound from a kick that hit an an English player) and there wasn't many other occasions when they really threatened the English line.

Jackson missed some kickable penalties but I thought he played pretty well given the slow ball he was getting from the Ireland pack and a ponderous scrum half. Marshall and Gilroy looked good but none of the Irish forwards stood out for me.

[fuzzylogic]

Without a doubt, but the Ireland team playing yesterday was a notch above the team fielded in the U20 Six Nations, and the Scotland team against SA was virtually the same as the one that was mauled by Ireland in the 6 nations.

South Africa done exactly the same to Scotland yesterday as Ireland done in the 6nations, 15 points of difference is all there is, and thats pretty much to be expected in the fine running rugby weather yesterday compared to wet, cold, windy, Friday night Scotland in Feb.

Ireland v SA should be one hell of a game!

[John_e_boy]

it was a fair aul game, but Ireland are really playing second fiddle to the top teams at this age grade. I'm not sure if it's just size: we outmuscled the English pack but had a bad day in the backs, now against the Baby Boks the size of their *8 and Second Row was a factor in the loose, but our scrum was powerful.

Unfortunately we are still not offloading as much as top teams are and our support is a fraction too late. Too many isolated runners as well

but, we're definitely in with a chance of a 5 or 6 finish.

[mikerob]

The positive aspect for Ireland has been the performance of the outside backs who have been at least as skillful compared to the Saffies and English and should only get better with more experience.

I don't know if many of the forwards will make the grade but a couple of years conditioning should mean they are able to compete better physically, and they seem to have a good attitude as they have stuck to the job throughout the game.

Halfbacks have been so so. Marmion just looks too slow and neither Jackson or McKinney have stood out but it is difficult to do this when getting such slow ball.

[fuzzylogic]

I dont think it reall matters how good England or SA are. That NZ team look unbeatable!