2014 IRB Junior World Championship – New Zealand

[Lee Grant]

Great result for Ireland to make the Semi Finals. We took a bit of a thumping from England in the U20 6 Nations so I'm hoping we can at least make a game of it.

And a great post.

Well done to your boys and good luck to them in the semi.

How about doing a report on the semi for a blog and while you are at it - the other one too.

Everybody agree??
.

 

[BDA]

I'm actually really looking forward to the NZ v Bok game. The first one was pretty darn entertaining for a neutral supporter and the rematch could be even better. I hope the Kiwis have been working round the clock to fix their line-out. They were totally outclassed in that area by SA last week. If they cant compete they'll lose again, no doubt about it.

5th place isn't too bad a result for AUS all things considered. in the end the format of the tournament was always going to make it difficult to progress. There's a good chance England will go on to win the whole thing so no shame in losing to them.

 

[qwerty51]

I think it's a bad result because we're the 3rd best side there, possibly 2nd.

 

[BDA]

really? I'll have to take your word on that because I just dont know the teams well enough. England definitely outplayed us last week and both SA and the Kiwis looked pretty strong

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

I think it's a bad result because we're the 3rd best side there, possibly 2nd.

I reckon SA and Eng are on another level to anyone. NZ should probably be on that level too but field weaker teams than they potentially can in the U20 tournaments.

 

[tranquility]

I reckon SA and Eng are on another level to anyone. NZ should probably be on that level too but field weaker teams than they potentially can in the U20 tournaments.

Please link me to a dossier on this strategy, because to my mind, it just seems ludicrous.

 

[Dave Beat]

I think it's a bad result because we're the 3rd best side there, possibly 2nd.

That we don't know because of the structure, but gee I wish the structure was improved because I think we'd sit 1 - 4.

 

[Bardon]

And a great post.

Well done to your boys and good luck to them in the semi.

How about doing a report on the semi for a blog and while you are at it - the other one too.

Everybody agree??
.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Lee, means a lot coming from such a respected member of the forum; however I don't think that my writing nor my knowledge are up to scratch to do the teams justice.

 

[Hawko]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Lee, means a lot coming from such a respected member of the forum; however I don't think that my writing nor my knowledge are up to scratch to do the teams justice.

If that were true, we'd be lucky to get one article a week for the bog to qualify.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think it's a bad result because we're the 3rd best side there, possibly 2nd.

That we don't know because of the structure, but gee I wish the structure was improved because I think we'd sit 1 - 4.

This is why this team needs to do well in the last two games so we're better placed next year.

Even if there were quarter finals, we'd still be up against a more fancied team.

It's a tough tournament and being pooled with last year's winner (and a decent chance to win again) was always a difficult ask. At the end of the day, we couldn't beat England so it's hard to argue we deserve to be in the top 4.

Assuming the seeding works the same every year, finishing 5th means we get pooled with the runner up rather than the winner next year.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

This is the World Championships. They are supposed to be tough.

Gaylord Focker is not participating, so there is no need to make it easy to win.

The whole composition of the semis depended on the result of one game (WAL v FRA), and arguably the weather. Just shows how little there is between the teams. There will be all sorts of "what if" and "if onlys" proposed. None of these will change the fact that what happened, happened and we are playing off for the minor places, and should return home with a placing higher than we have achieved the previous two years.

Are the players individually better?
Don't know. What I do know is that none of them went into any game thinking that they would offer anything less that 100% of what they were capable of.

Should we have sent the Southern Districts 1st Grade Colts?
Some think so.

Was the team better prepared?
Absolutely. Without playing the Baby Darkness and Baby Bokke in a warm up, it is hard to fault the preparation.

Was the selection and development procedure better?
State Representative Teams playing games in a National Tournament after development squads being run over the summer seems to be an ideal approach.

Should we be proud of the players, and Coaching/support team?
Bloody Oath. They have made us very proud. There is still work to do, and I am confident that they will do their absolute best in remaining matches.

 

[Braveheart81]

Last year souths 2nd colts lost a close game to Uni for a spot in the grand final.
This year the majority of those players have progressed to 1st and are comfortably running second and will get better as injured players return.
How many of those players got an opportunity?
They have been proving coaches, selectors and districts wrong for years and will continue to do so this year.

How many of them were involved with the Tahs development squad and/or went to the National Championships?

If they're a leading Colts team and none of them are getting to the National Championships or the squads leading up to it then there is presumably something going wrong.

Perhaps their club needs to be pushing their case harder.

 

[Pfitzy]

Our scrum got nudged by the Poms and Eyeties from what I saw, so doubt we would be able to compete at the pointy end.

 

[I like to watch]

How many of them were involved with the Tahs development squad and/or went to the National Championships?

If they're a leading Colts team and none of them are getting to the National Championships or the squads leading up to it then there is presumably something going wrong.

Perhaps their club needs to be pushing their case harder.

@Lee Grant has posted a number of times,that SS clubs were invited to nominate players for the development squad.
I assume the upcoming 19's squad that is also being discussed,is predominantly club nominated players.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Funny thing is that we owned the Argie's at scrumtime.

They then turn around and gave the Pommies a ding dong battle at scrum time in their match.

Perhaps they took us lightly (based on the Wobs poor scrummaging reputation) in the opening game, and we caught them napping.

 

[qwerty51]

Our scrum got nudged by the Poms and Eyeties from what I saw, so doubt we would be able to compete at the pointy end.

No I thought we had an even but slightly better scrum than the Poms. The scrum was worse vs Italy because we rested the entire starting front row.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

@Lee Grant has posted a number of times,that SS clubs were invited to nominate players for the development squad.
I assume the upcoming 19's squad that is also being discussed,is predominantly club nominated players.

If that is the case, and I hope it is, I hope that the list is not limited to Colts players. There are several of the Class of 2013 lurking around in Grade, having been granted a free pass for their Colts apprenticeship development stage.

 

[I like to watch]

I think you will find that pretty much every colts aged player in grade,participated in the 20's process just completed.
This new squad is to identify players not yet involved in the process.
I think.....

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Sooner or later one of the players, or a close associate of one, will pop up somewhere in Gaggerland and spill the beans on what is going on with the Under 19's <insert name> squad.

At the moment, all I know is what @GPSRow has shared with us on the Sydney Colts 2014 thread.

As long as it is contributing to "the pathway" and overall development of the player base, and not for someone's empire development or retention, then I'm all for it.

 

[Braveheart81]

@Lee Grant has posted a number of times,that SS clubs were invited to nominate players for the development squad.
I assume the upcoming 19's squad that is also being discussed,is predominantly club nominated players.

That was kind of the point I was making.

There are lots of random posters who talk about the side they support being constantly ignored and then blame the selection process without really having an idea on whether the players from their team were involved to begin with or what the club did to advance the cases of those players.