2015 IRB Junior Rugby World Cup - Italy

[Highlander35]

We've (Scots) gone in with a slightly under strength side against the Little All Blacks. Obviously giving up on this one and going hard at the other 2.

 

[Forcefield]

I did only look at the starting side and there are 2.

McInerney (ACT)
Tuipolotu (VIC)

WA are the big omission this time. Last year we had Harry Scoble, Ross Haylett-Petty and Brad Lacey.

Couple of WA guys were unlucky to miss out. You'll definitely see them in the NRC. Our two biggest talents missed out through injury (Oscar Backhouse) or ineligibility (Auega Seumanutafa- who I think will be eligible next year).

 

[Delphy]

Last year we had Harry Scoble, Ross Haylett-Petty and Brad Lacey.

...and Luke Burton.

Agree with Forcefield, watch out for Backhouse (injured) and Seumanutafa (ineligible) in NRC. Quality players.

 

[Lee Grant]

It's good to see that Placid is fit and well which didn't seem likely when he was assisted of the field at Chatswood recently.

I think that is their best side and will be the team that will play against the SAffers later.

It would have been good to see rainmaker Harry Jones on one wing, but it is was it is—every squad would have injured players missing.

It has been a whirlwind 6 months for lock Lukhan L-T who was at school last year and was virtually unknown by most Aussie rugby fans before then.

Tim Rapp mentioned to me in December that he may not make the NSW team for 2015 because he was so raw, but he and the assistants did well to get him primed for the Canberra tournament and now he is starting in the Aus U20's best team.

Well done him.
.

 

[qwerty51]

What school did he go to LG? He is massive, would've caused havoc at schoolboy level.

 

[qwerty51]

After Japan gave us a good run my worst fear has been confirmed now - this year's side is our worst u20 side ever. Lucky we've only got Italy and Samoa in our pool because I doubt we'd beat Argentina or Wales/Ireland/Scotland. SA should put 50 on us.

No blame on the coaches or structures put in place. We just don't have the talent at this age group. All the good players go to league. Tepai Morea for instance should be in this team but he's competing physically in the NRL - he would destroy people at this age.

 

[muddy]

After Japan gave us a good run my worst fear has been confirmed now - this year's side is our worst u20 side ever. Lucky we've only got Italy and Samoa in our pool because I doubt we'd beat Argentina or Wales/Ireland/Scotland. SA should put 50 on us.

No blame on the coaches or structures put in place. We just don't have the talent at this age group. All the good players go to league. Tepai Morea for instance should be in this team but he's competing physically in the NRL - he would destroy people at this age.

LOL i agree after watching that we wont progress any further then the pool stages, italy might have a chance to beat us and saffas might put 40 on us, boys just look all over the place, HOPE they prove us wrong but i cant see it...

 

[Marcelo]

After Japan gave us a good run my worst fear has been confirmed now - this year's side is our worst u20 side ever. Lucky we've only got Italy and Samoa in our pool because I doubt we'd beat Argentina or Wales/Ireland/Scotland. SA should put 50 on us.

I said that this team wasn't good enough and some users have retaliated against me

No blame on the coaches or structures put in place. We just don't have the talent at this age group. All the good players go to league. Tepai Morea for instance should be in this team but he's competing physically in the NRL - he would destroy people at this age.

Then the Kiwis aren't our enemies. Our true enemy is the NRL

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I won't give the results of the televised games in case anyone's got them taped for later watching but in the non-televised games:

England 59-7 Japan
Ireland 18-16 Argentina
South Africa 33-5 Italy

Full results here:

http://www.worldrugby.org/u20/results

 

[2bluesfan]

Our true enemy is the NRL

That's an interesting comment. They are certainly a very serious competitor. And, just as certainly, we can't currently (or possibly ever) compete in terms of some things that are attracting talent to their game.

But we can compete on our own terms and we need to focus on our own strengths. Yes I realise that sounds like I have my head in the sand but there is a solid reason that many of us are still involved in the game we love decades after we discovered it. We need to keep focused on our game being a truly international game with opportunities on almost every continent. The major reason we are still involved? It's more fun to play

 

[FrontRowFan]

It's good to see that Placid is fit and well which didn't seem likely when he was assisted of the field at Chatswood recently.

I think that is their best side and will be the team that will play against the SAffers later.

It would have been good to see rainmaker Harry Jones on one wing, but it is was it is—every squad would have injured players missing.

It has been a whirlwind 6 months for lock Lukhan L-T who was at school last year and was virtually unknown by most Aussie rugby fans before then.

Tim Rapp mentioned to me in December that he may not make the NSW team for 2015 because he was so raw, but he and the assistants did well to get him primed for the Canberra tournament and now he is starting in the Aus U20's best team.

Well done him.
.

Harry Jones played for the Rats 1st Grade side 2 Saturday's ago. Guess it was too late to add him to the squad. ?

Lukhan L-T couldn't make CHS 1s run on side last year (he mostly played 2s IIRC and a got some time in 1s) out at Cranbrook v CAS, so he's obviously come on in leaps and bounds. Exceptional progress.

 

[AussieDominance]

Lukhan wasn't in the Sydney South West?? CHS side until the night before the carnival they attend to get selected in the CHS side.

When he turned up he didn't know how to bind in the scrum.

 

[Braveheart81]

The results overnight have gone pretty well for us.

If we assume that England, South Africa and New Zealand are the best teams in each pool and will win those pools, we need to finish second to South Africa and finish on more points than the next best runner up.

Ireland and France were the two other winners overnight and neither scored a four try bonus point.

If we achieve a 4 try bonus point against Italy it will make our chances of progressing very good.

 

[Highlander35]

Deegan did not control that game at all. Thought he was your biggest problem, missed about 4 kicks, ineffective from hand, couldn't affect the tempo either. Quite a few were good though, Fakoasolia and Placid were probably the best, big number 5 apart from the brain fart was good, Orr and Tuipolotu too.

As for the Scots, well, it didn't look to bad to begin with, but not starting Horne, Fagerson and Cummings was a mistake, we were competitive for 25 minutes to half an hour, but then fell apart, and bringing them on the secomd half couldn't shift the momentum.

Poor yellow card to our 13 for the Kiwi leaping into the tackle, didn't help.

We've still got a good side, and if that hasn't killed our confidence, we should be capable of beating both Ireland and the Argies, get us out of the bottom 4.

 

[RugbyReg]

Gee it would seem the scrumhalf spot is becoming an ongoing concern. Hope the decision not the pick the NSW player, whose name eludes me, that had many wraps on here doesn't come back to hurt us.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Need to do some serious work on our lineouts.

Our throwing seemed to be a bit haphazard, and the Samoans competed very well in the air.

Problem is our back up hooker Folau Faainga was also a bit wayward with his throwing in the televised Shute Shield game I saw him play in earlier in the year (Uni v Manly).

For a team that should have spent a lot of time together, and has had a far better preparation than any previous Jnr Wallaby team, the performance overall was a bit disjointed. Hopefully nerves or rust, but in reality there should be no excuses like this as many of these boys are pro, or fringe professional players.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Gee it would seem the scrumhalf spot is becoming an ongoing concern. Hope the decision not the pick the NSW player, whose name eludes me, that had many wraps on here doesn't come back to hurt us.

Mitchell Short. Ex Scots College, Aust Schoolboy. Regular starting 9 with Randwick Shute Shield (until Pat Phibbs returned from UK).

Some backstory here:-
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...a-in-rugby-union/story-fngr8h9d-1226740993404

 

[I like to watch]

........No blame on the coaches or structures put in place. We just don't have the talent at this age group. All the good players go to league. Tepai Morea for instance should be in this team but he's competing physically in the NRL - he would destroy people at this age.

You didn't see him play the baby blacks as a Schoolboy?
He was handled with relative ease.i think he was responsible for more NZ tries than Oz tries.
Undoubtedly he would walk into this side, but I'm not sure he would improve it much at all.
It's no good lining up to smash the 12 when the 15 gets the ball.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Results and Pool Pacings after Day 1 (click on "Show spoiler" button to see results. Spoiler label will be removed after 24 hours. If you haven't watched your recording of the matches by then - tough).

MATCH DAY 1: TUESDAY JUNE 2
Game No., Kick-off, Group, Match, Venue
1. Pool C, Ireland 18 def Argentina 16
2. Pool B, Australia 34 def Samoa 22
3. Pool C, New Zealand 68 def Scotland 10
4. Pool A, France 19 def Wales 10
5. Pool A, England 59 def Japan 7
6. Pool B, South Africa 33 def Italy 5

Pool A
England 5 pts
France 4 pts
Wales 0 pts
Japan 0 pts

Pool B
South Africa 5 pts
Australia 5 pts
Samoa 0 pts
Italy 0 pts

Pool C
New Zealand 5 pts
Ireland 4 pts
Argentina 1 pts
Scotland 0 pts

Current SF contenders:
ENG, SAF, NZL, AUS

The 4T BP that we got overnight, and the Irish and French did not get may prove critical at SF time.


Games To Come
MATCH DAY 2: SATURDAY JUNE 6
Game No., Kick-off, Group, Match, Venue
7., 16:30, Pool A, France v Japan, Parma
8., 18:30, Pool B, South Africa v Samoa, Parma
9., 20:30, Pool B, Australia v Italy, Parma Televised: Sunday 7 June 4.30am (AEST) FOX SPORTS 3
10., 16:30, Pool C, Ireland v Scotland, Calvisano
11., 18:30, Pool C, New Zealand v Argentina, Calvisano
12., 20:30, Pool A, England v Wales, Calvisano

MATCH DAY 3: WEDNESDAY JUNE 10
Game No., Kick-off, Group, Match, Venue
13., 16:30, Pool C, Argentina v Scotland, Calvisano
14., 18:30, Pool B, Samoa v Italy, Calvisano
15., 20:30, Pool B, South Africa v Australia, Calvisano Televised: Thursday 11 June 4.30am (AEST) FOX SPORTS 2
16., 16:30, Pool A, England v France, Viadana
17., 18:30, Pool A, Wales v Japan, Viadana
18., 20:30, Pool C, New Zealand v Ireland, Viadana

Note: Kick off times shown are Local (Italy).

 

[LeeSchwarzer]

Tuttle did not control that game at all. Thought he was your biggest problem, missed about 4 kicks, ineffective from hand, couldn't affect the tempo either. Quite a few were good though, Fakoasolia and Placid were probably the best, big number 5 apart from the brain fart was good, Orr and Tuipolotu too.

The game I watched this morning, pretty sure Tuttle didn't do any kicking. Deegan played 10 and did the kicking. Both blondish locks so I guess mistaken identity could be forgiven.
Credit where it's due, Tuttle's defence was noteworthy, particularly the try-saving tackle in the first half.