Munster beating Connacht 14-0 in u20s at halftime. 3 penalties by Brian Haugh and try poss scored by Darren Sweetnam
Munster beating Connacht 14-0 in u20s at halftime. 3 penalties by Brian Haugh and try poss scored by Darren Sweetnam
Munster won 21-14 in 20s
Ulster U20's beat Leinster 24-16.
Munster beat Ulster in 19s 13-10
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/news/10784
Good start to interpros with schools, 19s and 20s all winning their opening game
Munster Youths play the A schools tomorrow evening in highfield rfc. think kick off is round 6ish
Yep hoping to get to that.
Munster A Schools beat the Munster Youths 10-8.
Leinster won 34-12
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/news/10797
Went to cork to watch the youths play the A schools.
A schools beat the youths 10-8 in highfield this evening with a score at the end of the game but were well worth their victory
Youths side were much more organised as you would expect considering they were training and playing together 3-4 days a week for the past 2 months while the a schools have only been training once a week for most of the summer and only increased to training twice a week only recently
Leinster must have a serious outfit they hammered ulster didnt they last week. Great future ahead for them
very good game. a schools started off as if theyd barely played with each other before but got better as the game went on
As i mentioned in my previous post the Youths were much more organised but the A schools didnt stand off them and were well deserved their win. Some big hits in the game with many players on both sides looking like it was their final shot at making their side ahead of the interpros.
Great to see in the highfield clubhouse beforehand that there was a poster of all munsters age grade sides with their fixtures and there was pics of the youths, schools, 19s and 20s in all their munster gear yet no pic of the A schools and only a small mention of their fixtures
Was at the game in Thomond today. Did well in the first half but Leinster size and physicality were to much for the Munster lads. Munster missed way too many tackles and paid for them in the end. Also way too slow at ruck time meant loosing too many turnovers and penalties. Brewer in the centre was a massive unit for Leinster-formerly a number 8 I believe-don't think he will finish out at 12 though as eventhough he looks very accomplished, his build will work against him going forward. Best for Munster were Fitzgerald at full back, Blake at 8 and Lyons at 10. Thought Deegan did well on the wing but was strangely taken off when he seemed to be doing well. Leinster well on top in the collisions and made yardage at every clash-Munster boys on backfoot consistently.
Brilliant Blues put Munster to sword
By Charlie Mulqueen
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Munster 12 Leinster 34
Leinster’s conveyor belt of exciting young talent rolls along merrily.
Having inflicted a 68-5 defeat on Ulster in their opening game in the Under 18 Schools Championship, they left no doubt they are one of the finest ever teams to grace the competition when disposing of Munster at Thomond Park yesterday.
Apart from the opening quarter when Munster performed with customary fire and vigour and carried the fight to their vaunted opponents, there was absolutely no doubt as to the superior side.
Leinster were far stronger physically and there was also a very evident gulf in class, especially behind the scrum where the footballing acumen of out-half Ross Byrne and full-back Billy Dardis was constantly to the fore while a much faster three-quarter line proved a constant danger.
Munster were left to rely on the boot of Crescent College out-half Gearoid Lyons for all their points. He also performed well in general play, as did the Ard Scoil Ris full-back Stephen Fitzgerald, Crescent No 8 Cormac Blake and the PBC pair Morgan Carey and David St Ledger.
But as a unit, Munster were always playing second fiddle even if the opening minutes did see them take the lead through a Lyons penalty. It took Leinster a little longer than they might have expected to impose their will but once Cistercian College, Roscrea, second-row Rory Moloney forced his way over for a try at the posts in the 24th minute and Ross Byrne added the points, there could be only one outcome.
Lyons and Byrne exchanged penalties in the space of a couple of minutes but shortly afterwards Leinster salvaged a dangerous looking situation inside their own 22 before launching a devastating counterattack which ended with right winger Cormac Brennan, also from Roscrea, diving over in the right corner, from where Byrne converted with a fine kick.
Leinster turned round 17-6 in front and even though a couple of Lyons penalties to one by Byrne left only eight points between the teams with 20 minutes still to play, Leinster remained very much in the ascendancy.
Scrum-half and captain Nick McCarthy was constantly probing and his sniping break led to his side’s third try for Clongowes centre Fergal Cleary.
Byrne converted and was again on target when James McCormack of Castleknock went over to stretch the advantage to 34-12.
It was all Leinster at this stage and only a questionable touch judge decision against McCormack deprived him of a second try.
Elsewhere, two tries from Conor Shiels saw Ulster U18s recover from last week’s mauling at the hands of Leinster to hand out a 23-0 defeat to Connacht at the Sportsground yesterday.
Shiels crossed either side of half time and winger Rory Campbell touched down five minutes from time to inflict a second defeat of the competition on an outclassed home side.
MUNSTER: S Fitzgerald (Ard Scoil Ris); R Deegan (Ard Scoil Ris), S McMahon (Rockwell), JJ O’Neill (Crescent), G O’Shea (Crescent, capt); G Lyons (Crescent), B Riley (Rockwell); L O’Connor (CBC), L O’Halloran (St Munchins), S McCarthy (PBC), D Lane (PBC), M O’Donnell (Crescent), M Carey (PBC), D St Ledger (PBC), C Blake (Crescent).
Replacements: S McNulty (Rockwell) , D O’Connell (Rockwell), G Roche (CBC), F Bradshaw-Ryan (Ard Scoil Ris), B Kilkenny (St Munchins), A Moynihan (Rockwell), E O’Keeffe (St Munchins).
LEINSTER: B Dardis (Terenure); C Brennan (Cistercian Roscrea), F Cleary (Clongowes), H Brewer (Terenure), J McCormack (Castleknock); R Byrne (St Michael’s), N McCarthy (St Michaels, capt); O Heffernan (Cistercian Roscrea), A Roche (Terenure), O Jager (Blackrock), J Ryan (St Michaels), R Moloney (Cistercian Roscrea), J Murphy (St Michaels), P Thornton (Terenure), N Timoney (Blackrock).
Replacements: G Reynolds (King’s Hospital), E O’Sullivan (Templeogue), R Lalor (Terenure), A Penny (St Michaels), M Courtney (CBC Monkstown).
Referee: K Collins (IRFU).
Irish Examiner
4 Feb 2011 - Gilmore on the General Election
"Frankfurts way or Labours way."
28 Feb 2012 - Gilmore on a yes vote for the fiscal treaty
"A vote for economic stability and a vote for economic recovery."
The talk on boards etc about Brewer is that he has been moved to the centre from the backrow as Leinster have enough options in the backrow and not enough in the centre.
I also think he'll eventually end up playing in the backrow where he had started out playing
Strange that Munster were so well off physically considering how much theyve been training all summer. What were they doing in rockwell all summer if they were so much off in the physicality stakes?
great win for the Munster A schools a much maligned side with very little respect given to them by the powers,i hope they give some recognition to some of the schools lads for the inter-pros,last year the same happened in cashel where they also beat the youths, two of the A school players from last year niall fitzgerald and tim tobin won u19 all-ireland with shannon/marys whose players were conveniently ignored also, until accounability is brought into munsterage rugby we are going no where.OL as you said about the premium schools can also be applied to the youths..what were they doing in rockwell all summer?
Yes totally agree with you that it can also be said about the youths.
The A schools are a fine side and it would be very interesting to see how good theyd be if they were given the same levels of attention etc as the youths, schools, 19s etc.
It looked to me as if the youths were totally scared to try things and more scared of making mistakes than trying things. If they were a bit more open to taking risks and not always the safer option theyd do well.
What i cant understand at all about the underage sides is the lack of attention thats been given to the a schools. again like i mentioned in a previous post why do the a schools not have a team photo like the other sides on the promotional poster of the age grade teams
u20 team to play Leinster tomorrow in Donnybrook
Darren Sweetnam (Bandon Grammar); Rob Jermyn (Midleton), Harry McNulty (Dub University), Rory Scannell (Dolphin), Adrian Enright (Abbeyfeale); Tom Kiersey (Waterpark), Brian Haugh (Young Munster); Niall Horan (Crescent Comp), Will Foley (Dolphin), Brian Scott (UCC); Sean McCarthy (Shannon), John Madigan (Charleville); Jack O'Donoghue (U.L. Bohemian), Darren Ryan (Young Munster), John Fitzgerald (PBC) Capt.
Replacements: Max Abbott (PBC), Cian O'Donnell (Cashel), Dave Hartnett (PBC), Jamie Kind (Dolphin), Dave O'Connell (UCC), Ben Nugent (UCC), Shane O'Leary (Young Munster), James McInerney (Garryowen)/Conor Kearns (Dub Univ)
u19s team to play Leinster tomorrow in Dooradoyle
David Johnson(Rockwell); Cormac O'Donnell (St. Munchin's), Dan Goggin (St. Munchin's), Ned Hodson (Midleton College), Cillian Ansbro (Youghal); Shane Airey ( St. Munchin's), Ryan Foley (CBC); Charlie Slowey (CBC), Aidan Slattery (PBC), Rory Burke (CBC); Darragh Moloney (CBC), Patrick Kearns (Ard Scoil Ris); Diarmuid Dee (Crescent Comp.), Sonny Dwyer (Rockwell) Capt, Lee Nicholas (St. Munchin's).
Replacements: Ben Burns (Castletroy), Steven Dalton (UCC), Conor Glynn (Ard Scoil Ris), Tom Ryan (Glenstal Abbey), Jack Dineen (Crescent Comp), Aaron Atkinson (Garryowen), Greg Barry (Crescent Comp), JJ McDonnell (Castletroy.
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/news/10802
OL ..the A schools like the club game are treated like a bit of a nuisance,this year their were even going to disband it,very little resources given to them,in some games the dingle rfc jerseys turned inside out,the guys and the coaches must be commended to put up with the ****e..there is an arrogance about some of the munster under age setup that needs to be deflated but with the soviet type system it won't be anytime soon
I know all about that. Ive been to a lot of the A schools games and its been a disgrace that the A schools havent even been given munster gear, dont get any recognitionin comparison to the other munster sides.
There is an arrogance in the set up but what can be done to change that??
As has been mentioned already the day all the games were on in annacotty it was awful to see the A schools wearing borrowed jerseys and the kids wearing their own shorts/socks while connachts 18s, munster 18 schools, the north dev squad and the 2/3 sides the english school had over were all in full gear from shorts and socks to jerseys and for many of the players gear bags as well.
is there any teams sheet from the Youth/A game
no. youths team was fairly similar to the team that played against the Ospreys a few weeks ago
A schools havent been mentioned on munster website so i only know of the nenagh players involved. Dont think a list of the A schools players will go up online until early next week when the team for their 1st interpro is named and hopefully put up on munsterrugby
I know we 've gone over a lot of this before but the sooner the Munster branch realise that we are not Leinster, the better. Doing a little exercise on the Leinster schools system and Munster schools will show that basing our model of youth rugby almost solely on the schools is a recipe for disaster especially when we don't see these guys progressing to AIL due to this ridiculous system and also the academy system.
We attempt to mimic Leinster who have 16 + teams playing Senior cup rugby albeit 2 or 3 who are making up numbers-we have effectively 8 if you include Glenstal. Of these 8, the only ones that consistently are competitive are Rockwell, Pres,Christians, Munchins and Crescent. Ard Scoil blow hot and cold (will be good this year) and Castletroy are on a downward spiral. Glenstal are improving and are more and more competitive but still aren't there yet. So effectively you have 5 consistent senior cup teams.
Now when you also consider that at least 15 of the 16 Leinster teams are fee paying private schools with bags of resources being poured in, and 3 of the 5 Munster teams are fee paying, how in all honesty can we ever compete with a focus just on schools. .Yes clubs brought some talent through but what are we missing with this approach. Some very talented club players have made it-Jack O'D, Cronan Gleeson , Madigan but the is miniscule compared to what should be coming through. The proof of the pudding was in the opening game at the Aviva where Munster/Connacht were hosed by Leinster /Ulster by over 60 points with Academy/u20 teams. For God's sake, when are they going to sit up and smell what they've beenn stirring. Connacht have caught up with us -some of this down to the fact that they have no schools cup tying and players can play for who they please. Even worse with the poaching that is going on now in Munster schools, they are making the pool of players playing senior cup even smaller. Certain schools are decimating others and clubs also only to fill their benches. As I've said before, in the branch and in the coaching set up, people are asleep at the wheel. We are progressively worsening(can you say that) and the people in charge think all is fine.
I know we sent a lot of lads of to Rockwell for the summer but looking at 18s yesterday, they were never going to catch up with Leinster just in the summer. these guys in Leinster have been doing what we did in Rockwell for almost 2 years. Our schools don't have the numbers or resources to compete with whats going on in Dublin, but if we tap the club system and truely work with it. Then We might have some chance of closing the gap.
Rant Over!!
Bannerman I wouldn't include Crescent in your list. So we're really talking 4 schools.
Great post. I'd go further though. We need to align Munster schools with the clubs from the age of 12 in competitions to widen the net both in terms of reach and social strata. We also need to start going to muckerville and show the gaa savages the errors of their ways. Why waste yr time being part time gard or teacher when you can be a professional rugby player. What Munster could have done with the likes of Joe Deane and Sean Og!
Good points made. commented in red as easier to make points than in one paragraph
Yes up to u16 and maybe u17 level all the schools should compete with clubs where possible and if schools have numbers at older age groups enter their 3rds side into club comps(like Pres and Christians do in some south comps at some age groups)
Seems to be a lot of talk about this guy. Anyone know anything about him, would he be interested in pro rugby?
Hurling star Sweetnam also blessed with rugby ‘X factor’
By Ian Cusack
Friday, September 14, 2012
Munster’s U20 rugby team manager Graham Burns claims Cork senior hurling star Darren Sweetnam has the rugby "X factor".
Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s impact sub last season has been juggling his GAA commitments with his rugby, having also represented Ireland in badminton and hockey. He played a starring role for Munster in their opening game of the U20 interprovincial fixtures against Connacht in Musgrave Park last week.
With 35 minutes gone Munster turned over possession and Sweetnam collected the ball out wide, shrugged off a few would-be tacklers before diving over for the game’s opening try.
The multi-talented Sweetnam also crossed for an impressive individual score in a challenge against Sale and U20s manager Graham Burns, whose side face Leinster in Donnybrook tonight, admits he is a real threat.
"Darren is a broken field runner extraordinaire," Burns said. "He does bring that X factor. You put a ball into space and he counters at you, he gains ground, he crashes the gain-line, he breaks tackles, he’s incredibly fit, he has all the attributes."
Much like Tomás O’Leary, who led Cork’s minor hurlers to All-Ireland glory before pursuing rugby full-time, Sweetnam will, at some stage, be forced to pick one sport. At this point in his career both parties are content to share the prodigy and Burns insists there is a clear channel of communication between Sweetnam, Munster Rugby and Cork hurling, which is vital if the situation is to work.
"We are delighted we have him, I know the Cork hurlers were delighted when they had him. We can’t both have him all the time but we just have to manage. It’s something we have worked on. I think we have taken a very open and honest attitude with Darren and the hurlers, we have all been speaking.
"Obviously you have to recognise when someone is doing the Leaving Certificate and the demands that it exerts upon them. When he wanted to play hurling he played hurling, he didn’t train all the time with the squad and the squad understood that.
"If Cork had been involved this weekend we know we wouldn’t have had him in all likelihood, that’s the way we operate it."
Irish Examiner
4 Feb 2011 - Gilmore on the General Election
"Frankfurts way or Labours way."
28 Feb 2012 - Gilmore on a yes vote for the fiscal treaty
"A vote for economic stability and a vote for economic recovery."
Lads I also have to question the influence that coaches in the Munster set up and this influence being exerted on youngsters to join the coaches club. Some serious hoovering up being done at the moment. Last year one certain club hoovered up players with influence from the interpro coaches. Same thing appears to be happening this year but with another club doing the hoovering. Maybe a rule should be introduced that would ensure that coaches are non aligned or at least are prevented from using their position as a recruiting tool.
u19s well beaten by an outstanding Leinster side in dooradoyle. Final Score 30-13