• Welcome to the Green and Gold Rugby forums. As you can see we've upgraded the forums to new software. Your old logon details should work, just click the 'Login' button in the top right.

2015 IRB Junior Rugby World Cup - Italy

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bobby Sands

Guest
Congratulations to NSW team for winning the championship. Well deserved. The final was a battle of forwards ( I think Qld dominated for majority of the game ) and show of an excellent running rugby of NSW team. I guess that QLD supporters will ask the one and only question, what if their final squad was not decimated by injuries and Reds / 7s duties. The list is long (Mafi, Potgieter, Gunn, Wilkin, Tuttle, Perese, Tanuvasa, Paua'ia , Magnay and few others). We will never know. Now however is the time for big decision. I think that QLD will do well and have ~10 players in the wide squad.


It sounds as if QLD had more than enough territory to win, but were too conservative in their approach. Defense is not as tight at age group level, and therefor tries should always been the aim (unless it's miserably wet). Kudos to NSW for playing their hand. Running rugby for the win.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
Secret Squirrel was found alive but not too well after a nasty encounter with a possum.

He was able to dispatch this report from the first aid room.

The match – a very tough encounter !

Qld had all the ball for the first 15 mins or so – and mounted a few raids, but couldn’t get through.

The two times NSW got down into the Qld red zone they made them pay – first N Kellaway’s try – almost a carbon copy of his try against Tonga – barging over from a lineout move next to the sticks.

The next time it was a scrum 15 out from the Red's line – and super slick passing – Short to Deegan to A.Kellaway to Jones in the corner before the Reds new what hit them !

Qld probably had 60 odd % of the ball but simply couldn’t breach the line – with some terrific defence from the whole fwd pack. Kamp and Hanigan got through a mountain of work as did Sandell and his front row comrades – with Wiiliams tackling himself to a standstill and McCalman a pest everywhere.

The second half saw more of the same – and I think Rapp will be a bit disappointed as the boys launched a series of raids on the Reds' line but couldn’t crack it.

The Reds then counter-attacked and the Blues had to defend for their lives – and snuffed out roll after roll off the ruck right on the line – which was the Reds' main attacking weapon against Fiji on Monday.

Then out of the blue, NSW took off (Jones I think) down the left hand touch. Inside to A. Kellaway, who chipped over the winger, regathered on the full and scored next to the sticks.

The team then had their tails in the air – and were back on the Reds line quickly where Ollie Kamp launched himself from in close and scored,

Game over.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
Good work there Squirrel - and later this analysis came from a ward in the animal hospital.

What a creaturel !!

A brief synopsis:

· Qld had probably 60% of the ball overall – but three penalty goals wasn’t much reward for the effort

· NSW defence proved impenetrable (obviously) – but they really stepped it up a notch today

· Scrums – both sides exerted huge pressure at scrum time – with each side edging in front at times, only to be outdone by their opposites a short time later. – On balance – NSW probably won the couple of really crucial ones – so points probably to NSW in a close one !

· Korcyzk the outstanding player in the Reds pack. Excellent in the air and led from the front. Some were a little surprised by his MOM – but I would agree that he was probably the most dominant player there.

· Having said that – I thought the Blue forwards were absolutely outstanding – their work around the park was precision defence and non stop on the ball sort of stuff – and there really wasn’t a standout in their pack like Korczyk – but then all 12 of them probably deserved a gong ! (including reserves). Ned Hanigan was outstanding.

· The backs probably neutralized one another a bit today – with the Qld centres up very quickly to try and force the ball back in. Redden didn’t have his best game today – possibly tried to push a bit hard ?

Newsome Hutchison, Jones and A. Kellaway were all very solid in defence – and showed what they can do given half a sniff.

Short and Deegan were again outstanding – and their combination is absolutely humming at present. Short by far and away the best halfback of the week – his passing was just great to watch. Jones had moments of HJ brilliance – but was kept pretty quiet.

· I was again disappointed with the Qld forwards – expecting to see Lolo F and Rodda do a lot more - but they were kept pretty quiet by the knock ‘em down Blues.

· The Qld centres again didn’t look like dominating Redden and Newsome – nor breaking through – so my original assessment stands.

· The Qld 9/10 tried hard – but at times got “lost” .

· Losing Quick in the first 15 minutes probably didn’t help their cause.
.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
And this is from Mr. Hector: Thank you sir.


What an excellent exhibition of rugby for the spectators at Viking Park today. The day combined favourable weather conditions with great steak sandwiches, drinkable coffee and an enthusiastic crowd from all over the country.

Local identities Henry Speight and Sam Carter were amongst the supporters.

Fiji v Australian Barbarians

Fiji lead at half time but on the final bell the Baabaas were in front 34-28.

The Baabaas must be credited for backing up so strongly in their fourth game for the tournament and they deserved the positive finish.

Although they appeared beaten at half time they rallied to complete a strong second half. The Fijians played enthusiastic rugby but at times lacked cohesion which prevented them from finishing some great play.

There was strong ball running by the forwards, and some traditional free running rugby in the backs.

Players: it was difficult to tell who was who as the Baabaas numbers had fallen off their jerseys! There was also no program.

Barbarians: a strong game from the 15 in the first half.

Both the 6 [Brodie Leber] and 7 [Joel Brown] were strong ball runners all week and continued to play barging rugby today. The 9 [Angus Taylor] worked tirelessly to direct his back line.

It was great to see the son of former NZ test referee Paddy O'Brien officiating in this game and assistant refereeing in the second.

NSW v QLD

The heavy weight clash resonated with traditional state rivalry. The first five minutes were filled with some bone-jarring tackles, many on the NSW players.

Countless raids by the large Qld pack were thwarted by the relentless defence of the NSW forwards. NSW withstood sustained pressure from Queensland's ball possession and field position.

NSW let themselves down with ill-discipline at the breakdown and the offside line which resulted in a high penalty count. However, when they had the chance to raid the Qld line they executed three beautiful tries, all the result of excellent team work.

With the score at 19-9 the second half started with the same Qld energy as the first half. NSW defence was put to the test on numerous occasions and the onslaught was withstood.

The forwards regathered momentum and marched determinedly down the field. The NSW lineout grew in confidence and as a result of the hard work two tries were scored, one finished off by a brilliant individual effort from A. Kellaway.

The QLD defence was also terrific, repelling advances on their try line and forcing errors from the NSW team.

QLD

Player of the tournament was Adam Korczyk and this was well-deserved on his efforts today. Although starting at 7 he played at 8 and was strong in attack and dogged in defence.

QLD stayed in touch off the boot of Dalgleish. Conrad Quick made a devastating run but retired injured, however his replacements Mitchell Third was just as damaging with the ball in hand.

Rodda and Scott Young were the workhorses in a hard working QLD pack.

NSW

Matt Sandell was dominant in the scrum, ball carries and tackling. He was capably supported by Cameron Orr in the same areas.

Ned Hanigan won crucial line outs. The back rowers were all tireless and deservedly scored one try each. Short and Deegan combined to electrify a fluid back line who were solid in defence and innovative in attack. The entire NSW bench were used and they were all effective.

All together it was a great day of rugby. The players are to be congratulated on the fine rugby they played in the right spirit, there was no violence or name calling, and the handshakes and hugs at the end of the games exemplified great sportsmanship.

Australian rugby is in very good hands.
.
 

rugby roo

Peter Burge (5)
Rarely have we seen a 28 man rugby squad be as effective as NSW Colts over the past few days at any level for a very long time.

It exhibits very good management by coach and assistants and very good execution by the players. NSW WEREN'T the biggest squad if size matters but the ability to swap around positions without losing a stride was brilliant and those counter attacking loose forwards setting up pretty handy finishers in A. Kellaway and Jones showed a very high level of skill and trained channel running.

Love that type of rugby its not a "new running style" rugby that everyone is banging on about including Cheika, it is basic attacking rugby with bodies in motion but it needs more brains than brawn and a high level of skill to achieve it.

See backrower for NSW yesterday accelerate , swerve , split the defence and pop an offload to maurading winger who applies his own magic to chip and regather on full and score under sticks.

Lets have more of that and not overcoach and overtrain these guys when they get to next level.

The players were even smiling about their efforts and achievements on the field!!!!
When was the last time we saw that ? Its supposed to be fun isnt it?.

I hope the Aus Selectors can encourage the same perfomances out the next squad they pick .
 

muddy

Peter Burge (5)
after the nationals , what would your OZ 20s squad look like now? ps been watching the 6 nations U20s , geez the teams their look good , minus italy , but even the scots have an impressive side, but the english french, welsh and irish teams look very strong this year
 

Hans

Fred Wood (13)
after the nationals , what would your OZ 20s squad look like now? ps been watching the 6 nations U20s , geez the teams their look good , minus italy , but even the scots have an impressive side, but the english french, welsh and irish teams look very strong this year

I think the team i took a stab at back a while will be close, however one i think is now a big time smokey to get a look in is Kamp from NSW. By all accounts, was quite strong and played lots of minutes. With quiet performances from the other no. 8 contenders in Faikolsea from QLD and the Baa Baa's, i think Kamp's value may have gone up substantially in the scheme of things. Also, think Croke might be fighting a tough battle given he was being squeezed out of the NSW starting side, and the lack of, as @LG calls them "big boppers", it is going to be a tough fight.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
It exhibits very good management by coach and assistants and very good execution by the players. NSW WEREN'T the biggest squad if size matters but the ability to swap around positions without losing a stride was brilliant

Two of the biggest pluses for me in the team in their trial games were the ability of reserves to slot in seamlessly, and for their freshness to lift the team. This is always supposed to be the case in all teams, including the professional ones, but we are often disappointed that it is not the case.

It looks like those attributes prevailed and that they were part of the ability for them to take advantage of scoring opportunities during the week in the last 20 minutes of matches. Let us trust that those strengths are carried forward with the Aussie U20s, wherever the boys come from.

Well done to the NSW lads especially the two big improvers in the squad (even before the nationals), Nick Kellaway and Jack Redden.

Well done to Tim Rapp, Matt Bowman and not least to S&C man Brad Harrington.

For those who want to know about the underlying reasons for their success, have a look at this blog of nearly two months ago.

Apologies for the huge size of the quotes in the new blogging format and equally big - and shameless - self-quoting job.

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/nsw-20s/
.
 

Newbie

Bill McLean (32)
I think the team i took a stab at back a while will be close, however one i think is now a big time smokey to get a look in is Kamp from NSW. By all accounts, was quite strong and played lots of minutes... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Wholeheartedly agree!

I have always been a big 'Ollie Stylzzzz' fan (apologies of using my offspring No.3's terminology.

Liked him as an U/16 when he was selected for NSWSRU team in 2011, and still do!
 

Hans

Fred Wood (13)
Have any birdies started tweeting some possible teams @LG @HJ @sideline Eye @secretsquirrel ?
 

Hugh Jarse

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
^^^ I would imagine that phone calls may be made today (if not already) or over the weekend with the team (wider train on squad) being officially announced on Monday around 2pm.
 

Lee Grant

John Eales (66)
Staff member
Calls have been made but let's leave it all to the official announcement and not declare what we have heard.

People were saying who made the NSW team before and who were cut and they were wrong.

Watch a great weekend of Super Rugby and the Hong Kong Sevens and come back to it after the announcement - unless you want to post on anything not to do with what you have heard or others have heard.

Good luck to all the boys in their selection.

PLEASE DO NOT START A NEW THREAD FOR THE OCEANIA TOURNAMENT OR THE WORLD U20 CHAMPIONSHIP.
.
 

Inside Shoulder

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Calls have been made but let's leave it all to the official announcement and not declare what we have heard.

People were saying who made the NSW team before and who were cut and they were wrong.

Watch a great weekend of Super Rugby and the Hong Kong Sevens and come back to it after the announcement - unless you want to post on anything not to do with what you have heard or others have heard.

Good luck to all the boys in their selection.

PLEASE DO NOT START A NEW THREAD FOR THE OCEANIA TOURNAMENT OR THE WORLD U20 CHAMPIONSHIP.
.

So, Lee when is it announced: my Facebook page, through Easts book page, is telling me that a certain Easts player has been picked???
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top