IRB U/20 Tournament and Oz Squad

[tranquility]

what a walloping.

Im not sure what Nuci was thinking not playing Quirk and Luke Jones in the starting pack, not that it would have made a difference. Morahan looked assured at the back, still not his best position however.

 

[Hawko]

Well, by my calculations that means the Bledisloe is probably staying over the ditch till at least 2015. The only good news is that our developing junior talent is second best in the world, but so far behind the kiwi's that its not much comfort.

If only all the talent in the southern states wasn't going to AFL we might have had a bigger gene pool to fish in.

 

[PaarlBok]

Look like a pretty special Baby Black team.

 

[spectator]

Well done to the Aus U20's, best finish in three years of the Under 20 format, and first time finalists. Just happened to come up against a bloody good Baby Blacks side. They were awesome, and their forwards in particular put on a clinic.

Not all doom and gloom however. Just about every member of the NZ team turns 20 this year, that's the way they do it over there. The Aus team by comparison has a good number of 18 and 19 year olds who should be all the better for the experience.

The enthusiasm and intent from the Baby Blacks was evident from the start and they got on the front foot and didn't let off. The younger Aussies looked to lose composure, never quite regaining it, and started playing catch up far too early. A couple of their stars tried to do a little too much at times, rather than playing the team thing. Don't know what happened in the midfield but there looked to be a few gaps that the NZ inside backs exploited.

Young Gill will be a champion one day but he did give away a few penalties and was rag dolled on occasion. I'm in no doubt he needs a bit more muscle and weight and should not be rushed into the top stuff, as he will be there for a long time once he arrives.

The NZ halfback was sharp, albeit he was behind a dominant pack, and where the hell did Bleyendaal come from? He does remind one of Larkham, and impressed me more than Cruden from last year.

Well done NZ.

 

[Lee Grant]

dbla

Have to agree with everything you said.

Size by itself doesn't matter it's not the size of the ticker either. It's aggression, mongrel, playing in a team way, fitness of body and brain, rugby smarts and add about 10 more things in there.

And that's only the forwards; no use talking about the backs or about this guy should have been picked instead of another guy. You may have got one tougher, smarter dog but he wouldn't have made a difference against the wolf pack.

Yep, we have dogs in our pack, big dogs; but they have wolves. Until we get wolves at these U20 matches, and for the the Wallabies for that matter, we will be lamenting being out-muscled, out rugby-smarted and out team-played as it has been year after year after year.

This was a decent Oz U/20 team and better than I thought. In a parallel universe have these same players born in New Zealand with their superior junior coaching, better pathways and having the manic desire to be the greatest rugby player they can be etc etc. Then bring them back through the black hole to Argentina in this universe, give them a gold jersey and let them play against the blacks again and you would see a much closer contest.

It sounds over the top but having lived in NZ for 8 years, about the ages from 13 to 21 I know this country doesn't have quality of people across the board, nor the quality of systems, to produce the players that NZ produces at this age, unless by exception.

My experience was a long time ago but I doubt that anything has changed.

Please don't post that we beat this team and that team so it wasn't a bad effort. I know that and that our lads did their best.

Unfortunately, that's the point.

 

[PaarlBok]

dbla

Have to agree with everything you said.

Size by itself doesn't matter it's not the size of the ticker either. It's aggression, mongrel, playing in a team way, fitness of body and brain, rugby smarts and add about 10 more things in there.

And that's only the forwards; no use talking about the backs or about this guy should have been picked instead of another guy. You may have got one tougher, smarter dog but he wouldn't have made a difference against the wolf pack.

Yep, we have dogs in our pack, big dogs; but they have wolves. Until we get wolves at these U20 matches, and for the the Wallabies for that matter, we will be lamenting being out-muscled, out rugby-smarted and out team-played as it has been year after year after year.

This was a decent Oz U/20 team and better than I thought. In a parallel universe have these same players born in New Zealand with their superior junior coaching, better pathways and having the manic desire to be the greatest rugby player they can be etc etc. Then bring them back through the black hole to Argentina in this universe, give them a gold jersey and let them play against the blacks again and you would see a much closer contest.

It sounds over the top but having lived in NZ for 8 years, about the ages from 13 to 21 I know this country doesn't have quality of people across the board, nor the quality of systems, to produce the players that NZ produces at this age, unless by exception.

My experience was a long time ago but I doubt that anything has changed.

Please don't post that we beat this team and that team so it wasn't a bad effort. I know that and that our lads did their best.

Unfortunately, that's the point.

Hard Luck Oom Lee and true words, I know you carrier your youth lot on your shoulder. Still should feel proud your lot played in the final.

Understand this is the third year running with the same coach. Maybe the right person to take the All Blacks further after and IF the Cartell ever left.

Worked for us.

 

[spectator]

LG,

Not so sure I am totally with your comments. Aus has won schoolboys two of the last three years, so there has at least been parity or more in recent times. Perhaps it is more the pathways after school, but quite a few of these Aussie guys have only been out half a year. I do think the age difference between the two sides was a big factor, and I am sure that the fact that it was the third big game in a row for OZ (SA, England and NZ) with very little change to the lineup also played a part. Line the two teams up in a weeks time and I bet you don't get the same score. NZ was hot today, OZ was not.

Given the relative youth of this side, I think that beating the teams they did beat was a great effort.

On another note, I wonder how the quota system affected the SA side? The question has to be asked..... PB?

 

[PaarlBok]

On another note, I wonder how the quota system affected the SA side? The question has to be asked..... PB?

Heavily Spec, heavily, not only the players but also the coach, who clearly is a qouta one.

Our U20 squad strength can be easily measure against the previous year U19 CC competition. For the record the Tin Ears won it last year and only have 3 players in the squad. The Brutes and Lions had a whopping 14 out of 26 players in the squad which clearly show why Sauls is the Brutes Academy head and the Guppies who did not even made the semis had 6 players, WP had three.

The most worrying aspect for me is that Sauls has worked his way up in Saru and wont be replaced any time soon and surely has been earmark as the Bokke future coach.

By hook they beat the Poms for third place but surely not even close to where we suppose to be if a unbiased and meritted team was picked.

 

[Ruggo]

Nerada Kerr-Barlow the 9 for the NZ is a junior from my club in Darwin, the Palmerston Crocs. New him when he was a baby. He has met his potential from what I saw. His younger brother is a referee up here and the best we have by a long shot. Actually he is a fantstic referee by any standard. He is wasted up here.

 

[naza]

We got raped. Why do people feel the need to make excuses ? Our blokes were embarassingly soft. They all have a black mark against their name.

 

[Nusadan]

We got raped.

Unfortunately we bore the brunt of the BBs being away from their pet sheep for too long...

 

[en_force_er]

We got raped. Why do people feel the need to make excuses ? Our blokes were embarassingly soft. They all have a black mark against their name.

They came 2nd in the world and beat both 3rd and 4th in the world to get there.

These are passionate young Australians who tried there best and didn't make it. Come off it, they did damn well.

 

[RedsHappy]

dbla

Have to agree with everything you said.

Size by itself doesn't matter it's not the size of the ticker either. It's aggression, mongrel, playing in a team way, fitness of body and brain, rugby smarts and add about 10 more things in there.

And that's only the forwards; no use talking about the backs or about this guy should have been picked instead of another guy. You may have got one tougher, smarter dog but he wouldn't have made a difference against the wolf pack.

Yep, we have dogs in our pack, big dogs; but they have wolves. Until we get wolves at these U20 matches, and for the the Wallabies for that matter, we will be lamenting being out-muscled, out rugby-smarted and out team-played as it has been year after year after year.

This was a decent Oz U/20 team and better than I thought. In a parallel universe have these same players born in New Zealand with their superior junior coaching, better pathways and having the manic desire to be the greatest rugby player they can be etc etc. Then bring them back through the black hole to Argentina in this universe, give them a gold jersey and let them play against the blacks again and you would see a much closer contest.

It sounds over the top but having lived in NZ for 8 years, about the ages from 13 to 21 I know this country doesn't have quality of people across the board, nor the quality of systems, to produce the players that NZ produces at this age, unless by exception.

My experience was a long time ago but I doubt that anything has changed.

Please don't post that we beat this team and that team so it wasn't a bad effort. I know that and that our lads did their best.

Unfortunately, that's the point.

Painful to read, but superbly accurate in thought and content. For me, a model post LG.

 

[Reddy!]

The Oz U20 squad are just following in the footsteps of their older brothers; monkey see, monkey do.

 

[RugbyReg]

yeah, they obviously went into the match v the JABs with too much respect for them. Note Aiden Toua here wanting to high five one of their players for making such a good tackle on him:

 

[Ruggo]

Just needs a speech bouble that reads "hey bro"

 

[tranquility]

didn't Toua do some brainless stuff in the final, I really rate the bloke but I was furious.

 

[Ruggo]

didn't Toua do some brainless stuff in the final, I really rate the bloke but I was furious.

This will probably go down as the day boys became men.

 

[rugby_man]

The young Wallabies just came up against a very well drilled Baby Blacks side. They were very clinical and their forwards worked very well as a unit. I wonder how many of them will go on to play Super 14 in the next few years. That Julian Savea will be an All Black, just give it a few more years. The backs looked lost for Australia. Robbie Coleman tried hard but was shut down, something England and South Africa failed to do. Luke Morahan was the only bloke in the team who I thought held his own against his opposite number. The flyhalf for the Baby Blacks reminds me a lot of Aaron Cruden, who played last year.

 

[Spewn]

The young Wallabies just came up against a very well drilled Baby Blacks side. They were very clinical and their forwards worked very well as a unit. I wonder how many of them will go on to play Super 14 in the next few years. That Julian Savea will be an All Black, just give it a few more years. The backs looked lost for Australia. Robbie Coleman tried hard but was shut down, something England and South Africa failed to do. Luke Morahan was the only bloke in the team who I thought held his own against his opposite number. The flyhalf for the Baby Blacks reminds me a lot of Aaron Cruden, who played last year.

The backline was very disappointing. Fortunately the senior wallaby backline will be there for some time.