Ruddock unfazed by high player turnover
Indeed, Ruddock says that the turnover is pretty similar every year and prefers to point to the opportunities being made available to an increasing quality of player being produced in the country.
Peadar Timmons and Peter Dooley are the sole survivors from 12 months ago but captain, Dan Leavy, Alex Wooton, Jack O’Donoghue and Adam Byrne were all involved in the IRB World Cup subsequently.
Results will decide where they stand ultimately, but Ruddock is hopeful that the current squad matches up favourably with what has emerged in recent years.
“The potential is there,” says the former Wales and Leinster head coach. “They look very good and very competitive. How will they gel and how will they come together? How will they handle the big stage with the first game live on TV? “Some guys will rise to that challenge and kick on and be better players than they look at the moment and other guys might find that a bit daunting.
“So I don’t know. We’ll have to see them play a little bit but my gut instinct is that it’s a competitive squad and there are a lot of talented players there. I’m looking forward to working with them. I think we can mould them into a very good team.”
Last term, Ireland beat France and England at home, with the latter claiming the championship title for the third successive season before going on to win the World Cup. Ireland finished the championship in third and beat Australia in the World Cup, where they failed narrowly to topple New Zealand.
Ruddock is looking for his charges to produce consistently good performances that will help transform something like beating England into a championship-winning campaign.
Apart from that though, it’s about introducing young players to a higher level as they continue their development.
Ruddock is reluctant to commit himself on the comments of Pat Lam regarding what the Connacht boss deems the lack of ambition keeping many of the U20 recruits at Leinster and Munster, even though they are not getting games.
That, says the Welsh native, is one for the IRFU bigwigs to deal with. Kieran Marmion and Robbie Henshaw are two that have flourished in Galway, but Rhys Ruddock and JJ Hanrahan – named in the top three players at the 2012 World Cup — are making an impact at Leinster and Munster respectively.
“It took (JJ) a little bit of time to break through but now he’s starting to put in some really good performances.
“It’s not a bad thing they have to fight for their place either. You have to balance that up with the fact that sometimes there’s an argument for fast-tracking players. At the same time there’s an argument that some guys have to really earn it and when they do they’re probably not going to allow that jersey to be taken off them.”
IRELAND U20s: D Busby (Ulster), A Byrne (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster), P Robb (Leinster), I Fitzpatrick (Leinster), R Byrne (Leinster), N McCarthy (Leinster); 1. P Dooley (Leinster), M Abbott (Munster), R Burke (Munster), S O’Brien (Connacht), R Molony (Leinster), P Timmins (Leinster), D Leavy (Leinster) (capt), J O’Donoghue (Munster).
Replacements: S Delahunt (Leinster), J Walshe (Connacht), O Heffernan (Leinster), J Joyce (Bristol), R Moloney (Connacht), J Cullen (Munster), C McKeon (Leinster), D Goggin (Munster).
SCOTLAND U20s G Lowe (Glasgow Warriors), J Farndale (Edinburgh), D Hoyland (Melrose), N Herron (Glasgow Hawks), S Pecqueur (Edinburgh Accies), B Chalmers (Melrose), M McAndrew (Clermont Auvergne); J Malcolm (Ayr), S James (London Wasps), D Rae (Glasgow Warriors), A Cramond (Aberdeen Grammar), G Young (Newcastle Falcons), M Bradbury (Edinburgh), TSpinks (London Scottish) (captain), B Richardson (London Scottish)
Replacements: R Graham (Hawick), P Cringle (Edinburgh), J Cosgrove (Worcester Warriors), L Carmicheal (Melrose), N Irvine-Hess (Edinburgh), B Vellacott (Worcester Warriors), B Cooper (Boroughmuir), R Young (Edinburgh Accies).
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