Delight at Ringrose junior nomination

Irish rugby circles are delighted at the nomination of young Garry Ringrose for Player of the Tournament at the IRB Junior World Cup in New Zealand.

Ireland lost out to England in the semi-final but the sparkling form of Ringrose resonated with the judges, who put him into a short list of four alongside players from heavyweights England, South Africa and New Zealand.

The winner will be named after the final in Auckland on Saturday. But in the meantime IRFU personnel are happy with the nomination and believe Ringrose has a decent chance of winning the final vote.

IRFU’s Director of Rugby Eddie Wigglesworth, in Bucharest for Emerging Ireland’s tour, reacted by declaring: “This player has been on the radar for some time, he’s a player of immense talent. The Rugby World Cup has a habit of bringing individuals like him to the fore. The exposure to a high level of rugby tends to bring out the best in players and that has happened with Garry. He’s a high quality, very cool, calm and collected individual under pressure.”

Des Lamont, a member of the IRFU Performance Committee, added further words of praise: “He has come through the system and is underage again for this competition next year. He played very well for the Under 19s against France in two games after Easter and has had an outstanding career at schoolboy level, being part of a very good Blackrock team. “It’s still a surprise to come through a year early, although I suppose in his case it’s not much of a shock. It’s a huge tribute to him. He’s a great distributor with plenty of pace, a fine defender and he kicks goals as well.”

The 19 year old showed glimpses of Brian O’Driscoll’s ability in a tough tournament in which he was the stand-out Irish player amongst a group of decent colleagues.

He scored three tries, two of them in the decisive bonus point win over Wales and the other in the semi-final loss to England when Ireland spent much of the time on the back foot.