Ireland U20s ready for Junior World Championship after Six Nations Triple Crown success
DEVELOPING NICELY: Ireland head coach Andrew Browne speaks to his players. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
Ireland’s Under-20s will prepare for this summer’s new-look men’s World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia with confidence on a high following their Six Nations Triple Crown success but with Andrew Browne hoping his players will get greater exposure with their provinces in the closing weeks of the URC campaign.
The head coach will reconvene his squad at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Abbotstown on Tuesday for a two-day Easter camp to review a championship campaign which saw Ireland rebound handsomely from a heavy opening-round defeat away to eventual Grand Slam champions France.
The U20s claimed second place with four successive victories including a come-from-behind win over England in Bath and a last-day bonus-point hammering of Scotland in Cork which secured the Triple Crown.
Ireland’s game was humming by round five as the Scots were beaten 47-14 and the squad will travel to Georgia at the end of June with their head coach encouraged by his team’s development across the Six Nations.
“If we stay injury-free, and it is always about injuries, and there's a spine of the team there, always at under-20s level, no matter what team it is, that you kind of need to keep on the pitch,” Browne told the Irish Examiner.
“But if we stay injury-free, we're looking to get a couple of other players back, which would only strengthen the squad, it would mean it would be hard decisions to have to be made.
“But you'd like to think, with what we've shown in the Six Nations, that you'd be encouraged going there.
“Now, you don't know, we'll see the Rugby Championship later in the year, what South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia are like, they're always going to be there or thereabouts. But from what I've seen in this, I'm really encouraged and looking forward to getting into Junior World Cup prep.”
Browne explained his plans for this week’s camp.
“What that'll look like is pretty much a review camp. Just go over the Six Nations as a whole, see where we lie with bodies coming back, injury status. These lads have to go back, a lot of them will play some AIL rugby, especially those that are in play-offs.
“Some will have to play A games for the provinces coming towards the end of the season. So, there's loads of rugby still to be played for these lads, so it's about managing them as well in terms of when they get to the Junior World Cup, they're not completely fatigued and they don't have a huge amount of minutes on their belt.
“So, it's collaboration with us and all the four provinces and the academies to get these lads right and make sure they're firing for when the Junior World Cup comes around.”
Ireland have been drawn in Pool C alongside Argentina, England and the USA as a 16-team format returns to the tournament for the first time since 2009 and will kick-off their five-week campaign against the English in Tbilisi on June 27.
With just two AIL weekends left in the season as it enters the play-off stage, the Irish boss would love to see his players given game time at provincial level between now and the Junior World Championship.
Their 50-21 defeat to France in Perpignan on February 7 was underlined by the stark difference in senior appearances by the rival teams, the French team having all been exposed to either Top 14 or Pro D2 rugby with their clubs while the Irish boasted just two appearances, one apiece for Munster academy fly-half Tom Wood and Connacht wing Daniel Ryan.
“That's great if you could,” Browne said. “It plays at a higher level, which when you look at what they're doing in France and you have all their players and they've been exposed to Top 14 and Pro D2 and no disrespect to the AIL because I think AIL is brilliant, but it's not the Pro D2 or the Top 14.
“So, it's always difficult when you're playing against those players that have been exposed to that. So, if there was an opportunity to come up for a few more lads to get URC exposure, I know Tom Wood has got some, Dan Ryan has got some, Sean Walsh (injured during the Six Nations), our centre in Connacht has got some.
"If there was those opportunities for the players, it would be brilliant.”
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