Ireland U20’s have just completed one of their more successful seasons in recent years. The season highlight was their Six Nations Grand Slam, however, this was tempered by an 8th place finish in the 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship. 

Over the season they played 10 games, winning seven. They scored 287 points and conceded 247 which included 36 tries for and 32 against. Their largest win was a 38 – 14 win against Italy in the World Championship, their largest defeat was a 45 – 17 loss to Australia in the same competition. 

Players Used

Ireland U20 used 40 players throughout the season, the breakdown by province as follows – Leinster 18 (45%) , Munster 12 (30%) , Ulster 6 (15%),  Connacht 3 (8%), and IQ Rugby 1 (2%). 

Twenty of the 40 players accounted for just over 80% of the total time on the pitch and 12 accounted for less than 5% of the total time on the pitch with the squad showing a large difference in game time between a core of preferred players and the others in the squad. 

Looking at the time played by the player’s from each province the breakdown is as follows:

Eight of the players played in every game. Dublin University’s Liam Turner proved the most durable playing every minute of every game.

Shannon’s Jake Flannery and University College Dublin’s Charlie Ryan weren’t that far behind, missing less than five minutes per game across the ten matches.

Of course, The Front Row Union has to give a special mention for Dublin University’s Tom Clarkson, the prop averaging 70 minutes a game across his ten matches in the front row. 

PLAYER	CLUB	PROVINCE	PLD	MINS	AVE
Liam Turner	Dublin University	Leinster	10	800	80
Jake Flannery	Shannon	Munster	10	773	77
Charlie Ryan	UCD	Leinster	10	757	76
Tom Clarkson	Dublin University	Leinster	10	703	70
Jonathan Wren	Cork Constitution	Munster	10	686	69
Dylan Tierney-Martin	Corinthians	Connacht	10	633	63
Josh Wycherley	Young Munster	Munster	10	604	60
Angus Kernohan	Queen’s University	Ulster	8	544	68
John Hodnett	UCD	Munster	7	534	76
Craig Casey	Shannon	Munster	7	516	74
Niall Murray	Buccaneers	Connacht	10	438	44
Scott Penny	UCD	Leinster	5	387	77
Ryan Baird	Dublin University	Leinster	7	381	54
Martin Moloney	Old Belvedere	Leinster	5	380	76
Ben Healy	Garryowen	Munster	8	377	47
Cormac Foley	St Mary’s College	Leinster	8	326	41
Rob Russell	Dublin University	Leinster	8	267	33
Ronan Watters	St Mary’s College	Leinster	5	241	48
David McCann	Banbridge	Ulster	6	239	40
Harry Byrne	Lansdowne	Leinster	3	231	77
Sean French	Cork Constitution	Munster	4	223	56
David Hawkshaw	Clontarf	Leinster	3	208	69
Michael Milne	UCD	Leinster	8	197	25
Azur Allison	Ballymena	Ulster	4	185	46
Thomas Ahern	Shannon	Munster	3	180	60
Conor Philips	Young Munster	Munster	2	144	72
John McKee	Old Belvedere	Leinster	7	134	19
Colm Reilly	Buccaneers	Connacht	4	130	33
Stewart Moore	Malone	Ulster	2	113	57
Brian Deeny	Clontarf	Leinster	5	96	19
David Ryan	UCD	Leinster	2	84	42
Ciaran Booth	Sale Sharks	IQ Rugby	3	80	27
Max O’Reilly	Dublin University	Leinster	2	72	36
Callum Reid	Banbridge	Ulster	3	53	18
Iwan Hughes	Ballynahinch	Ulster	1	49	49
Charlie Ward	Clontarf	Leinster	2	42	21
Aaron O’Sullivan	UCD	Leinster	1	40	40
Luke Clohessy	Shannon	Munster	3	34	11
Declan Adamson	Clontarf	Leinster	3	24	8
Billy Scannell	Young Munster	Munster	1	16	16
Check Totals		40	220	11921	54

Ulster U20 Players: Minutes played 2018-2019

In terms of time on the pitch it’s been a disappointing season for the Ulster representation at this level. In fact, in terms of playing time, it’s the worst % minutes played over the last four seasons as you can see below.

Season	2019	2018	2017	2016
No. of players	6 (15%)	11 (25%)	7 (16%)	4 (11%)
Minutes played.	1183 (10%)	3120 (26%)	1258 (11%)	905 (15%)**

Queen’s University’s Angus Kernohan is the only Ulster player to get regular game time. In fairness, all the Ulster lads were injured at some time during the season but it’s still a continuing issue for Ulster Rugby, who’s representation at all levels is well below their status as the second biggest province in term of population and playing numbers. 

The individual stats from the Ulster players this season are shown below. 

PLAYER	CLUB	PLD	MINS	AVE
Angus Kernohan	QUB	8	544	68
David McCann	Banbridge	6	239	40
Azur Allison	Ballymena	4	185	46
Stewart Moore	Malone	2	113	57
Callum Reid	Banbridge	3	53	18
Iwan Hughes	Ballynahinch	1	49	49

Who scored the points?

There were 21 different players who scored points for Ireland U20’s this season.

Ireland’s 287 points came from 36 tries, 31 conversions and 15 penalties.

It was an excellent season for kicking averages with kickers Ben Healy (Garryowen), Harry Byrne (Lansdowne) and Jake Flannery (Shannon) averaging an impressive conversion rate of 86% over the 10 games. 

Despite being used primarily as a strategic replacement, it was Healy that came out on top. The young outhalf enjoyed a 100% conversion rate during the World Championship which helped push his individual total to an impressive 63 points. 

All the Ireland U20 scorers, across both competitions, are shown below. 

PLAYER	CLUB	PROVINCE	PLD	T	C	P	PTS
Ben Healy	Garryowen	Munster	8	1	17	8	63
Harry Byrne	Lansdowne	Leinster	3	0	9	6	36
Dylan Tierney-Martin	Corinthians	Connacht	10	6	0	0	30
Jake Flannery	Shannon	Munster	10	1	5	1	18
Jonathan Wren	Cork Constitution	Munster	10	3	0	0	15
Josh Wycherley	Young Munster	Munster	10	3	0	0	15
Craig Casey	Shannon	Munster	7	3	0	0	15
Cormac Foley	St Mary’s College	Leinster	8	2	0	0	10
Ryan Baird	Dublin University	Leinster	7	2	0	0	10
John Hodnett	UCD	Munster	7	2	0	0	10
David McCann	Banbridge	Ulster	6	2	0	0	10
Stewart Moore	Malone	Ulster	2	2	0	0	10
Tom Clarkson	Dublin University	Leinster	10	1	0	0	5
Rob Russell	Dublin University	Leinster	8	1	0	0	5
Michael Milne	UCD	Leinster	8	1	0	0	5
Scott Penny	UCD	Leinster	5	1	0	0	5
Brian Deeny	Clontarf	Leinster	5	1	0	0	5
Azur Allison	Ballymena	Ulster	4	1	0	0	5
Colm Reilly	Buccaneers	Connacht	4	1	0	0	5
David Hawkshaw	Clontarf	Leinster	3	1	0	0	5
Callum Reid	Banbridge	Ulster	3	1	0	0	5
Check Totals			220	36	31	15	287

The point distribution by player province is shown below, Munster coming out well on top by virtue of the kicking performances of Healy (Garryowen) and Flannery (Shannon).

Looking at the tries scored, 20 (56%) of the 36 tries scored came from forwards which is somewhat indicative of their preferred abrasive, all action, game. 

It’s therefore no surprise that, “Mr Abrasive” himself, Corinthians hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin came out on top of the try scoring league with six tries over the ten games. 

After scoring five tries in the Six Nations his cards were marked in the World Championship, but he did draw the attention of the defenders allowing other Irish players to cross the line. 

PLAYER	CLUB	PROVINCE	PLD	MINS	T
Dylan Tierney-Martin	Corinthians	Connacht	10	633	6
Jonathan Wren	Cork Constitution	Munster	10	686	3
Josh Wycherley	Young Munster	Munster	10	604	3
Craig Casey	Shannon	Munster	7	516	3
Ryan Baird	Dublin University	Leinster	7	381	2
Cormac Foley	St Mary’s College	Leinster	8	326	2
David McCann	Banbridge	Ulster	6	239	2
Stewart Moore	Malone	Ulster	2	113	2

In terms of provincial performance, it’s the Munster men, once again, leading the way with 13 tries.

However, it should be noted that it’s Connacht and Ulster that are clocking in with scoring percentages higher than their minutes played percentages.

Ulster Players Tries Scored

Despite limited game time, four of Ulster’s six players managed to cross the line for Ireland U20’s throughout the season. Banbridge’s David McCann and Malone’s Stewart Moore both made an impact in the U20’s World Championship, scoring two tries each. Moore, in particular, shot to instant stardom, both his tries extraordinary in their own way. The first showing quick thinking  and the second showing great footwork! 

PLAYER	CLUB	PLD	MINS	T
David McCann	Banbridge	6	239	2
Stewart Moore	Malone	2	113	2
Azur Allison	Ballymena	4	185	1
Callum Reid	Banbridge	3	53	1

Conclusions?

All in all,  it has been a pretty good season for this group of youngsters. 

It was important that after two average season’s in the Six Nations coupled with two abysmal World Championship campaigns that Ireland U20’s made a mark and the Six Nations was the sort of competition where they could maintain a challenge.

They did this magnificently, to complete a Grand Slam, but in doing so they also lessened their chances of a top four finish in the World Championships. 

We said at the time.[su_quote]

However, success in the U20 Championship is far from a given for two reasons.

• It’s a brutal tournament and Ireland blooded very few players outside of the starting XV – any injuries and they may struggle for experience in the knockout stages.
• They will need to find a few more tricks outside of their forwards based abrasive game. It won’t be sustainable with matches every 4-5 days.[/su_quote]

and that’s pretty much how it turned out. 

The most pleasing thing about this group was, they had a fairly simple game plan but, they worked very, very hard to implement it.

Their attitude was exemplary and if they can carry that forward to next season and add a Plan B and Plan C to their back line, maybe with an out an out flier and a risk taking out half, they may be able to challenge on two fronts. Looking forward to it already. 😀  

The Front Row Union Ireland U20 Player of the Year.

In such a hard working, closely knit squad there were plenty of contenders for our selection for Player of the Year. 

It’s particularly difficult this season as we would have normally covered five or six or their matches live which would have given us 4,000 – 6,000 photos to sort through which really lets you see who is doing what in the background. Unfortunately we didn’t get to any games this season. 

Obviously, the three players named above, Liam Turner, Ben Healy and Dylan Tierney-Martin were all well in the hunt as were, UCD players, Charlie Ryan, who was magnificent as captain, and John Hodnett who impressed in the back row. Ulster’s Angus Kernohan also impressed with his composure throughout and I would have loved to have seen more of David McCann and Stewart Moore. 

However, there was one player who began to catch my attention more and more as the World Championship progressed and it’s somewhat fitting that The Front Row Union’s Ireland U20’s Player of the Year goes to a front row player that was consistently the cornerstone of their potent scrum, none other than Dublin University’s Tom Clarkson. 

---