Ireland U20: Who did what 2010

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by

John McMurtry

Ireland U20 competed in the 2010 U20 Six Nations Championship in February and March and the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina in June.

We have taken advantage of COVID lockdown to carry out a site cleanup and review our historical coverage of international and provincial sides over the last 10 years. This article was written on Wednesday, 20th January 2020 and has been entered retrospectively into the appropriate timeline.

2010 U20 Six Nations

Ireland U20 were crowned U20 Six Nations Champions for the first time in 2010 after winning four of their five fixtures.

Results

05 Feb 2010Ireland390ItalyDubarry Park
12 Feb 2010France2015IrelandMazamet
27 Feb 2010England1025IrelandGloucester
02 Mar 2010Ireland2417WalesDubarry Park
19 Mar 2010Ireland 4415ScotlandDubarry Park

Standings

TEAMPLWDPDPTS
Ireland540858
England540538
Wales530176
France521(25)5
Scotland511(56)3
Italy500(74)0

Players Used

Head coach used 26 players over the Six Nations. This included four Ulster players in , , and all of whom appeared in all five squads throughout the tournament.

2010 Ireland U20 Six Nations Squad Players Used

Points Scored

Ireland scored 147 points throughout the tournament. The points came from 17 tries, 13 conversions (76% conversion rate) and 12 penalties.

2010 Ireland U20 Six Nations Scorers.

Ulster’s McKinney was the leading points scorer with the Queen’s out half having the main kicking duties. Leinster duo and Darren Hudson topped the try scoring with four tries each over the five games.

2010 IRB Junior World Championship

The 2010 JWC was played on Argentina with Ireland based in Rosario in Pool B alongside England, France, and hosts, Argentina. As reigning Six Nations Champions they were expecting a strong tournament but they lost all three pool games.

This placed them in the bottom four playoffs, in Parana, where they beat Samoa and Scotland for a 9th place finish.

Results

5 Jun 2010France2522IrelandEstadio Newell’s Old Boys, Rosario
9 Jun 2010England3221IrelandEstadio Newell’s Old Boys, Rosario
13 Jun 2010Ireland2124ArgentinaEstadio Newell’s Old Boys, Rosario
17 Jun 2010Ireland3710SamoaClub Atlético Estudiantes, Paraná
21 Jun 2010Ireland5323ScotlandClub Atlético Estudiantes, Paraná

Pool Standings

TEAMPL W PDBPPTS
England3349113
France32319
Argentina31(31)04
Ireland30(21)22

Final Rankings

1. New Zealand, 2. Australia, 3. South Africa, 4. England, 5. France, 6. Argentina, 7. Wales, 8. Fiji, 9. Ireland, 10. Scotland, 11. Tonga, 12. Samoa.

Players Used

Clarke used 29 players throughout the World Championships with , , , Ric Byrne and dropping out of the squad and , Brian O’Hara, , , , , and coming in.

The Ulster representation remained the same with McKinney, Heaney, Spence and Annett all included.

2010 Ireland U20 JWC Players Used

Points Scored

Ireland scored 154 points throughout the tournament with the points coming from 17 tries, 12 conversions (71% conversion rate) and 15 penalties.

McKinney remained the leading scorer with Leinster’s Reid coming in for the later matches to knock over 29 points from the boot on top of a try.

Conway is once again the leading try scorer with 5 tries over the five games.

Season Review

It’s an early indication of the Ireland U20 management team priorities with an outstanding Six Nations, where they lifted the championship for the first time, somewhat dampened by their performance on the world stage.

Their points pick up was 80% in the Six Nations and 48% in the JWC giving an average of 64% for the season with 6 wins and 4 bonus points from the 10 games played. (Note. No bonus points were awarded during the Six Nations).

Players Used

There were 34 players used throughout the season with three, Conway, Annett and Paddy Butler, starting every game. Another six, , , McKinney, Bryan Cagney, and Heaney appeared in all 10 squads.

Unsurprisingly, McKinney ended the season as the leading scorer with 96 points from 15 conversions and 22 penalties and Conway was the leading try scorer with 9 tries over the 10 games.

James McKinney

Leading Points Scorer

Andrew Conway

Leading Try Scorer

Provincial Contributions

Leinster made the biggest contribution supplying 18 players to the squads, Munster were next with 9 followed by Ulster on 4 and Connacht on 3.

The percentage contributions of each Province over the 10 games, in terms of squad appearances and points scored is shown below.

PROVINCESTARTBENCHSQUADTCPPTS
Leinster52%44%50%59%40%15%44%
Munster25%27%26%12%0%4%8%
Ulster19%16%18%18%60%81%42%
Connacht4%13%7%12%0%0%7%
Check Sum100%100%100%100%100%100%100%

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