Ireland lost out 38-24 to New Zealand in yesterday’s 3^rd/4^th place play off having led 12-7 at the break and scoring two break away tries after soaking up large amounts of New Zealand pressure throughout the opening half.

Unfortunately for Ireland New Zealand had a man sin binned early in the 2^nd half and that seemed to drive them to up the gears and in the middle of the 2^nd half they just went into another gear and that burst eventually saw Ireland’s resistance break and even though Ireland did score two late well deserved tries they were well beaten.

Probably the amount of injuries picked up had an adverse effect on the squad for the semi-final last Sunday and the play off yesterday. Ireland stuck to the game plan and have played an open style which they are suited to playing.

Up front has been an achilles heel for this squad. Even after the big win on day 1 against Italy, the Italians caused issues in the scrum that were seen in evidence over the following 3 weeks. Yes two of those front rows will be back next year barring injury as they were also with the Ireland under 19s this year and it was a steep learning curve for them but it will stand to them I have no doubt.

Players like Jack Murphy, Brian Gleeson, Evan O Connell even though the latter was ruled out of the last two games through an ankle injury look destined for long senior careers even at this early juncture. Several others like Hugh Gavin, William De Klerk and Ben O Connor will be with their respective provinces next season. Hugh Gavin will be in the Connacht senior set up once has had his break and will join up for pre season.

Yes the result yesterday will sting in the short term but it will also be character building interesting to note how many of this year’s under 20 squad will be in a senior green shirt in the next few years like James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale from the class of 2016.

Ireland were overpowered in the past two games and even though they played an open brand of rugby that saw them score plenty of tries, the notes and bolts of forward play has let them down and they have been physically beaten up by the England pack and yesterday by New Zealand now in saying that and in particular against New Zealand, they can count themselves unlucky on occasion at scrum time.

But overall, it will be a tough review for the Irish forwards when they get to review the tournament as a whole. Many questions have been asked in recent times about our supposed lack of quality front row players coming through to challenge the established order. From next season Irish provinces will be not allowed to go into the market for Non Irish qualified front row players.

Are we back in 2012 again, It would appear so, what has happened over the past 12 years. Where is the evidence of all the hard work and due diligence to bring through good quality front rows and make sure the bad days of the like of 2012 are long forgotten.

The IRFU did appoint John Fogarty as national scrum coach but he quickly went up the ranks to Leinster scrum coach and is now looking after the Irish senior men’s forwards as scrum coach. There are a few good young props in the system at this moment though and they will need to see game time at provincial level, guys like Ronan Fox and George Hadden in Munster with Joe Mc Carthy’s younger brother Paddy in the Leinster set up along with Tom Clarkson. You have Sammy Wilson up in Ulster with Jordan Duggan in Connacht.

I am sure I have missed many players but let’s hope the work at IRFU level has begun to try and address the apparent lack of quality props at the top end of the game. Rabah Slimani has come into Leinster on a 1 year deal and that was most likely worked on pre this most recent IRFU dictate from David Humphreys.

It will be fascinating to see if a province needs to bring in an emergency player will they be allowed to look to NIQ players or will Mr Humphreys do what his predecessor did and that was move certain players around the country from one province to another…..

Ireland will play in the third/ fourth place play off tomorrow afternoon after they lost to England and New Zealand lost to France for the 2^nd time in this year’s renewal in the semi-finals.

 Ireland lost out 31-20 and after not having a final group fixture owing to poor weather on the final day of pool play saw Ireland v Australia chalked off and both sides awarded two points and that was enough to see Ireland through to face England in a second successive semi-final at this age group.

New Zealand were beaten by France in the pool phase and they also defeated them in the semi-finals last week. Ireland have made a number of changes to the XV which sees Hugh Gavin and Finn Treacy team up in midfield. Jack Murphy stays at 10, Steve Smyth is in at hooker.

 Ireland will need to perform well up front to stand any hope of beating New Zealand and New Zealand for their part will want to end another campaign in winning fashion. Jonno Gibbes who coached with Joe Schmidt at Leinster leads the Under 20s and as I mention they will want to end the campaign in a positive way given the two losses to France in particular.

Ireland lost to England and unfortunately could not score in the 2^nd half of the semi-final to help them see a way past a very physical England side led by Leicester Tiger Fin Carnduff. He saw game time at senior level with Leicester last season. He alongside Henry Pollock make up 2 thirds of a strong young back row in the mould of Hill, Back and Dallagio.

Ireland have a few men who saw senior action last season with Brian Gleeson, Ben O Connor getting game time with Munster in the URC in the early rounds. It is a chance for this young group to get a win over a strong nation at Under 20 level, they lost to them back in the 2016 JWC final in Manchester. It would be a great finish to the year if they could get the bronze medal.

The way this group has performed this year in commendable and a good finish would be fantastic. Some of these young men go onto full contracts with their respective provinces, others go into academies and more will go back to club rugby for next season.

Willie Faloon and his coaching team have done a good job keeping this team playing the open style seen under Noel Mc Namara and Richie Murphy over the past number of years. Time now to go after another big win at this JWC and end the campaign on a high note…

Some of this group will earn full international honours, more will play at provincial level and some will don there club colours at AIL level for years to come.

Grasp the nettle tomorrow and pick up a win over New Zealand which is still so saunth after even after a number of wins since the Irish women beat them at the 2014 Women’s World Cup in France.

Ireland played their 2^nd game at the Under 20 Junior World Championship against Georgia and after an intense battle, Ireland found a late score from replacement Finn Tracey to put them 20-16 in front with the clock well in the red, Jack Murphy kicked the extra two to see Ireland home 22-16.

Unlike the opener vs Italy, this was a game where Ireland were put under pressure and Georgia well in charge and will count themselves unlucky not to hold on for the win and they will agonise over two missed kicks in the 2^nd half that would have pushed them clear and made it tough for Ireland to get back into the game.

Ireland have plenty to work on in the next few days with Australia on the final day of the pools next Tuesday. They will make a few changes and will look to tighten up at the set piece that like Italy, Georgia put under severe pressure and it will be a way for Australia to see can they work their way into the game after their own loss to Italy.

Georgia used a strong set piece to their advantage and earned numerous penalties along with putting the Irish line out under strain and they also used there ball carrying centres to great effect and this in turn yielded field position which put them in positions to attack Ireland who led 12-6 at half time.

Two tries from Steve Smyth and Hugh Gavin along with one conversion from Sean Naughton had Ireland in control but Georgia plugged away and kicked two penalties to make sure they were in touch at the half.

They came out in the second half and dominated territory and possession and kicked on and gained the lead 13-12 and then kicked another penalty to push further clear 16-12, Ireland fired back to come within one point 16-15. Georgia then missed two penalties that may have seen them far enough ahead to hold out for the win and made it only possible for Ireland to get a draw from the game with any late score they made have gotten.

As it was they managed the final moments in a fashion I have only seen from Ireland teams in the past few years. They stuck to the game plan and although I thought they might be better to try for a drop goal but they moved a tiring Georgian pack around and with genuine discipline in attack they worked the ball until they had the overlap and then they fired the ball out wide for Finn Tracey to gather and dot down in the corner to push them in front 20-16 with no time left for a Georgian reply, Jack Murphy added the extra two to seal a 22-16 win.

This game will remind this Irish side of how unpredictable this age group can be, one moment you can win with plenty to spare and then like yesterday another team can perform well and deserve to win but sport as we see regularly doesn’t do sentiment or deserved wins. Ireland will likely make a few changes and likely revert back to a more familiar 23 for the game against Australia next Tuesday.

It is all to play for in Round 3 of the pool for Ireland, Australia and Italy with Georgia the only ones who have nothing to play for on the last day of the pool….

Ireland started there 2024 Under 20 World Championship with a 55-15 win over Italy in the DHL Stadium Cape Town. They were in total control of this contest barring early on when Italy scored 10 points to lead 10-3 inside the opening 20 minutes.

Ireland of course have a new head coach with Willie Faloon taking over from Richie Murphy who signed a two year contract to remain on as Ulster coach after an interim period. Ireland can call on plenty of experienced heads with a large number of players returning after last season’s run to the Junior World Championship Final saw them lose out to France on finals day.

Evan O Connell returns as captain and played his part in the big win over Italy who pushed Ireland all the way in Cork earlier in the year in the 6 nations with a late Sean Edogbo try seeing Ireland home, 23-22.

Ireland played an open brand of attacking rugby that has continued in this campaign after serving them so well under Richie Murphy and Noel Mc Namara. Ireland have played this open style and also they have a hard edge up front that has seen them claim famous away wins in France and England as well as a hard fought draw in the 6 Nations away to England back in March.

The one area that will concern the Irish management will be the scrum as Italy even in defeat gained a number of penalties from this part of the game and although with some changes in the Ireland scrum and also playing 20 minutes with only 14 men, losing two forwards to yellow cards.

Ireland managed to gain parity late on and earn a few penalties of their own. This will encourage the whole squad with Georgia next Thursday and Australia the following Tuesday. The attacking intent from the opening minute was refreshing to watch. Ireland went after Italy and scored tries with Sam Berman the Ulster bound centre scoring a hat trick.

There were a few rule changes that sees an altered shot clock where you now have 50 seconds to take a penalty down from 1 minute and conversion is now only 30 seconds rather than 90 as it was previously. It will be fascinating to see will these be adopted in many leagues or competitions in the new season from September onwards.

Ireland will need to clean up there discipline and shore up there scrum before facing Georgia on Thursday with a 1pm kick off time. It will be interesting to see what changes may happen as the Irish coaches have said they will make changes through the competition and trust the 28 man squad.

A big win was the best way to start the Championship and they will want to do the same on Thursday vs Georgia. The game is live on RugbyPass TV, an arm of World Rugby unfortunately no Irish station has the rights this year….

My XV to play South Africa

I will put on my selector hat and try and select the XV to play South Africa in Test 1 on Saturday July 6^th with a 4pm kick off time. I will use the squad as selected by Andy Farrell and his coaching team.

15 Jimmy O Brien

14 Jordan Larmour

13 Robbie Henshaw

12 Bundee Aki

11 James Lowe

10 Jack Crowley

9 Conor Murray

8 Caelan Doris

7 Josh Van Der Flier

6 Ryan Baird

5 Tadgh Beirne

4 Joe Mc Carthy

3 Tadgh Furlong

2 Dan Sheehan

1 Andrew Porter

–

16 Ronan Kelliher

17 Cian Healy

18 Oli Jager

19 Peter O Mahony

20 Nick Timoney

21 Craig Casey

22 Sam Prendergast

23 Garry Ringrose

I will also select a different 23 to play in the first Test using the whole 35 man squad rather than just the usual suspects.

15 Jimmy O Brien

14 Calvin Nash

13 Jamie Osbourne

12 Stuart Mc Closkey

11 Jacob Stockdale

10 Ciaran Frawley

9 Caolan Blade

8 Nick Timoney

7 Peter O Mahony

6 Cormac Izuchuwku

5 Joe Mc Carthy

4 James Ryan

3 Oli Jager

2 Rob Herring

1 Tom O Toole

–

16 Ronan Kelliher

17 Andrew Porter

18 Finlay Bealham

19 Cian Prendergast

20 Josh Van Der Flier

21 Conor Murray

22 Sam Prendergast

23 Stuart Mc Closkey

There is my attempt at selecting two different XV’s for the first game v South Africa on Saturday week…

The Bulls will play Glasgow Warriors in the 2024 URC Final in South Africa on Saturday evening at 5pm or 4pm for those of you in South Africa…. I think on the balance of the way yesterday’s games went we have the right and deserved pairing in this season’s URC Final.

The Bulls were full value for the 25-20 win at home to Leinster and this will be another bitter pill to swallow for Leinster as it’s another loss in knock out rugby and that becoming all too familiar to this group of Leinster players.

Leinster will bullied up front and although it was a tight score line, The Bulls will know they have plenty in the tank for the Final on home soil next Saturday. The availability of Willie Le Roux will be important as he was a key factor for the Bulls helping Johan Goosen pull the strings.

The forward battle was won by Bulls and that will defiantly concern Andy Farrell as well as Leo Cullen. Cullen and Nienbar will go back to the drawing board over the summer and with Tyler Bleyendaal coming on board to take over as backs coach from Andrew Goodman who steps up to Ireland taking over from Mike Catt.

The review of the year will be hard to stomach but Leinster have the quality to get back onto the winners podium. They will need to rediscover there spark in attack that has been lost in the last few months and need to slowly move away from the physical up and at them approach.

They will have fresh eyes on the attack with Bleyendaal coming in add to that they will have RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett as the big money signings for the 2024/2025 season. It will take time to recover from yesterday and unfortunately or fortunately in some cases several men from yesterday will need to dust themselves off quickly as the tour to South Africa looms large.

Leinster have questions to answer after another year without a trophy, I know a trophy is not always assured in professional sport but Leinster compete at the top table every year and losing in the knock out phases has become a habit is winning of course. They will look to the two defeats in South Arica as key moments in the URC campaign.

For Leinster, time now to review the year and take a few weeks off as squad, some will go on holiday and family time and more will decamp to Dublin to prepare for the two Test tour of South Africa in July with tests on Saturday the 6^th and 13^th.

Munster will wonder what happened yesterday, Glasgow had to play 20 minutes with 14 men and all Munster managed in that period was 3 points from Jack Crowley’s boot. Munster looked on edge during the game and struggled to find ways in and the line out again faltered when it needed to be on point. To that end, Glasgow came here and disrupted Munster in very similar fashion to last season which saw Munster go away from home and beat Glasgow 14-5.

Are the current Munster squad happier playing away from home rather that Thomond Park, the pressure seemed to tell on them yesterday at vital moments. The half back pairing of Casey and Crowley didn’t perform to the level that they can and that was compounded by poor work at the breakdown and lack of support for the man in possession on multiple occasions.

Poor execution was another Achilles heel and the opening try from Kyle Steyn was after Antoine Frisch had delayed his pass to Alex Nankivell and he knocked the ball on and Kyle Steyn snaffled it up and raced clear to put the Warriors on the board. There other try from Seb Cancelliere was created from a break from Sione Tuipulotu and he broke the Munster defence and in turn put Huw Jones away on the outside and his acceleration away from Simon Zebo and Mike Haley put them 12-3 up with George Horn adding the extra two to put the 14-3 up after 50 minutes.

 Munster managed to create a strike move of their own that saw good clean fast hands with Coombes, Snyman, Loughman and after a quick ruck saw quick hands from O Mahony and Casey to put Frisch in the corner. Crowley added the extras to leave the score 14-10 with plenty of time left on the clock.

Munster couldn’t find the score to sneak ahead and a late George Horn penalty pushed Glasgow 7 clear. Alex Nankivell saw red for coming in at the side of a ruck under the posts and making contact with George Horn’s head.

Munster did manage to create one final chance in the last two minutes from a line out, they set up a maul and RG Snyman tried to get an offload away to John Ryan but the prop didn’t hold the ball and with that Glasgow saw out the final moments and Tom Jordan kicked the ball into the stands to see Glasgow into the 2024 URC Final.

Munster will need to take time like Leinster to review the season as a whole where a draw and loss in Europe at home didn’t help the cause and they will look back on yesterday with genuine regret.

For a number of Munster players it was bon voyage as Simon Zebo will retire, Joey Carbery will move to Bordeaux, RG Snyman will make the short trip east to join Leinster. Munster will welcome Thakkier Abrahams, Diarmuid Kilgallon and Tom Farrell ahead of the new season. Also a number of young players will move into the senior Munster squad on varied contracts.

We have on the balance of the semi-finals the right final, all the best to Glasgow and The Bulls next Saturday….

It is URC semi-finals time, with Leinster playing Bulls in South Africa and Munster are on home soil in Limerick to take on Glasgow Warriors. This will be an intriguing set of games with all 4 sides laying claim to be the 2024 URC winners.

Leinster go down to South Africa to Loftus Versfeld to take on a Jake White coached Bulls side. The Bulls came up here previously and beat Leinster in the RDS. Leinster will be fired up after another defeat in the Champions Cup Final in London back in May.

They will know this is a last shot at a trophy for the 23/24 season, they last won the URC in 2021 and will be hell bent on trying to make another final with the added incentive of Croke Park being a possible venue for the Final if they defeat Bulls and Glasgow beat Munster in Thomond Park.

Leinster have gone with a powerful side with Garry Ringrose back in 13 shirt with Robbie Henshaw reverting to the 12 jersey, a first time since January that Leinster can select their main pairing at centre. Ross Byrne is picked at 10 with Ciaran Frawley covering out half from the bench.

The Bulls will know they have the chance to put Leinster out of another URC knock out phase and if they do that coupled with a Munster loss in semi-final 2, they will have home advantage in next week’s Final.

For 3 of the four sides, that carrot of home final advantage is a distinct possibly so that will drive them on along with the hope of making another Grand Final. Munster won the Grand Final on South African soil last season 19-14. They won that day with a late converted John Hodnett try.

Leinster have it all to do, recent history is not with them in terms of winning finals but they have the squad to do the needful in South Africa tomorrow afternoon. The Bulls won’t roll over and make it tough and they have shown they can score tries from all angles and can match teams up front also. Leinster have gone 5/3 on the bench with Luke Mc Grath, Jamie Osbourne and Ciaran Frawley covering the back line.

The Bulls have the power up front as I say and will look to a strong driving maul to help them past Leinster. The Bulls also have the back line to punish any slip up in the Leinster defensive set up. They have gone 6/2 on the bench and will unload a stacked bench to hopefully see them through.

Munster have earned the right to be at home thanks to finishing the season in first spot and will have home advantage in the Final if they get passed Glasgow. They have spoken of doing it on home soil for all the supporters who could not get to South Africa last season.

This semi-final will have plenty of needle due to Munster’s win in a tight semi-final in Glasgow last season. That coupled with some really tight battles in recent years with usually only a score or 2 between the teams.

Munster will know that home advantage is only part of the story and they will need to perform with impact from the bench being crucial. Time for Munster to stand up and be counted and defend the crown hard won last season.

Semi-final 1 is a tight one to call and will go down to the wire, home advantage will be crucial and with that I think The Bulls may cause a shock and put Leinster out with only a score between the sides.

Semi Final 2 is another tight affair and after last season’s game where Munster got through winning 14-5. I fully expect the game tomorrow to follow a similar pattern but Munster look well placed to get to another Grand Final.

My paring for the 2024 Grand Final will be Munster vs Bulls in Thomond Park…. Let’s see if my prediction is correct. Bring on two good quality semi-finals….

It is quarter final time in the URC with three Irish provinces in action, Munster face the Ospreys in Thomond Park at 7.35pm this evening. Tomorrow will see Leinster take on Ulster in The Aviva Stadium with a 5pm kick off.

In the other quarter finals, Benetton take on the Bulls and the Stormers play host to Glasgow Warriors. All 8 teams have their sights set on the 2024 URC title. Munster will look to make home advantage count and make it to back to back semi-finals. The Ospreys made the last 8 after defeating Cardiff last weekend and edging out the Lions who looked to have had 8^th place locked in.

Toby Booth has the Ospreys playing good rugby at the minute and will have no fears about tonight’s trip to Limerick. They have nothing to lose and plenty to gain by winning this evening. The Ospreys last trip to Limerick was a heavy loss and Munster beat them in the regular season back in March.

Both teams will be without key men like Adam Beard and Tom Ahern through injury but both sides will look towards the replacements to see will those men come in and do a job for their respective teams. As I mention the Ospreys come here with no fear and that makes them dangerous prospect.

It should be an open contest and if the weather holds up we should see both sides playing attacking rugby through the 80 minutes. Munster will want to kick on from the way they ended last week’s game against Ulster and the need to start this game sharper than last week in crucial.

There are a few changes from last week where Munster will have Tony Butler covering 10 and welcome Mike Haley back into the 23. John Hodnett comes into the side at 7. Like last year, Munster will need to grasp the nettle and though they know that it is home comforts all the way if they can negotiate the knock out stages of the URC.

That particular fact is secondary of course and they will need to take it game by game. Thankfully they have been here in recent times and one hopes they have the bank of knowledge stored to help them through any tough moments. It will be close but I think Munster will sneak through by more than a score….

Ulster go the Dublin with memories fresh of that recent last gasp win in the RDS. Leinster will know it is last chance saloon for the season in this game and with that brings extra pressure. Yes Leinster have been here many times but the last trophy to cross the threshold in Leinster HQ in UCD was the URC trophy in 2021 and with that the pressure only ramps up with each passing season…

 Ulster are in bonus territory with a new coaching set up led by Richie Murphy who signed a two year deal to lead Ulster into next season and beyond. Ulster will be buoyed by their performance for large parts of the game in Thomond Park. They also know how to beat this Leinster group beating them twice in league action this year.

Like tonight’s game, there will not be much either way with most likely only a score in it and I just fancy Ulster to complete the hat trick of wins over Leinster and get to the semi-finals to take on either Benetton or the Bulls next week….

As for the other two quarter finals, I can see Glasgow and the Bulls coming through to fill the other two semi final places….