Six Nations U-20s Preview

by Wesley Liddy

The under-20s grade has received much publicity in recent years when compared with other underage teams. The grade can be viewed as a 'talent confirmation phase', according to Ulster Academy manager Gary Longwell.

This assessment fits snugly into the IRFU's national talent programme, which aims to streamline the transition a player faces when attempting to turn the potential of youth into a professional career.

IRFU High Performance Director and Ireland U-20s manager Allen Clarke has been a vital cog in masterminding the union's approach to developing young talent. His U-20s side acts as both the apex of the underage game, and the base camp for the professional one.

It was during the U-19 World Cup in 2007 that Clarke saw the need for change within Ireland’s underage structure. They had finished ninth overall, and were physically overwhelmed by both Australia and South Africa in the group phase.

The reason was that most tier-1 countries had their players training as professionals within academy set-ups from their mid-teens onwards. In Ireland, professional teams - i.e. the provinces - had no real access to their prospective employees until after they finished school.

For all the merits of the schools system, and its emphasis on chasing silverware, many players were leaving school physically unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead in the professional game and, before that, in underage international competition.

Screening from the age of 13

When the academy system was regionalised in 2004 the provincial academies were used almost as a screening process, determining after up to three years of monitoring which players would make it in the professional environment. Now, under the auspices of the national talent programme, that screening process begins as young as U-13 level.

By the time players reach U-16 level an expanded group has been chosen which adhere to conditioning and skills programmes implemented by the provincial academies. The aim is that players have a minimum of two years' supervised training behind them when they leave school.

At this point the initial group chosen at U-16 level has been whittled down from maybe 70 to 35 or so, and these would be in contention to represent their province at either U-19 or, ultimately, U-20 level.

While exceptional talents like Luke Fitzgerald or Keith Earls would go straight from school into the academy or the senior squad, most players' futures will be decided upon based on their performance at U-20 level. The cream of the crop will progress into the provincial academies. Any player selected for an academy should in theory have already confirmed his ability to play professional rugby so from this point on his game is simply being fine-tuned.

While underage success is in part determined by the talent available within a given year, Ireland's U-20 teams have improved greatly in recent seasons. This improvement is measured not just in terms of results, but more importantly in terms of the number of players graduating to full-time professional rugby.

The 2007 U-20 grand slam-winners were an exceptional crop with 10 of the starting 15 already established firmly in or around the provincial first teams. And the likes of Earls, Cave, Healy and O’Brien have already been capped by Ireland at senior level. This despite the fact that the majority of that team would have just turned 22.

No room for late developers?

The system is not without flaws. It is becoming a more ruthless environment and it may not allow much room for the emergence of late developers a la John Hayes. By and large, though, the national talent programme has been hugely beneficial for Irish rugby. The level of planning is such that Allen Clarke and Gary Longwell recently held a meeting to discuss Ireland’s preparations for the world cup…in 2019.

And so to this year's crop. Form lines are hard to decipher when it comes to underage sides since this is essentially the first time they have come together en bloc in a competitive environment. In their three warm-up games they suffered narrow losses to a Leinster Development XV and the Ulster A side, and recorded a victory against a weakened Munster Academy XV.

The performances compared to previous years were quite encouraging: last year's U-20s lost 39-7 to a Leinster Development XV, whereas this year’s bunch held them to an 11- point margin in a tough encounter over Christmas.

Further encouragement can be taken from the Ireland U-19 side's victory over their Australian counterparts in December. Up to five of that side could feature in this year's U-20s starting line-up. These include highly promising Blackrock trio Jordi Murphy, Andrew Conway and Brendan Macken.

Macken has already played senior for Leinster while Conway’s performances in last year's schools cup earned him favourable comparisons with Blackrock's last three-quarter superstar, Luke Fitzgerald.

Connacht duo Tiernan O’Halloran and Eoin Griffin also featured for the 19s and if they fulfil anything like their potential it is hard to see them remaining in Galway for much longer.

Brian O’Hara, Dominic Ryan, Nevin Spence and Rhys Ruddock all remain underage following hugely impressive campaigns last year. Number 8 Patrick Butler is also highly rated. In his first year out of school Butler has already forced his way into the Shannon side which currently sit top of division 1a of the All-Ireland League. The former Rockwell college pupil is rated as the best player to come through the Tipperary nursery since Dennis Leamy.

High hopes and catch-22

Coach Clarke has high hopes for the coming season. 'We all recognize the potential of the squad while respecting the challenges ahead, the first of which is to start the Six Nations campaign against Italy at home with a good performance.

'Being the first game of the championship means we have little knowledge of the opposition so our concentration is to be accurate with and without the ball.'

The catch-22 for this side is the fact that almost their entire backline will still be underage next year. While this is a measure of their enormous potential, it may also mean they need a further year’s experience before they can fully demonstrate their talents. The absence of former Castletroy College star Diarmuid McCarthy is also a blow to the squad.

All things considered, there may be more raw talent in this year’s group then even in the '07 grand slam-winning vintage. Whether they can replicate the success of that group remains to be seen.

By the time the backline reach maturity in next year's championship, the majority of this year's pack will be overage. But you would expect Ireland to be challenging for the championship this season despite having to play France and England away. More importantly, you would expect up to a dozen members of this year's squad to be challenging for a place in the senior squad for the 2015 World Cup.