Munster U20s
Interprovincial Championship 2014 gpfoto
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4 September 2014 14:17pm Munster U20s Head Coach Peter Malone has named his squad for tomorrow’s Interprovincial opener against Leinster at Ashbourne RFC (ko 7pm). The side, sponsored by GxP Systems, will be captained by Shannon full-back Stephen Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald recently made his senior Munster debut against Gloucester at Kingsholm and is one of four players in the starting XV from the Greencore Munster Rugby Academy. Fellow Shannon clubmates Jack Cullen and Greg O’Shea and Young Munster’s Gearóid Lyons are the other Academy players in the side. In preparation for the Interprovincials, the Munster Under-20s competed in the Clermont International tournament and were narrowly defeated by the hosts before claiming the scalp of English side Leicester Tigers last Friday. Following the Leinster clash, the Under-20 side will have home advantage against both Connacht and Ulster. Connacht visit Thomond Park on Friday week while Ulster will be the visitors to Garryowen’s Dooradoyle ground the following Friday with both games starting at 7pm. Tickets for all interprovincial games will be available on the gate for €5 or €3 for concessions. Munster U20s to face Leinster 15. Stephen Fitzgerald (Capt.)(Shannon RFC) 14. Greg O’Shea (Shannon RFC) 13. Paul Kiernan (UCC) 12. Gearóid Lyons (Young Munster RFC) 11. Stephen McMahon (Garryowen FC) 10. Tomás Quinlan (Cork Constitution FC) 9. Jack Cullen (Shannon RFC) 1. Brendan Quinlan (Cork Constitution FC) 2. Seán McNulty (UCD) 3. Mike O’Donnell (Crescent College Comprehensive) 4. Frank Bradshaw-Ryan (Shannon RFC) 5. Glen Stokes (Cork Constitution FC) 6. Johnny Keane (Garryowen RFC) 7. Luke O’Leary (Cork Constitution FC) 8. David St.Leger (Presentation College Cork) Replacements: 16 Luke O’Halloren (St Munchin’s College) 17 Dennis O’Connell (Shannon RFC)/Liam O’Connor (Christian Brothers College) 18 Greg Roche (Cork Constitution FC) 19 Cormac Blake (Crescent College Comprehensive) 20 Conor Barry (UCC/Bandon RFC) 21 Jason Higgins (Christian Brothers College) 22 Will Leonard (Shannon RFC) 23 Ed O’Keefe (Young Munster RFC) 5 September 2014 22:52pm Munster began their Under 20 Interprovincial campaign
with a 32-20 defeat to Leinster. Leinster completely dominated the opening half and raced into a 22-3 at half-time with Tomás Quinlan kicking a penalty for Munster.
The try came from the first period of concerted pressure on the Connacht line. St. Leger initially made the break off another solid scrum with Stokes eventually diving over under the posts with the forwards central to the effort.
Munster improved in the second half and scored three tries from Frank Bradshaw-Ryan, Liam O’Connor and Jack Cullen with Gearóid Lyons kicking one conversion, but they could never claw back such a large deficit.
Lyons added the easy conversion to make it 10-7 to Munster who were now looking the better side.
12 September 2014 22:39pm Munster Under 20s, sponsored by GxP Systems, were beaten 13-10 by Connacht at Thomond Park on Friday night. Munster started poorly and trailed 7-3 at the break but made an excellent start to the second half and led 10-7 after Cork Con’s Glen Stokes scored their only try on 45 minutes.
Peter Malone’s men were unable to turn the dominance into points, however, with the creaking Connacht defence just about standing firm. The Westerners were in further trouble when tight-head prop Conan O’Donnell was sent to the sin-bin for consistent infringement in the scrum.
Connacht refused to give in, however, and two Conor Lowndes penalties gave the Westerners the win.
They managed to weather the storm, though and made it 10-all on 61 minutes with Lowndes’ long-range penalty just about sailing through the posts.
Connacht started well and twice had the Munster line-out under early pressure with excellent territorial kicking from out-half Aidan Moynihan and scrum-half Lowndes.
The game was on a knife edge now but the pendulum soon swung Connacht’s way when Stokes was sent to the bin for an infringement at the breakdown on 68 minutes as Connacht returned to their full compliment.
Munster were struggling to string phases together but made their first inroads into the Connacht half when number eight David St. Leger made a superb break down the blindside from a scrum. St. Leger then found winger Greg O’Shea on the right flank but the ball was knocked forward in contact and the chance was gone. Connacht scored the first try on 14 minutes with a wellworked backline move as Ben Ridgeway and Dwayne Corcoran combined in the middle. The ball was then shifted out wide for Anthony McGivney and he showed great pace to take the defence on the outside before slipping a pass back inside for Oisín Leahy to cross. Moynihan added the conversion and Connacht led 7-0. After that setback, Munster were stung into action and, with the pack providing an excellent platform at scrum-time, Gearóid Lyons kicked the first Munster points with a wellstruck penalty from the left to make it 7-3. Lyons’ kicking from hand was exemplary with full-back Stephen Fitzgerald solid under the high ball but Connacht were on top at the breakdown and preventing Munster from building any momentum. The hosts nearly made the breakthrough just before the break when Will Leonard and Stephen McMahon exchanged passes in midfield but play was called back for a forward pass. Munster came out after the break eager to make up for a lacklustre first half performance and were rewarded within five minutes as Stokes touched down.
With just eight minutes remaining, Connacht re-took the lead after Munster were pinged for not rolling away and Lowndes showed great composure to put his side back in front. Lyons missed a very difficult penalty shortly afterwards and Connacht showed great discipline to keep Munster at bay and hold onto their well-merited victory. 19 September 2014 22:20pm Munster, sponsored by Gxp Systems, put in an excellent second half effort but fell just short at Dooradoyle as Ulster won 17-12 and so claimed the Under 20 Interprovincial title with three wins from three. Young Munster’s Gearóid Lyons opened the scoring for Munster with a penalty but Ulster scored 17 unanswered points to lead 17-3 at the interval. Winger Adam Liddell scored two tries for Ulster in the opening period with out-half Jack Milligan converting both along with adding a penalty. Despite the 14-point deficit, Munster performed much better in the second period. Cork Con’s Tomás Quinlan, on as a replacement, kicked three penalties as Munster closed the gap to five. Munster piled on the pressure but they were unable to breach the Ulster defence as the northern province held on for their third victory in as many games to claim the title.
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