Jordan larmour leinster u20s proof #2 by Gerry gpfoto.ie

Interprovincial Champions 2016

Leinster U20s

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The Combined Leinster Combined U20s and Development Squad, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, should be just about spot-on to travel to Ulster for the first of the three shots it will take to capture the Inter-Provincial Championship. The Combined Leinster Combined U20s and Development Squad, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, should be just about spot-on to travel to Ulster for the first of the three shots it will take to capture the Inter-Provincial Championship. The new format has come about as a means of giving much-needed game time to those Academy players in the limbo land that exists between Age Grade rugby and the PRO12 Championship. It is completely up to each province as to how to approach this. Leinster have committed to staying as close as possible to working under the traditional 20s umbrella. “What Leinster have done is have an Under-20s-only group over the summer, up to last week when full-back Jack Power and full-back Will Connors were added to the group,” said coach Noel McNamara. The two Under-20 internationals missed out on Ireland’s ground-breaking journey to the World Cup final in June and, as Year 1 Academy players, they are in a position to take advantage of the game time on offer. McNamara’s men were taken to France last week where Leinster trained with the Clermont ‘Espoirs’ for two days in preparation for playing Pau for 40 minutes and Clermont for 40 minutes last Friday. It was a beneficial experience to play against what amounted to a semi-pro Pau, ending 12-7 behind, before responding with a dominant 28-0 half against Clermont. Leinster went 12-0 down after eight minutes to Pau, the sheer size and power and intensity of the French causing problems. However, Leinster did not concede another score over the combined total of 72 minutes as they grew into the challenges in front of them. “The intention is to have as many Under-20 guys involved as possible. There will be a couple of guys from the Academy to come into selection,” said McNamara. “

It will be a twofold approach. The players with national 20s aspirations will definitely be there. Then, there can be a case where we pick up injuries and need reinforcements.” For instance, second row Jack Regan sustained an injury in France and Oisin Dowling has been hurt too. In this scenario, McNamara might have to reach into The Academy due to having a small squad of players. The prospective Ireland Under-20s include the appointed captain Jack Kelly, at full-back, wing Jordan Larmour, centre Gavin Mullen and out-halfs Conor Dean and Ciaran Frawley, hooker Ronan Kelleher, Regan and Dowling and number eight Caelan Doris. Leinster will look no further up the road than Ulster at Shaw’s Bridge on Friday evening. Half-backs Johnny Stewart and Conor McPhillips are an experienced pair and Robert Lyttle, who was sharp for Ulster against Northampton Saints in pre-season, would be a real threat. “They are going to be a stiff test. The reality is it depends on how many Academy players they put in,” warned McNamara. Munster will be formidable with the latent talent of backs Bill Johnston and Calvin Nash as well as forwards Gavin Coombes and John Foley. “They are coming into it off the back of winning Interpro titles. They won the U18 Schools for this group. They won the U19s last year and won the U20s last year. They have the form and they should be confident.” Connacht have had their troubles in putting together a team for this competition with their front row and second row stripped down. Ireland U20 locks Peter Claffey and Cillian Gallagher are currently out injured and Cian Romaine has been absorbed into the senior set-up. Their match against Munster is in doubt due to the lack of numbers. They could even be forced to pull out of the competition altogether. Leinster Combined U20 & Development squad Interprovincial

fixtures 2016. 2nd September (Friday): Ulster v Leinster U20 (Round 1), Shaw’s Bridge, Time 17.30 8th September (Thursday): Connacht v Leinster U20 (Round 2), Sportsground, Time 15.00 16th September (Friday): Leinster U20 v Munster (Round 3), Donnybrook Stadium, Time 19.00

INTERPROVINCIALS ROUND UP The Leinster U20’s Combined & Development squad finished their campaign with an impressive six try win over Munster at Donnybrook last Friday night to claim the 2016 Interprovincial Series title. Noel McNamara’s team finished the series with the title and a record of two wins from two games.

U20’S DEFEAT MUNSTER TO CLAIM INTERPRO TITLE The Leinster U20’s Combined & Development, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, absorbed the early loss of Josh Murphy to a red card to hammer out an impressive six try defeat to Munster at Donnybrook on Friday night to claim the Interprovincial Series title. It was impossible to forecast with any degree of confidence the likely outcome of a new format. Leinster’s first thought was to move the ball for scrum-half Charlie Rock’s Garryowen to be taken in by prop Jeremy Loughman. From there, the ball was shifted with purpose for serious gains down the left with Munster dealing well with two crossfield balls from Conor Dean and Jimmy O’Brien. The Munster counter ideas were based on putting the ball in the air for wing Lee Molloy to claim the first and the second to cause a penalty for holding on by Jack Kelly for fly-half Alan Tynan to shave the right upright. Leinster hooker Conor Maguire was immediately whistled for playing the ball off his feet. Tynan made no mistake from 30 metres for 3-0 in the eighth minute.

Then, referee Joy Neville red carded Murphy for a reckless kick in the ruck. A pair of penalties at the breakdown went the way of the home side for Dean to put Leinster in business. Jack Regan gathered the line-out only for flanker Alan Fitzgerald to execute a turnover. Prop Rory Burke stepped into Kelly to concede a penalty. Dean went for the corner flag. The maul was activated and Kelly came on the blindside for a try to make good on their sustained pressure with Dean converting to make it 7-3 in the 17th minute. The Munster scrum churned out a penalty. But, the non-stop work of Will Connors ruined their maul. Not for the first time, Jimmy O’Brien’s hands put an attacker into space, this time Jordan Larmour, and Jack Power was a fingertip away from collecting Dean’s ball over the top. Munster tight-head Burke earned another penalty at the scrum. Tynan made it a one point game in the 25th minute. Leinster went straight back into attack mode, Dean’s angled punt brilliantly taken in by full-back Colm Hogan. The fine footwork and hands of flanker Gavin Combes and work rate of prop Joey Conway came to nothing five metres out due to a knock-on. Munster were beginning to edge the battle for territory through their breakdown work and Leinster’s indiscipline for Tynan to make it 9-7 in the 38th minute. The home side hit back when Loughman was put through by scrum-half Charlie Rock’s wide pass and Dean flipped the ball to Larmour for 12-9 at the break. Leinster were quickly out of the blocks. Will Connors broke the line for front-foot ball that was turned into three points by Dean’s penalty in the 45th minute. The Munster scrum made hay once again without a tangible

reward. It took exquisite interplay between Larmour and Kelly for the latter to finish into the right corner to make it 20-9 in the 56th minute. Then, Kelly came steaming through the middle to draw in Hogan for Ciaran Frawley to cruise over and convert for 27-9 on the hour. The improvement in Leinster’s scrum took away their visitors’ main weapon of destruction. Prop Oisin Heffernan pinched a penalty on the floor for Frawley to apply pressure again without the finish to match it. A rare break out by Munster was concluded by a try from second row Fineen Wycherley which was converted by Conor Fitzgerald in the 72nd minute. This was immediately countered by a rapid response unit, led by Larmour, for Heffernan to ground at the posts. Frawley’s extras made it 34-16 in the 75th minute. The Larmour-Kelly double act was harnessed again for Gavin Mullin to close it out at the final whistle. At Donnybrook: LEINSTER 39 (J Kelly 2 tries; C Frawley try, 2 cons; J Larmour, O Heffernan, G Mullin try each; C Dean pen, con); MUNSTER 16 (F Wycherely try; A Tynan 3 pens; J Fitzgerald con).

COMFORTABLE WIN FOR U20’S Leinster U20’s, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, moved into overdrive to wipe out Ulster in the newly formatted U20 & Development Inter-provincal Championship at Shaw’s Bridge on Friday evening. The visitors needed to start well to build confidence against, what looked on paper, a more mature and solid Ulster outfit. They got what they wanted when centre Jimmy O’Brien skated through in the second minute for the first of their seven tries.

However, Ulster were quick to respond with a fifth minute penalty from Ireland U20 Johnny McPhillips and two converted tries in the eleventh and 17th minutes for a 17-5 lead. It was then Leinster wings Jordan Larmour and Jack Power got in on the act, out-half Conor Dean converting both for a 19-17 edge in the 33rd minute. This was overtaken when McPhillips struck in the 39th minute to recover a one point advantage for the home side at the break. It was anyone’s guess as to which would emerge victorious and no one could have predicted how Leinster would rout their hosts 27-0 in the second period. Larmour and Power completed their pair of aces, in the 49th and 67th minutes, respectively, while flanker Will Connors and loose forward Barry Fitzpatrick would cash-in for their tries as replacement fly-half Ciaran Frawley contributed five points from the boot late on. “I just felt that we were really cohesive, that we were very sharp and our fitness was excellent,” said Team Manager Will Sparks. “Clearly, the time we spent training recently in France paid off. We trained against the Clermont Espoirs and played 40 minutes each against Pau and Clermont.” There must have been something powerful passed on by coach Noel McNamara at the break as Leinster were a different animal, thereafter. “I just think our defence was that much better in the second-half. We were good on attack before the break and when we put both parts of our game together we looked far more professional,” added Sparks. At Shaw’s Bridge - ULSTER 20; LEINSTER 46 (J Power, J Larmour 2 tries each; J O’Brien, W Connors, B Fitzpatrick try each; C Dean 3 cons; C Fralwey pen, con).

Leinster U20 Combined & Development 15. Jack Kelly (St Michael’s College) Captain, 14. Jordan Larmour (St Andrew’s College), 13. Gavin Mullin (Blackrock College),12. Jimmy O’Brien (UCD RFC), 11. Jack Power (Clontarf FC), 10. Conor Dean (Blackrock College), 9. Charlie Rock (Old Belvedere RFC), 1. Greg McGrath (Lansdowne FC) , 2. Tadgh McElroy (Lansdowne FC), 3. Óisín Heffernan (Terenure College RFC), 4. Caelan Dorris (Blackrock College), 5. Josh Murphy (UCD RFC), 6. Will Connors (UCD RFC) Vice Captain, 7. Barry Fitzpatrick (St Michael’s College), 8. Paul Boyle (Lansdowne FC), 16. Sean McNulty (UCD RFC), 7. Martin Mulhall (Lansdowne FC),18. Vakh Abdaladze (Clontarf FC), 19. Conor Hand (Navan RFC), 20. Ruairí O’Farrell (Lansdowne FC), 21. Ciarán Frawley (Skerries RFC), 22. Conor O’Brien (Clontarf FC), 23. Tim Carroll (UCD RFC)