TOMORROW, SAM PRENDERGAST will become the first graduate from the Ireland U20s team that won a Grand Slam and reached a World Cup final in 2023 to step up as a senior international.
Gus McCarthy, the captain of that U20s team, is currently training with Andy Farrell’s squad but has three far more experienced hookers ahead of him.
No one else from that U20s team has been involved with the senior squad yet.
From the France U20s team that beat Ireland in the World Cup final last year, centre Nicolas Depoortère has already won two senior caps for les Bleus, second row Posolo Tuilagi has four caps, flanker Lenni Nouchi – the captain of the U20s – has two, wing Théo Attissogbé has three, while back row Marko Gazzotti and centres Paul Costes and Léon Darricarrère – who missed that World Cup with injury - were called up to Fabien Galthié’s senior squad this month.
It helped hugely in building depth that Galthié left his frontline internationals out of last summer’s tour to Argentina and Uruguay. We should also underline that France’s U20 team from last year was especially talented. They hammered Ireland 50-14 in the final.
But it’s still not hard to see how quickly French U20 internationals can progress if they’re good enough to play Test rugby.
The key difference between the Ireland and France sides from last year’s U20s final is the utter gulf in experience they have with their club sides.
A few head-to-head comparisons underline that.
Fintan Gunne, who started at scrum-half for Ireland in the final, has made six replacement appearances for Leinster. Baptiste Jauneau, the French number nine that day, has started 37 games for Clemont.
Out-half Prendergast has had eight senior starts for Leinster, while Marco Reus already has 14 for La Rochelle.
Centre John Devine remains uncapped by Connacht and Hugh Gavin has two appearances for the province, while Depoortère has made 34 starts for Bordeaux and Costes has 16 for Toulouse. Depoortère and Costes both played in last season’s Top 14 final, while the latter started Toulouse’s Champions Cup final win against Leinster.
The brilliant Brian Gleeson has yet to start a game for Munster – albeit he was injured for the opening block of this URC season – while Gazzotti, who is still only 20 like Gleeson, has already started 18 games for Bordeaux to earn his senior France call-up.
Ulster back row James McNabney has enjoyed four starts for his province but has been slowed by injuries, and yet his opposite number from the final, Nouchi, has had 23 starts for Montpellier in the Top 14.
The list goes on but the point is clear.
Prendergast is getting his Ireland debut when it’s still unclear if he has moved above third position in Leinster’s pecking order. He has never started a game in the Champions Cup.
24-year-old tighthead Thomas Clarkson, who is also set for his Ireland debut off the bench tomorrow, has only played in the Champions Cup once and has just one knock-out appearance for his province so far.
When Clarkson played for the Ireland U20s against France in 2019, he scrummaged against Jean-Baptiste Gros, who scored his first senior Test try for les Bleus last weekend as he earned his 30th cap. Gros has started 65 games for Toulon, while Clarkson has started 21 for Leinster.
While making all of these comparisons, we must remember that Ireland are the back-to-back Six Nations champions, with a Grand Slam in 2023 after a series win in New Zealand in 2022. Throw in a Test victory against the back-to-back world champion Springboks in South Africa last summer and Andy Farrell’s men are going very well.
One of the huge advantages France has is its 30 professional clubs split across the Top 14 and Pro D2, with a few more in the Nationale tier below that. There are simply more opportunities for young players.
The IRFU did explore the possibility of investing in London Irish when the English club hit financial trouble and eventually filed for administration last year, but the union decided against what would have been a big financial risk.
But there’s no doubt that giving ample game time to the talented players coming through the Irish rugby system is a big challenge for the IRFU to solve.
The union’s former performance director David Nucifora warned that this was coming back in October 2o22.
“What’s happening now is that we have a model where over the next couple of years, we’re going to run out of space,” said Nucifora.
“If everyone down the bottom keeps doing their job as well as they have done it or we keep improving there, we’re going to run out of space in the provinces.
“We’ve got less opportunity for these talented players sitting at the back end of the squads. The reality is those players will look elsewhere if they don’t get time.”
It’s worth pointing out that the four Irish provinces aren’t dominant in terms of their performances at the moment. Leinster are regularly in contention for trophies but haven’t lifted one since 2021, while Munster won the URC in 2023.
But currently, there are a few worries about the provinces’ ability to be winning silverware.
Nucifora was keen for more player movement between provinces, ensuring that the most talented players were playing as regularly as possible rather than sitting behind more experienced players in their current province. It never really got going. Lots of players have turned down opportunities to switch provinces.
New IRFU performance director David Humphreys announced in July that the provinces would be banned from signing front row players amid concerns about Ireland’s propping depth charts.
What has been clear in recent times is that Ireland boss Andy Farrell does not believe he has a deep pool of players who are currently ready to play Test rugby.
“You can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat and throw people in if they’re not ready,” said Farrell last week.
“We’re not South Africa or England or New Zealand in terms of there being thousands of players out there that you can just throw in and see how it goes. That’s not the way it is here.”
Farrell repeated that sentiment and some of those words yesterday.
Discussing his decision to make just one change to his starting XV for tomorrow’s clash despite a disappointing performance against New Zealand last time out, Farrell indicated that he feels his hands are tied.
“There’s a bit of hurt and a reaction and that will come as well but at the same time, we haven’t got thousands of players anyway,” said Farrell.
“It is what it is and we know where our bread’s buttered and we’ve got to act according to that and make the group stronger the whole time by giving them an opportunity either to right some wrongs or take an opportunity that’s in front of them.”
Farrell was asked if he believes the Irish system could be better at building a broader base and exposing more players to the top level.
“It’s the old adage in life, isn’t it?” said Farrell.
“Your strength is probably your weakness that’s probably the case with Irish rugby. We have a small group of players but it is a bit of a strength as well.”
Farrell said this challenge has only become greater because the URC no longer overlaps with international rugby.
“Back in the day – it’s not too long ago now – the league carried on playing as we were going through competitions, Six Nations, and you used to see 22/23-year-olds getting fantastic game time and the conveyor belt kept on coming because of that.
“We’ve got to find a way because that doesn’t happen anymore in the competition so we’ve got to keep finding a way to get these players through.”
Farrell said that’s partly why there were Emerging Ireland tours in 2022 and again this year, but three games in a short window against relatively limited opposition doesn’t seem to be the answer.
The IRFU recently confirmed that the A inter-provincial men’s championship is relaunching this coming Saturday, with each of the provinces playing six games over the course of this season.
The All-Ireland League is where academy players play the majority of their rugby and the standard in Division 1A is particularly excellent, but it’s fair to say that the league remains fairly disconnected from the professional game.
There was some chat about an U23 version of the URC a few years ago but that never went any further. And given that the IRFU has a policy of not selecting players based abroad for the national team, those with ambitions of representing Ireland have to be based at home.
So this is a space worth watching.
Boxing might not he in the next Olympics because of the corruption at its core and issues between the IOC and the IBA.. and on this showing it doesn’t deserve to be.
Shocking stuff again.
@Mark Carolan: have to agree. Though we have a good record in the sport, I think the corruption runs too deep and it should be dropped.
@Mark Carolan: has to be taken out of the Olympics, brings disgrace to the competition
@Mark Carolan: has to be looked at.. It has no integrity anymore.. Needs to be dropped. The last 3 Olympics have had more than 1 or 2 blatant corruption outcomes.
@Blue Whale: only chance is to go back to the old way of scoring that they introduced after the Roy Jones Jnr debacle in Seoul. That seemed to work reasonably well for the competitors, but obviously not for the governing bodies.
Disgraceful home town decision.
That’s a truly shocking decision
Poor woman got completely ripped off there. Hopefully she will go again in four years time. She boxed and fought really well and is a serious talent.
Dear god can boxing go any lower discusting decision poor girl she was class won that fight
The decision last night was bad enough but that decision there was shocking is there a more corrupt sport in the Olympics
Travisty Daina won the fight corruption alive and well in Amateur Boxing.
Absolutely, a terrible decision.
Brutal decision, she boxed way better
Was ray ridge a judge lol
@Gary Galligan: oh ffs he will most likely say she lost
@Gary Galligan: why do you care? and why do you give that obnoxious troll oxygen
Outrageous decison. So corrupt. My heart goes out Daina. And then they have 2 male boxers in the womens event. God help us.
@Michael Carroll: that’s not true Michael. You lose credibility when you throw misinformation into the comments section. Those two are not male…they are females with an extraordinary higher level of testosterone than most females.
@Michael Carroll: kellie harrington beat one of the boxers you are incorrectly branding male at the last olympics. Where was the outrage then?
@Michael Carroll: I woyld suggest that you do your homework before making a silly comment like that!
@Michael Carroll: Michael I’m with you 100 % on your post. Both boxers you talk about were banned from last years Women’s World Boxing Championships for they both are not women. A fact is a fact – they both were not allowed compete in the women’s world championship last year, read it again and google it to see it’s true to all the naysayers
@WqM9AAv3: I am delighted to hear that you have taken such an unusually enlightened point of view in favour of Trans Rights John or Edward, but in this case both girls were born female, with female genetalia and a specific female organ. Obviously I cannot tell you why they were also born with a Y chromosone, but it happens to millions of girls. There are also millions of boys born with 2 X chromostones. Do you think that they should be punished for the way they were born or should we introduce multiple gender classes into the Olympic games?
@Paul Ennis: my bad for stating a true fact that both boxers were banned from fighting in Women’s boxing. You have me all confused with everything else you said as I’ve no idea what you on about. Is it true that they were not allowed box in the Women’s World championship last year? Simple question. A simple yes or no answer will suffice
What an absolute disgrace. How can anyone have any faith in the judges after this. I thought last night was bad but what I’ve witnessed now is beyond belief and the judges didn’t even try to conceal their corruption in fact one judge had awarded the fight to the French girl after round two. Crazy.
Diana certainly looked to have won that fight but you pretty much figure she would have had to knock her opponent out to get the decision. At least the french girl fought within the rules of boxing not like the polish girl last night.
That is a disgrace four years to prepare and judges are a total disgrace I am disgusted with this injustice
Home town decision. An absolute disgrace. Diana was brilliant
Shame on France 2024,corruption alive and well
I feel sick now after that
@Sean: sick is the word. Judges should be named and shamed
After watching that WWE is less fixed than that. Boxing has to dropped for the next Olympics.
That there is exactly why it won’t be in the next Olympics. That was an epic performance from the Irish boxer, hands down the winner. Robbed
Again, boxing the most corrupt judged sport at the Olympics .How does this encourage anyone to take up this sport??
Daina was better faster and stronger, epitomises the original Olympic spirit
Absolutely shocking decision.
Boxing is terribly corrupt sport with clientélisme rife. It would really be better to demote it from Olympics until they can find a way to eliminate blatant cheating which you see all the time. AI probably has a huge role to play in that
@ Ray Ridge. You have surpassed yourself this time with your attension seeking comments. Gob****.
@Michael Carroll: don’t even reply to him
Boxing in the Olympics have been blatantly corrupt for a long long while! I don’t think morehouse was robbed blind here.. But how one judge had the opponent in all 3 rounds?? Absolute joke.
I know it would be awful for the competitors but why bother anymore with the boxing. It’s clear it’s corrupt…and if not corrupt then it’s disgracefully managed. How any referee could give that first round to the French is mind boggling. As for the second round being 4-1, it’s just a joke.
@anthony davoren: So all the medals Irish boxers have ever won should be handed back because it was corrupt. Or is it only corrupt when we lose? Come on folks, we are better than this.
@Ray Ridge: on the high moral ground what a .
@Ray Ridge: From what I know about boxing the Idea is that the fighter who lands the most punches within the rules, wins the fight? Did you honestly think that the french girl landed as many or more punches than the Irish girl?
@Bert Carolan: Clean punches Bert. Clean punches. It was another tight fight. Spilt decision in favour out Daina would have been fair also. Could have gone either way. But to suggest that 5 judges from 5 neutral countries for the second consecutive day are out to rob us is nonsense. The bias commentary leads us to believe we are winning all the time but one needs to watch these fights with commentary switched off and with objective mind set. If you put a green Irish singlet on that French fighter I guarantee you, you will see every punch she lands and be adamant that she was better fighter. The mind can play tricks with you.
@Ray Ridge: every single replay was Moorhouse landing clean punches. The singlets were red and blue you moron. Probably didn’t even watch it, but don’t let thar get in the way of your trolling.
@Ray Ridge: Well obviously clean punches, a punch that doesn’t connect is a swing. There’s no question but that Daina connected with far more punches.
You’re entitled to your opinion Ray but promise me that if you’re ever asked to judge boxing that you’ll say no.
@Setanta O’Toole: don’t reply to him
@anthony davoren: if people only let down there tri colour green white and gold glasses and you would see the decision was correct.
@WqM9AAv3: That’s not the colours of our flag
@Niall Moonan: our flag? Appears our flag these days has all the colours of the rainbow in it
@John Google: Just block him !
This stinks to high he’ll…our girl by far the better boxer….that sport is so corrupt…make mafia look like altar boys
Complete robbery.
I think the only way to show how disgusted we are is for Kellie Harrington to hold a press conference and announce she’s leaving in protest .
I know its crazy but its a crazy decision and someone needs to make a stand.
I love boxing but this way of scoring a fight is crazy . I think if I was a boxer I would leave the sport because if you are the best boxer on the night you may not win because of politics and corruption shame on the judges !!!
Unbelievable I really thought this nonsense was over but here it is as blatant as you could see.
Disgusting shame on France and the referees shame on you robbery on TV everyone seen it.
Why would any boxer bother with the Olympics – go pro and at least make some money if there is corruption . I completely went off Olympic boxing after the Michael Conlon decision a few years ago – it’s a joke
@ David Gaffeny. I would suggest that you wouldnt take her/him out on a date.
Spilt decision either way fair result. We have to look at these fights objectively. We are watching with our green goggles on. We only see the punches thrown by our own fighters. Daina fought well and can consider herself unlucky. We are in danger of becoming completely paranoid now and thinking that the whole boxing world and judges are out to get us. Which is obviously complete nonsense.
@Ray Ridge: do one
@Ray Ridge: are you insane? Or just blind?
@Ray Ridge: as predicted
@Ray Ridge:
Your wrong plain and simple I’ve often seen Irush boxers win tight decisions that could have gone either way .in my opinion there was one honest judge ,two dishonest who persuaded two to swing the 3rd and second rounds .
@Ray Ridge: no, we notice when Irish boxers get screwed but there are plenty others also being screwed as well. Sport Rotten to the core. Needs to be thrown out of Olympics until it’s sorted
@Ray Ridge: Bullshit
@Ray Ridge: you’re a pathetic little man who’s life is so meaningless you have to troll to justify your existence
@Ray Ridge: sad, sad existence you have.
2 nights running 2 of our female boxers robbed home town decisions again Walshe Dean got beaten by a French fighter too that was a bit questionable. I wonder how many French fighters will medal in the boxing
Funny when we win, we deserved to win but when we lose, it’s corruption. Come on folks we Irish are better than this.
@Ray Ridge: you aint irish
@Ray Ridge: you’re an absolute clown. Did you even watch the fight? She won the fight easily you sad little boy. You really got no attention as a child or else you’re still a child
@David Ryan: people keep replying to this dope when he should be ignored
@Ray Ridge: how come we didn’t here many cheers from the French crowd who are known for all their cheering? Oh yeah because the French woman landed very little actually. How the first round was 5-0 moorehouse is beyond me and then also what did the French do the round 5 to take it? Moorehouse was also more aggressive in that round too. You could give the second round to the French but also a tight round. 1st and 3rd were clear for us though
@ David Gaffney. I would suggest you do your homework. Tell me why the IBA banned this person from female boxing for being a male.
@Michael Carroll: can 42 open comments on their article about the Algerian fighter ? Sheds light on the IBA animosity with the IOc and presents new commentary on the IBA 2023 decision. The story is definitely not as black and white as Twitter would have you believe
@Michael Carroll: both boxers were banned from fighting in the Women’s World Chsmpionships. They were not banned from fighting in the male division. You are 100% correct in what you say