IRELAND’S OPENING MATCH of the 2022 U20 Six Nations could hardly have gone any better, Richie Murphy’s side powering to an impressive eight-try, 53-5 win over Wales in Cork last Friday.

Murphy had urged caution ahead of that fixture, pointing to the fact that most of his players have suffered from a lack of competitive action across a couple of covid-hit seasons which heavily impacted the game at underage level.

Yet against Wales his team looked confident, sharp and cohesive as they totally outplayed their visitors.

Round two sees Ireland travel to play France – fresh from a 41-15 win over Italy – and while Ireland forwards coach Jimmy Duffy has been impressed with how quickly the team have found some rhythm, he says the squad will head to Aix-en-Provence’s Stade Maurice David braced for a very different challenge.

“How quickly the lads have gelled as a group and worked really hard for each other… We wanted to play with a certain intensity in the (Wales) game and have been building nicely towards that all through Christmas,” Duffy says.

“It’s been tough on this group in particular, having not played any rugby at competitive level since they were at school. Covid being covid, it has curtailed that development. To see the speed that lads played with in attack and defence was really pleasing.  

Obviously in France you are going to have the band playing, it’s attritional rugby, especially down there, and they’re a proud nation. So we’ll speak about it during the week but I think we have to feed off our own energy, we have to create our own buzz around the tempo of the game we’re playing, whether it be defensively or attack, so that we can create our own energy to drive on and hopefully compete really well.

“We’ve just kind of focused on a couple of areas where we felt we were really good (against Wales), and then there are other areas where we need to be better. France is a really difficult place to play, having coached and played over there, you have to be on the money.

“They are a really skillful side, but not only that, they are a big skilful side. So we’re going to have to be really clever about where and how we play the ball. But in fairness, the lads have been coming up with the right solutions in training and in the meetings, so we believe we are in a good spot and up for a really big challenge.”

Ireland's forwards were totally dominant against Wales last Friday. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Duffy added that’s he enjoying working with a group of young players again, having departed his role as Connacht forwards coach last summer.

Duffy was formerly Elite Player Development Officer with the Connacht Academy, and also spent time working with Tonga earlier this season, before linking up with the Ireland U20s.

“It’s been great coming back in. I worked with Richie many years ago – I couldn’t even tell you the year, it’s way back – and then with Tonga in November.

I just needed a fresh challenge and I spoke to the lads in Connacht and they were great. I’ve been there a large portion of my life. We were to go somewhere else and it didn’t happen. I was thankful I got that opportunity to work with Tonga in November and then Richie contacted me and said would I be keen. It’s been fantastic. Don’t know where we’re going to next, but we’ll see where that pans out.”

Duffy described the experience of working with Tonga as ‘epic’, adding that he hopes to see the team reap the benefits of the recent eligibility rule changes.

“It’s not an opportunity you have every day but a fantastic group of people and some really quality players in the group. It’s exciting what’s going to come back into that group for the World Cup with the rule changes. Brilliant bunch of people and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.”

For now, Duffy’s focus is solely on helping the next generation of young Irish talent negotiate their way through a tricky Six Nations schedule.

We put a lot of pressure on the lads to deliver a really high standard. We had a discussion about it as coaches the other day around it, how do we keep pushing them for more and more and more? But, to be fair to them, any challenge we’ve put in front of them they’ve lapped it up and run with it.

“A lot of work the provinces have done in the past around this aspect will come to the fore – all you’re doing in the national camp is refining because a lot of the work is done in the provinces. Credit to them, they’ve produced a crop of good young men. Obviously Covid has adjusted that, but they’ve adapted really well.

“Where the group are now compared to where they were in October is vastly different, the improvement levels are through the roof and they still have room to manoeuvre, so there’s exciting times ahead for this group.

“Hopefully we see a lot more of them in the senior team in the future.”

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