O’Brien hoping Joe show will help
Daire Walsh
U20s
Ireland U20’s winger Tommy O’Brien hopes a coaching session with Joe Schmidt can help their bid for Championship honours.
Nigel Carolan’s outfit joined their senior counterparts at an open training at Monaghan RFC last Friday with Schmidt putting everyone through their paces.
The Irish U20 side entertain France on Friday and O’Brien hopes one aspect of last week’s session will benefit the hosts.
“I reckon the intensity is the biggest difference,” he said of training with the senior side.
“The last few weeks, our intensity has been great, but last Friday it was on another level.
“It was a bit of a step-up for everyone, and then with Joe Schmidt in the middle controlling it all, that was pretty cool.”
O’Brien continued: “Joe demanded really high standards. At the start it was weird. I think there was about 3,500 people there watching, but then once you get into the warm-up and stuff, it just became another training session.”
With two wins under their belt in this year’s competition, Ireland will be looking to maintain their winning run at Donnybrook. France’s form to date has been mixed, but after recovering from an opening day loss to England with a comprehensive win over Scotland, O’Brien (who claimed a try in Ireland’s dramatic triumph against Italy) views them as dangerous opponents.
“We had a quick look at them earlier, and they looked like a very good side. Very physical, and everyone seems comfortable on the ball. They’ll be a very good challenge. They seemed like a much-improved side against Scotland.
“From what I saw, they just looked like all the forwards were comfortable on the ball. Happy to make the tip passes, and pull out the back and stuff like that. We’ve got to be aware of that.”