Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

NikNak8

Yea thats my plan, first time ever I'm without one

Fireball07

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The pack is rumoured to be Wian, Sherry, Botha, POC, Ryan, TOD, POM, Coughlan. I'd say he's just repeated the general rumour, tbh.

That's our strongest available pack imo.

I know some people would like DOC, but I think Ryan is clearly better in the 2nd row than he is in the back row and TOD is a fine player. I'd also favour Sherry over Varley.

Amazotheamazing

Fireball07 wrote: »

That's our strongest available pack imo.

I know some people would like DOC, but I think Ryan is clearly better in the 2nd row than he is in the back row and TOD is a fine player. I'd also favour Sherry over Varley.

If that is the pack it's one of the bravest calls mcgahan's made, imo. Especially TOD and Sherry. both are just back from injury and this is a huge step up for them.

NikNak8

I think Wallace will start ahead of TOD unless he has picked up another injury otherwise I agee its a good pack.

Cpt_Blackbeard

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

The pack is rumoured to be Wian, Sherry, Botha, POC, Ryan, TOD, POM, Coughlan. I'd say he's just repeated the general rumour, tbh.

Its what I imagine we'll send out. The pictures from training seem to back or up too.

totallegend

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Its what I imagine we'll send out. The pictures from training seem to back or up too.

Does McGahan have any choice? The lineout was a mess at the weekend so Varley must be under pressure, and there was no way Wallace could come back in having not even made the squad last week.

No chance Ryan would play 6 with DOC coming back in?

Fireball07

totallegend wrote: »

Does McGahan have any choice? The lineout was a mess at the weekend so Varley must be under pressure, and there was no way Wallace could come back in having not even made the squad last week.

No chance Ryan would play 6 with DOC coming back in?

That's what happened in the Northampton game, as far as I remember,


So I think most people would have expected that. It gives us another strong lineout option too. But as I said, I prefer the other one.


Wallace on the bench to make an impact could be good too.

Amazotheamazing

totallegend wrote: »

Does McGahan have any choice? The lineout was a mess at the weekend so Varley must be under pressure, and there was no way Wallace could come back in having not even made the squad last week.

No chance Ryan would play 6 with DOC coming back in?

But last week's lineout was as much a systems failure as anything else. It wasn't all down to Varley. Course it's possible Varley is carrying a knock that he could play through but it's better he doesn't.

totallegend

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

But last week's lineout was as much a systems failure as anything else. It wasn't all down to Varley. Course it's possible Varley is carrying a knock that he could play through but it's better he doesn't.

No it wasn't, my post came off a bit harsh and hopefully POC being back to call it will steady the ship a bit, but watching the replay of the Leinster game the day after, I could really see the difference in the flight of the ball when Sherry throws it compared to Varley, much more of an arrow than Varley's lob... Varley brings other aspects though so it's tough to call.

ormond lad

Looks like the Enesei side that came over to play in Nenagh against a Munster A side a few years ago are back for another game or two. According to the refs website a munster development XV plays Enesei in dooradoyle monday at 3pm

Amazotheamazing

ormond lad wrote: »

Looks like the Enesei side that came over to play in Nenagh against a Munster A side a few years ago are back for another game or two. According to the refs website a munster development XV plays Enesei in dooradoyle monday at 3pm

Really? Must get myself to that. They were quite a handy side in Nenagh.

CIARAN_BOYLE

ormond lad wrote: »

Looks like the Enesei side that came over to play in Nenagh against a Munster A side a few years ago are back for another game or two. According to the refs website a munster development XV plays Enesei in dooradoyle monday at 3pm

They must be bringing a big squad or forcing their players to go through a quick turnaround since they have a team playing Connacht A tomorrow

thomond2006

Munster: F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy

Very happy with that selection, O'Donnell at openside is a big call. Big day for Sherry too.

Good first 15

Realistically only two bench players likely to up the intensity when called upon.

Munster will need to strangle this game and keep the pace low to negate this issue. Big big games required from ROG and POC. Going to be the most important players on the pitch in Red.

Cpt_Blackbeard

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster: F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy

Very happy with that selection, O'Donnell at openside is a big call. Big day for Sherry too.

Selection is as predicted, but I'm still delighted with it. There have been some big calls made with that team and its great to see form rewarded. Hopefully the returning internationals will get straight back into the swing of things - we'll need them if we're to get the win.

Benny Cake

Delighted with the side picked, good to have Wally in reserve to give things a lift at the 60 minute mark...

CatFromHue

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster: F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy

Very happy with that selection, O'Donnell at openside is a big call. Big day for Sherry too.

It'll be bad for Irish rugby if Munster win. Ulster have more Irish props starting and we need them playing the highest level possible. :pac::pac::pac:

It's good to see Hurley getting picked, he's a good player.

Earls, Mafi, and ROG, against Cave, Wallace, and Humps will be great match up too. I am a Wallace fan and I think he helps Humps alot so this will be a great match up. It's almost a chalk and cheese comparison in each of these positions. Humps is full of running and up trying anything, Wallace tries to bring the best out of the outside players and is like a second outhalf on the pitch (he threw some lovely passes against Aironi last week e.g. for Courts try), and Cave doesn't have the explosive pace of Earls so uses his skills more cerebrally!

It's a fairly inexperienced back row from Munster though so Ulster should be able to get on top here. POC and Ryan against Muller and Touhy will be great too. POC will be blowing hard after being out for so long now and if reports in the paper are correct only got back training this week! Ryan was meant to have been back last week.

Amazotheamazing

CatFromHue wrote: »

It'll be bad for Irish rugby if Munster win. Ulster have more Irish props starting and we need them playing the highest level possible. :pac::pac::pac:

It's good to see Hurley getting picked, he's a good player.

Earls, Mafi, and ROG, against Cave, Wallace, and Humps will be great match up too. I am a Wallace fan and I think he helps Humps alot so this will be a great match up. It's almost a chalk and cheese comparison in each of these positions. Humps is full of running and up trying anything, Wallace tries to bring the best out of the outside players and is like a second outhalf on the pitch (he threw some lovely passes against Aironi last week e.g. for Courts try), and Cave doesn't have the explosive pace of Earls so uses his skills more cerebrally!

It's a fairly inexperienced back row from Munster though so Ulster should be able to get on top here. POC and Ryan against Muller and Touhy will be great too. POC will be blowing hard after being out for so long now and if reports in the paper are correct only got back training this week! Ryan was meant to have been back last week.

It's a pack that could go badly wrong if Piennar, Humphs, Wallace and Cave get on the front foot. With Ferris fit it might have made more sense to start DOC in the second and Ryan at 6.

Quint2010

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

It's a pack that could go badly wrong if Piennar, Humphs, Wallace and Cave get on the front foot. With Ferris fit it might have made more sense to start DOC in the second and Ryan at 6.

Is Ferris fit?

Hagz

I'm glad to see O'Donnell play in a game like this. He's looked good when I've seen him this year.

Amazotheamazing

Quint2010 wrote: »

Is Ferris fit?

Well, he's starting so you have to assume he's fit. More than that, Ferris at 50% is better than most at 100%. I'm not saying Ulster will walk it, but they definitely can win.

Quint2010

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Well, he's starting so you have to assume he's fit. More than that, Ferris at 50% is better than most at 100%. I'm not saying Ulster will walk it, but they definitely can.

You are tipping Ulster to win? I think they will too. Too many question marks over Munster at the moment.

Amazotheamazing

Quint2010 wrote: »

You are tipping Ulster to win? I think they will too. Too many question marks over Munster at the moment.

Genuinely think it's too difficult to call but the difference in the backrow and the 9/10/12 axis with good ball is massive. Assuming the Ulster backrow win loads of good ball, and guys like Wallace are getting front foot ball all day I think it's Ulster's to lose.

Fishooks12

Munster team to play Ulster in the Heineken Cup quarter-final at Thomond Park on 8 April at 1.45pm:
F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan.
Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy.

EDIT: Only about a day late!

Great to see Sherry starting but I'd prefer to see DOC2 instead of TOD

Amazotheamazing

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Munster team to play Ulster in the Heineken Cup quarter-final at Thomond Park on 8 April at 1.45pm:
F Jones; D Hurley, K Earls, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, M Sherry, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, J Coughlan.
Replacements: D Varley, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, D Wallace, T O’Leary, I Keatley, J Murphy.

EDIT: Only about a day late!

Great to see Sherry starting but I'd prefer to see DOC2 instead of TOD

He's injured, disaster for him.

Fishooks12

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

He's injured, disaster for him.

Pity, was very impressed with him last week

Fireball07

I think it's the right team but I think we have much better options on the bench than last week too.

Varley will always offer something in the loose, DOC generally does play well in big games and if he's called on for the last 20 minutes, he'll make an impact, Wally is Wally and if he's fit, he'll be a great player to have. Plus TOL, I know he's often criticised but he has his good points and I don't think he'll let us down if we do bring him on.

Amazotheamazing

Can we start a Kilcoyne hype train yet?

irishbucsfan

I thought Kilcoyne's scrummaging was dodgy, especally considering he was up against Moore and O'Connell.

Borlase came on and didn't embarrass himself. That's a step in the right direction!

ed7890

How did John Ryan look at scrum time?

phog

Has anyone got any info on a Munster team playing a Russian team in Limerick on Monday? I'd imagine it must be an underage or club rep game as it's hardly an A team after last night.

ormond lad

phog wrote: »

Has anyone got any info on a Munster team playing a Russian team in Limerick on Monday? I'd imagine it must be an underage or club rep game as it's hardly an A team after last night.

Its not club or underage team
They played munster before, in a game played in Nenagh 3 years ago and that munster team containing 4 contracted players, 4 academy players, 9 sub academy players and 6 club players won 27-21 with a score in the last 10 minutes
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/590.php

CIARAN_BOYLE

phog wrote: »

Has anyone got any info on a Munster team playing a Russian team in Limerick on Monday? I'd imagine it must be an underage or club rep game as it's hardly an A team after last night.

Munster development team its supposed to be. I reckon it will be a mix of academy, subacademy and AIL players.

The Russian team beat Connacht A this afternoon but I imagine a very different team will lineout on Monday

Amazotheamazing

ormond lad wrote: »

Its not club or underage team
They played munster before, in a game played in Nenagh 3 years ago and that munster team containing 4 contracted players, 4 academy players, 9 sub academy players and 6 club players won 27-21 with a score in the last 10 minutes
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/590.php

Interesting to see the players who've been coming through from it, O'Dea and Sheridan on the bench moving on to contracts now.

Fireball07

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Can we start a Kilcoyne hype train yet?

Definitely not!

phog

ormond lad wrote: »

Its not club or underage team

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Munster development team its supposed to be. I reckon it will be a mix of academy, subacademy and AIL players.

The Russian team beat Connacht A this afternoon but I imagine a very different team will lineout on Monday

So where's it on and what time?

CIARAN_BOYLE

phog wrote: »

So where's it on and what time?

Dooradoyle? 3pm

Amazotheamazing

So where to from here?

Our set-piece is good, we need to work out if Murray is following orders or what the **** because this standing around looking at the ball is a waste of time.

I also think we should chip in for a taxi to get Mafi to the airport, I'd be worried he'd miss his flight to France by running off to investigate every blind alley he passes (assuming he has the ability to actually pass anything).

CatFromHue

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

So where to from here?

Glasgow in Musgrave next Sat night. A loss here, apart from being three home losses in a row, will make getting into the play offs difficult.

Glasgow are currently WWWDDWLW since the new year in the Rabo and had this weekend off.

Amazotheamazing

CatFromHue wrote: »

Glasgow in Musgrave next Sat night. A loss here, apart from being three home losses in a row, will make getting into the play offs difficult.

Glasgow are currently WWWDDWLW since the new year in the Rabo and had this weekend off.

We are losing the games because no matter how much ball we have we simply can't do anything with it as every team knows exactly what O'Gara and Mafi will do. In O'Gara's case it's feint to break and in Mafi's case it's go inside and get isolated. Crazy stuff.

We might be able to get away with it if Wallace was still punching holes for us, or a 2008 era Leamy, but not anymore.

irishbucsfan

I think Munster will finish strong from here. Would be my favourites for the RDP12.

Clegg

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

So where to from here?

Our set-piece is good, we need to work out if Murray is following orders or what the **** because this standing around looking at the ball is a waste of time.

I also think we should chip in for a taxi to get Mafi to the airport, I'd be worried he'd miss his flight to France by running off to investigate every blind alley he passes (assuming he has the ability to actually pass anything).

Proper backs coaching is a must. Munsters pack are still doing a good job, although theree was a worrying lack of intensity from them in the opening 20 minutes. But numbers 9-15 just aren't good enough, as a unit.

Munster have some talented backs but just cannot seem to play well. Your most exciting backs, Earls and Zebo were working off slow ball for most of the game. They made a good fist of attacking but there was no real variation to the way Munsters backs played the game. It was basically give the ball to Keith/Zebo and see if they can break the line.

The difference between the Munster and Leinster attacking plans are huge. Leinster had players running good lines and looking for offloads. They then had support runners available for those offloads. Munster had Mafi running the crashball from 12 or ROG throwing a miss pass and that was about it.
When Laulala comes in Munster will have a good distributor at 13 which will allow Earls to do some proper attacking from the wing.

Munster fans may not like to admit this, but ROG really isn't cutting it anymore. He isn't a creative outlet and his kicking game isn't as good as used to be.

thomond2006

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think Munster will finish strong from here. Would be my favourites for the RDP12.

No "ah sure it's not the Heineken" excuses now, it's all we have left.

CatFromHue

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think Munster will finish strong from here. Would be my favourites for the RDP12.

Ospreys are away to Cardiff, who are in free fall, at home to the Dragons and away to the soon to be wound up Aironi. In all likelihood they'll get 8 to 12 points from these games, if not more from try bonus points. They already have a two point advantage on Munster and more games won so in all likelihood Munster will have an away Semi. We still haven't had an away Semi winner in the Magners/Pro 12 so Munster sill have a lot of work to do if you ask me to make the Final.

Munster could win the rest of their regular season games and still have an away Semi to The Ospreys. The Ospreys beat them 19 12 in the Liberty already this season and also have nothing to play for other than the Rabo.

Edit: The Ospreys have won both their games against Munster this season.

omerin

Fresh start for next season, clear out DOC, Hurley, Murphy and Foley. New management and coaching, don't care what it costs I want Connor O' Shea and maybe its time to go to Leinster with a begging bowl for some players Hope they start with Keatley from the start as no. 1, ROG offered very little today.

Amazotheamazing

Clegg wrote: »

Proper backs coaching is a must. Munsters pack are still doing a good job but numbers 9-15 just aren't good enough, as a unit.

Munster have some talented backs but just cannot seem to play well. Your most exciting backs, Earls and Zebo were working off slow ball for most of the game. They made a good fist of attacking but there was no real variation to the way Munsters backs played the game. It was basically give the ball to Keith/Zebo and see if they can break the line.

The difference between the Munster and Leinster attacking plans are huge. Leinster had players running good lines and looking for offloads. They then had support runners available for those offloads. Munster had Mafi running the crashball from 12 or ROG throwing a miss pass and that was about it.
When Laulala comes in Munster will have a good distributor at 13 which will allow Earls to do some proper attacking from the wing.

Munster fans may not like to admit this, but ROG really isn't cutting it anymore. He isn't a creative outlet and his kicking game isn't as good as used to be.

Have to agree with all that. I think we're ruining a very good 9 in Murray too. Whoever is telling him to wait before passing the ball needs to be taken out back and beaten. He has all the skills, he's actually a lovely passer, great kicker, could maybe impose himself more physically but he's a big enough guy for that to come but for some reason Munster are asking our scrumhalves to delay the ball. Williams was very poor on Friday too.

Amazotheamazing

omerin wrote: »

Fresh start for next season, clear out DOC, Hurley, Murphy and Foley. New management and coaching, don't care what it costs I want Connor O' Shea and maybe its time to go to Leinster with a begging bowl for some players Hope they start with Keatley from the start as no. 1, ROG offered very little today.

We actually don't need that many players. We need one massive ball carrier in the pack and we need a backs coach. With a dynamic player like SOB or Ferris, Munster would be there or thereabouts again.

budhabob

omerin wrote: »

Fresh start for next season, clear out DOC, Hurley, Murphy and Foley. New management and coaching, don't care what it costs I want Connor O' Shea and maybe its time to go to Leinster with a begging bowl for some players Hope they start with Keatley from the start as no. 1, ROG offered very little today.

Foley? The forwards have been really good, and even today were pretty good in all fairness.

And as for Hurley, he has been excellent most of this season, all be it from full back.

Personally I really think McGahan going is great as it allows a new outside view on the whole munster set-up.

Amazotheamazing

budhabob wrote: »

Foley? The forwards have been really good, and even today were pretty good in all fairness.

And as for Hurley, he has been excellent most of this season, all be it from full back.

Personally I really think McGahan going is great as it allows a new outside view on the whole munster set-up.

Hurley hasn't been great. He's been good. Kearney is a great fullback and there's light years between them.

Now, in case you think i'm being mean, I'm not. Hurley is symptomatic of what's wrong with Munster. Too many good (ish) players, not enough great ones.

GerM

omerin wrote: »

Hope they start with Keatley from the start as no. 1, ROG offered very little today.

Bit of an elephant in the room. Munster need to look to the future now and start giving Keatley a run. ROG, for all his greatness, looked a beaten man out there. 72% possession and 79% territory and nothing could be conjured aside from a try that was made by the pack sucking in multiple defenders. The kicking away of the ball in the 22 said something. If Munster had been three points closer and he slotted a drop goal in the last minutes, it would have just papered over the cracks again. The territory and kicking of the corners is a tactic that can only be used sparingly. Keeping the ball in hand is a far more profitable approach with the tackler releasing interpretation. Ulster, generally, were solid on their line out ball so it was simply handing over possession for the most part.

Keatley is a talented player and can be the man that the new back line is built around but he needs a show of faith and sustained games alongside first choice players which he has never been given. Him sucking in a defender and unleashing Downey and Laulala with a flat pass could reap dividends. The process needs to start now though. ROG's performance levels aren't going to swing back to where they were at this point in his career. If Munster want to be great again, they need to bite the bullet and continue the rebuilding process with a big call.