Munster - Amlin Cup???

castie

thomond2006 wrote: »

Re-read my post. I did say most positions could be rotated. In the case of Warwick, you can put Deasy at either 10/12/15.

You can't play a B&I Cup team in the Amlin, you have to find a balance between developing young players and putting experienced heads in there.

Not having a go here just pointing out that Id rather someone else got 10 other than Warwick since he is actually leaving and someone needs to step up.

[Jackass]

If Munster get into the Amlin, they will almost certainly be away to Stade Francais in the quarter finals (as Munster will be lowest Heineken Cup team to go through if they get there, and Stade Francais will be highest group winner).

What an encounter that would be!!

Also, after Contepomi's departing shot at Munster, Cheika would get one last shot at them too, and he had the beating of them with Leinster.

That could be a massive game, and there could be some great semi / final games if they go on, such as with Clermont or Wasps...

It's a decent competition. If Leinster were unlucky enough to go out in the groups, I'd be hoping we went to Amlin and would be reletively proud if we won it.

irishbucsfan

thomond2006 wrote: »

I will only take an Amlin victory seriously if we, as you say, use young players to achieve it. Not quite a B&I cup lineup but something along those lines.

Pretty arrogant way of looking at it IMO, especially for an unimpressive Munster team.

IF Munster qualify, the Amlin Quarterfinals will likely look something like:

Stade Francais v. Munster
Brive v. Wasps
Harlequins v. Clermont
La Rochelle v. Montpellier/Exeter

There are no easy teams in that competition. La Rochelle/Exeter are the only teams Munster would be comfortable against, but not if they fielded a weakened team. (Exeter would love a crack at Munster I'm sure)

[Jackass]

[Jackass] wrote: »

If Munster get into the Amlin, they will almost certainly be away to Stade Francais in the quarter finals (as Munster will be lowest Heineken Cup team to go through if they get there, and Stade Francais will be highest group winner).

What an encounter that would be!!

Also, after Contepomi's departing shot at Munster, Cheika would get one last shot at them too, and he had the beating of them with Leinster.

That could be a massive game, and there could be some great semi / final games if they go on, such as with Clermont or Wasps...

It's a decent competition. If Leinster were unlucky enough to go out in the groups, I'd be hoping we went to Amlin and would be reletively proud if we won it.

I need to correct myself here. I forgot that the best group winner in the Amlin plays the 5th best group winner in the Amlin, so Munster will not play Stade Francais in the quarters. It is more likely they will be away to either Brive or Harlequins.

murphym7

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Pretty arrogant way of looking at it IMO, especially for an unimpressive Munster team.

IF Munster qualify, the Amlin Quarterfinals will likely look something like:

Stade Francais v. Munster
Brive v. Wasps
Harlequins v. Clermont
La Rochelle v. Montpellier/Exeter

There are no easy teams in that competition. La Rochelle/Exeter are the only teams Munster would be comfortable against, but not if they fielded a weakened team. (Exeter would love a crack at Munster I'm sure)

Have to aggree with Irishbucsfan - the Amlin is no Micky Mouse competition. Munster can win this if we qualify, but we will only win it fielding a full strenght team - this is certainly not the competition to use the younger guys. I won't take the Amlin seriously if Munster does not field full strenght teams and compete, showing the respect the competition deserves, which I am sure they will.

irishbucsfan

[Jackass] wrote: »

I need to correct myself here. I forgot that the best group winner in the Amlin plays the 5th best group winner in the Amlin, so Munster will not play Stade Francais in the quarters. It is more likely they will be away to either Brive or Harlequins.

I didn't know that. Odd way of doing things!

thomond2006

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Pretty arrogant way of looking at it IMO, especially for an unimpressive Munster team.

IF Munster qualify, the Amlin Quarterfinals will likely look something like:

Stade Francais v. Munster
Brive v. Wasps
Harlequins v. Clermont
La Rochelle v. Montpellier/Exeter

There are no easy teams in that competition. La Rochelle/Exeter are the only teams Munster would be comfortable against, but not if they fielded a weakened team. (Exeter would love a crack at Munster I'm sure)

I didn't say we'd steamroll the competition if we played youngsters. I think we should use the Amlin as development and dripfeed a few players here and there.

TheHighRoad

A quarter final against Stade Francais, a semi against Wasps and a final against Clermont is nothing to be scoffed at. Its extra days out in Europe against the very best. Considering the opposition in it winning the Amlin would be a huge achievement those aren't mickey mouse teams. Personally I would probably chose the Amlin over the Magners as a mouth watering final against Clermont for a european title would be too hard to resist. I'm not going to lie that I would be disappointed if Leinster went out before the quarters but looking at the teams in the Amlin I wouldn't be that down to be perfectly honest.

pajunior

thomond2006 wrote: »

I didn't say we'd steamroll the competition if we played youngsters. I think we should use the Amlin as development and dripfeed a few players here and there.

Why not use the Magners to put out your development team and use the CC to field a mixture of your best players who will be around next year POC, ROG etc and the youngsters who play the best in the Magners. You're two and a half games clear from 2nd so it should be easy enough to secure top spot even with a few hicups.

If Munster can beat Stade, Clermont, Brive, Wasps then they can take a bit of confidence into next years HC.

Also next year is the last year that Munster get points for winning a HC in the seeding system so winning the CC might help keep them in the top 6 which as we all know doesn't garuntee an easy group, but it can help a lot.

calvin_zola

Munster would wanna get Paul Sackey to manage them

liammur

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Cool, if the final was been played tomorrow I have Leinster as winners.

Honest answer Connacht men, if Connacht qualify for the HC and get a group like Clermont,Ospreys,Racing which they can as a 4th seed, and they get whipped every game do you think it'll benefit the team?(I think it will BTW)

Not having a pop, just curious.

Too many 'ifs; for my liking.

Diom

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Cool, if the final was been played tomorrow I have Leinster as winners.

Honest answer Connacht men, if Connacht qualify for the HC and get a group like Clermont,Ospreys,Racing which they can as a 4th seed, and they get whipped every game do you think it'll benefit the team?(I think it will BTW)

Not having a pop, just curious.

By raising the profile of the team, getting more locals interested, getting more money for television rights... it would be great. Of course Connacht can raise their game. Remember that Connacht barely lost to the team that Munster were just trounced by, and have beaten Bayonne home and away this year. Of course they lost to Cavalieri also so...

porterbelly

Diom wrote: »

By raising the profile of the team, getting more locals interested, getting more money for television rights... it would be great. Of course Connacht can raise their game. Remember that Connacht barely lost to the team that Munster were just trounced by, and have beaten Bayonne home and away this year. Of course they lost to Cavalieri also so...

... And the same Bayonne team did the home and away double over Toulon this season. They had their full team out against us on both occasions.

We can attract better quality players from other provinces and abroad if we get Heineken Cup, and this will make us more competitive on a consistent basis.

On the subject of the Cavalieri loss, it was unacceptable, but shocks do happen. Aironi beat Biarritz, Treviso beat Perpignan last season when they were the whipping boys etc.

PhatPiggins

porterbelly wrote: »

... And the same Bayonne team did the home and away double over Toulon this season. They had their full team out against us on both occasions.

We can attract better quality players from other provinces and abroad if we get Heineken Cup, and this will make us more competitive on a consistent basis.

On the subject of the Cavalieri loss, it was unacceptable, but shocks do happen. Aironi beat Biarritz, Treviso beat Perpignan last season when they were the whipping boys etc.

And Toulon beat Clermont who are champions but Clermont beat Toulouse who are HC champions so that means.............................wait for it................................. Connacht are the best team in Europe :P

ormond lad

Quote:
Originally Posted by irishbucsfan
Pretty arrogant way of looking at it IMO, especially for an unimpressive Munster team.

IF Munster qualify, the Amlin Quarterfinals will likely look something like:

Stade Francais v. Munster
Brive v. Wasps
Harlequins v. Clermont
La Rochelle v. Montpellier/Exeter

There are no easy teams in that competition. La Rochelle/Exeter are the only teams Munster would be comfortable against, but not if they fielded a weakened team. (Exeter would love a crack at Munster I'm sure)

thomond2006 wrote: »

I didn't say we'd steamroll the competition if we played youngsters. I think we should use the Amlin as development and dripfeed a few players here and there.

At the moment the amlin 1/4s would be
stade v montpeillier
brive v munster
quins v clermont
la rochelle v wasps

porterbelly

PhatPiggins wrote: »

And Toulon beat Clermont who are champions but Clermont beat Toulouse who are HC champions so that means.............................wait for it................................. Connacht are the best team in Europe :P

Exactly, you got it one:)

messi1985

this is no way a step back for munster, this is exactly wat we need.. not good enough for the henieken cup so why not go and win this! stade, clearmont, wasps are not bad teams at all.. of course id love to still be in the HC but if we play our cards right next sat, we will be given a second chance to be still in europe.. a kick up the arse to any "true" munster fan who believes this is a step down or munster are going backways.. we need this, we need to be in europe, we need game time against good opposition to fix the problems we have and blood in new, young players.. bonus point victory on sat is needed.. ill be there shouting ye on boys..

(P.S. can u imagine if we got leinster in HC, an annihilation and humiliation could be on the cards, not to mind a 7 in a row if we dont beat them in thomond):eek:

SparKing

I do think a lot of Munster fans will look down at the Challenge Cup, met a guy in the pub yesterday all decked out in red, "What's the Challenge Cup? I've never heard of it", says I "You'll know all about it soon enough".
He was only taking the mick but I reckon it might be a prevalent attitude.
Still though I reckon they'd be mad not to give it a shot, especially since the Magners League play-offs fairly make a mockery of league position.
Any Silverware is better than none


says the Connacht Supporter

Trojan

pajunior wrote: »

If Munster can beat Stade, Clermont, Brive, Wasps then they can take a bit of confidence into next years HC.

Any competition that you need to beat the likes of Stade, Clermont, Brive & Wasps has to have some prestige. That'd be a damn tough HEC group in it's own right.