Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

Quitelife

Looking at the Munster starting team today , 7 of starting team from Cork , 3 from Leinster, 1 UK , 1 France , 1 South Africa and 2 from Limerick Casey & Nash .

2 out of 15 starters and Earls on bench is a pretty low number of Limerick players involved with Munster compared to years past

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984343#Comment_119984343

It seems the number 1 rule is we arent allowed say anything bad about Toulouse so I'll keep my comments to myself in this regard...

letowski

Toulouse really showed they’re experience though with how they controlled the second half. Dupont kicked into the fog, putting pressure on Munster and gaining territory. I know Murray gets a lot of criticism but I taught he was a loss today. I think he might have been better able to counter Dupont and try to put pressure on the Toulouse back 3, something we hardly did all day, maybe except at the start when Label dropped the ball under his legs.

Good learning curve for a young Munster though.

cuttingtimber22

Weather did not suit Munster. Toulouse were tactically betterZ Felt the pack were overpowered. Could have done with Edwin in the second row with Beirne at 6.

Breakdown was a mess and unfortunately they played the poor ref much better. I hope we get the bounce of the ball in the remaining pool games otherwise it will be a long and unsuccesful season.

Burkie1203

https://twitter.com/RugbyKino/status/1602000360809418752?t=qr10Z4hCE2B1_ipCnmjlHA&s=19

waikato chiefs after Ryan

theVersatile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984343#Comment_119984343

https://twitter.com/threeredkings/status/1601985590869872642?t=cIg9ssTcDwq0h2YdsnLhqw&s=19

Yes obviously ...

The ability of TRK to live in people's heads never fails to amaze me.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984644#Comment_119984644

So why the need the belittle the ref?

TheLooseHead at it too.

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984661#Comment_119984661

Because he was shite.

razorblunt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984635#Comment_119984635

That move is surely a non runner, for a lad that didn't want to leave the province when JvG forced him out he'd hardly go round the world now?

PTH2009

Hard luck to Munster and next weeks game is a must win. Northampton won't be as bad again esp them been at home

Did we get a bonus point today ? Sofascore showing '0 pts'

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984884#Comment_119984884

Munster imo will have to make a decent offer.

I can't see a New Zealand team making him a short term offer that would be worth it.

At this stage in his career I would say theres should be a definite preference for European offers (unless they are multi year deals worth risking sports person relief for).

Rob Kearney cost himself a fortune by having his final year in Australia but he was sufficiently set up that he could afford to piss away a fortune.

I suspect Munster are lowballing him slightly. Telling him he doesn't want to move his kids again.

Shehal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985027#Comment_119985027

They may just be that bad again considering they've been pretty bad in Europe for a long time now...

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984385#Comment_119984385

Thats came up in this thread a bit. Munster have been doing things to address it and there has been improvements in age grade rugby and rep level at 18s and up and it isnt as much an issue when we've seen a large increase in players coming through from other areas of the province. We didnt have any players from waterford for years and now we've a few involved in the pro set up. same wtih west cork. etc

Former Former Former

Munster will absolutely hockey Northampton home and away, and with the LBP today, qualification for the next round should be handy enough, will probably be an away trip though.

Akrasia

I put Munster on 12 points from the 'group stages' that might just be enough for a home knockout game

Northhampton were dire against LAR and looks like they've just decided not to bother in Europe this year

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985166#Comment_119985166

Last 16 is home and away isn’t it?

should pick up at least 9 pts from Northampton though that means a minimum of 10pts. Maybe 12pts if they get 10 from Northampton and another LBP from Toulouse. That would probably leave them top half of the draw and a home quarter?

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985208#Comment_119985208

The home and away thing is gone again AFAIK

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984214#Comment_119984214

Munsters pack were much smaller than theirs. Size matters in a game like Rugby

The conditions suited the ball up the jumper style of rugby that favours big packs.

I think we can give them a real game in the return fixture next year

I didn't really get to watch this properly but the fog looked mad on the TV. Was it as bad in the ground? Did it impact the game at all?

stephen_n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985227#Comment_119985227

Oh right, I lose track of this format. 11-12 points would probably get a home draw then.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985227#Comment_119985227

Yeah, it's a one off knockout game

I thought last year the home and away element was brilliant, and after the round finished, the consensus seemed to be that it was hugely successful but the powers that be decided that it should be a knockout once off game

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985246#Comment_119985246

Not if you were at pitch level in terrace or low in stand but i guess it did if you were towards top of either stand

Neil3030

Especially now with the SA teams in the competition, more or less at the expense of the Italian and Welsh.

It means, for e.g., Quins lost away to Sharks this weekend, whereas last year they would have likely picked up wins against a Treviso or a Cardiff.

With the Pro14 dividend no longer as helpful to English and French sides, the threshold to qualify will surely drop a bit.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984015#Comment_119984015

Faugheen back to whinge about... (checks notes)... home fans booing a referee??

Absolute state of this...

aloooof

Some thoughts on that:

• Overall not too disheartened. Enough signs of positives there; I think we've seen more from Prendergast in attack in his first half-season than we saw under 3 season of Larkham.  
• On that note, I distinctly remember a game v Leinster maybe 3 seasons ago where Loughman, Beirne, Coombes all had handling errors from direct carries leading to knock-ons. They all have significally improved their handling and footwork since. 
• Lineout significantly better, but with Toulouse not competing, our maul wasn't as potent. Ironcically, our worst lineout of the 1st half lead to our try. 
• Scrum went pretty well; under more pressure as the game went on, but to be expected against that sub front-row. Ryan has been great since his return.
• Mentioned it earlier in the season, but it was most obvious today that Haley is being tasked with counter-attacking in positions he previously would've kick-returned. It's a real strength to his game and seems to be working well for us. 
• A little unlucky on their 2nd try; on first look, I think if POM doesn't slip, we've a better chance of defending that. Daly assist-tackling with Casey though shows that for all the positives Casey brings (and there are loads) we'll have to compensate in other areas. 
• On the ref, for me the most egregious one was when Toulouse played the ball with the foot in a ruck. Pretty sure he said something along the lines of "played with foot so ok" on the mic . (And one very obvious side-entry vs Hodnett that went unpenalised as well. And the one playing Patterson too while I think of it).
• Haley being taken in the air was a clear yellow for me, but that was clearly on the TMO. Other than that I thought he Ridley was ok. 
• Good outing again from Carbery, imo. He's taking it noticeably flatter, releasing it later, and seems way more willing to take contact, on both sides of the ball. A min or 2 after getting levelled by the Toulouse front-row, he was up and tackling Akhi. It's the most encouraged I've been about him since his return from injury. Two tries in 2 games now too.
• I've been pretty adamant that I think Crowley will play more at 10 than elsewhere this season, but on current form (along with Joey's form) there's a real case to start him at 12. 
• Did Kleyn go off injured? The 2nd row injury issues are a problem at the moment. Would loved to have seen Edogbo getting on in this game. 
• Hodnett his usual industrious self. Rarely fails to have a good impact.
• Frisch has been great of late, but thought he was pretty poor today. Hopefully just a blip.
• Lastly, that new euro jersey is lovely.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119984661#Comment_119984661

TRK is a Munster fan account. What do you expect? He's not a journalist that should be objective or impartial.

And as for the LooseHead, I always find him really reasonably tbh (way more than TRK). What exactly did he say?? To me, it looks like, what, one, maybe 2 relatively innocuous tweets?

https://twitter.com/TheLooseH/status/1601984742567645185

You think this equates to "belittling the ref"??

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985049#Comment_119985049

I suspect Munster are lowballing him slightly. Telling him he doesn't want to move his kids again.

You think Munster are telling him he doesn't want to move his kids again?? That's a huge leap.

PMC83

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/arid-41026373.html

Could be an interesting move for Ryan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985632#Comment_119985632

Pretty sure TRK writes/has written for the Examiner.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119985587#Comment_119985587

Agree with a lot of this, though I'd be harder on the ref, well maybe his ARs for not calling offside, I mean the hind foot is so easy police, even in fog that's easy, all you have to do is check a straight line. No wonder they were getting man and ball at times when you're a half a yard offside. The breakdown was a mess, total mess.

But at the end of the day, we lacked power when they brought on power, turned over a lineout, tried to maul rather than run out last lineout.