Munster Team Talk Thread - Snymans are(n't) Forever

Lack size? He's probably the heaviest loosehead in Ireland?

I don’t think Loughman lacks size, he is quite lean for a prop but is in no way small. I think it can be deceptive some times looking at players on the pitch. When you stand beside him though you can see it. I do think his scrummaging could do with some improvement at times. As he doesn’t seem to transfer that power. Mind you, scrummaging is not the most important aspect for Irish props these days and Loughman has good hands.

Loughman is a big enough unit. He was developed as a tighthead before moving across in his early twenties which is potentially why his scrummaging is sometimes lacking slightly similar to Andrew Porter.

He's still probably the best option there though and has handling skills that the other props don't possess which is key to being able to keep the ball moving and expose gaps in the opposition.

Equally key for Munster is his age profile. Kilcoyne, Ryan and Archer are all 35 this year. It's important for them to have someone like Loughman available whose age profile gives a good blend of experience and still having his best ahead of him.

Munster have to be allowed to sign another prop though next season. Those three lads are all thinking about retirement at some point in the next 1-2 years. There's three props in the academy but, to the best of my knowledge, none of them looked like they were certainties for significant professional careers.

I don't think we can underestimate how much of an impact the travel has also. Not sure it would have made a difference but, given it was a Friday game against Glasgow, I was surprised they didn't fly out until Tuesday night. From arrival in Durban, they'd have had only 72 hours to get themselves ready for the game. Whilst the time difference is minimal, those guys would have had either very little or very poor quality rest/sleep on the trip before having to play in those conditions. At that level of performance, the fine margins count and that undoubtedly would have had a negative impact.

The Stormers are in the middle of a truly horrible run of travel/fixtures right now (away to Leinster, home to Harlequins, away to Exeter, home to Munster all in consecutive weekends) . I would say that Munster should heavily target that game to secure their URC league finish. It shouldn't be as hot in Cape Town either.

You're right. Was at a wedding for the weekend and all days ran into one another!

I think they were waiting for the grand slam celebrations to finish.

Aside from quoting the scores and in what games, what has he done? I saw very little interesting in his thread, more a snapshot from the results of a few games with little or no analysis on why, how, reasons/excuses, whatever.

For context, the Stormers are playing Exeter on Friday evening. They've been delayed but their original plan (which they only would have been able to pull the confirm on Sunday afternoon) was to arrive in Exeter on Tuesday morning to give themselves some time there to adjust.

**** me. I can't even read a calendar at this stage.

Munster have confirmed that Dan Goggin has finished playing with Munster and will now play abroad.

I thought the new regime might have suited him but he wasn't getting game time so I suppose he may as well try somewhere else. I think he had a year left on his contract.

The run of three games includes 42 pts conceded against Scarlets, but if Munster had needed to keep that one tight, they probably could have.

The real concern is the Glasgow and Sharks matches; these were critical games and strong Munster XVs named, but still torn asunder.