Munster Team Talk Thread - New season title pending....

Wasn’t rowntree that didn’t want Ben ….opposite is the case …..can’t say I agree with that synopsis

Ben only became 3rd choice once it was obvious to Munster that they wouldn't have him next season, of course, almost immediately Joey took some sort of sabbatical and Ben got back into the matchday squads and proved his worth.

As I said earlier, it's a real shame we've lost him.

He's 24, he either thinks Farrell will be there post 2025 contract or he doesn't back himself to get ahead of lads in front of him.

Farrell goes, crowley or prendergast don't crack byrne dominance, a new coach might favour his style...its life

He made is bed in Scotland I hope it works for him

There's nothing to suggest Farrell goes anywhere in the short vto medium term.

There's no player going to sit around for a few years to see what happens.

Healy already turned down longer contracts with Munster while he waited to see what would happen with Ireland, the EI tour probably put the nail in the coffin as far his international options with Ireland were concerned.

He got an offer from Scotland, mulled it over and took it.

It's rewriting history to try and claim he left Munster because he was 3rd choice.

Rubbish …..Ben was rated a lot higher within Munster …..he wanted a shot at international rugby ….powers that be higher up in Irfu didn’t give him any indication he was on the radar ultimately that and his ambition to test himself at top level influenced his decision to to to Edinburgh and Scotland

Ben was rated a lot higher within Munster 

He was rated third of three. Now, JVG seemed to have more time for him than Rowntree (but still a distant second to Carbery) so maybe it's just something about his style that Rowntree didn't fancy, I don't know. He got a nice run at the end of the season, but only after Carbery fell off a cliff.

I genuinely don't see why people think this guy was hard done by in not getting Ireland call-ups.

Can I ask what the relevance is in discussing the run-in when it happened after Healys decision to leave? It seemed to me, from the outside looking in, that Healy had been 2nd choice but the rise of Crowleys star very genuinely threatened that standing. He was looking down the barrel of being 3rd choice for Munster and not having any shot with Ireland (and his lack of selection for the EI tour and Nov games wasn’t really a discussion point at the time which absolutely suggests he wasn’t close to Test level). Once he made the call to leave his confidence/form took an upward swing. But everything from there on is irrelevant because the decision was made and contracts signed. There’s feck all point in saying “he was great in April and we should have kept him” when the decisions were all made back in December.

Oh and Munster tried to keep him on an extended deal. That makes it pretty clear that he moved for international honours and that Rowntree wanted him to stay, so I don’t see how Rowntree could be said to have made any other decision beyond wanting him to stay.

I don’t believe there were any mistakes made by anyone here. Let’s look at the decisions (factoring in the relevant timeline). All in all it seems quite reasonable from all parties. It’s unfortunate for Munster, but that’s just how these things shake up sometimes.

Andy Farrell

In October Farrell named his squad for the November internationals. He named Carbery and Crowley but not Healy. There was very little objection to that at the time. Healy had been a decent 10 without being a particularly good one and didn’t show any signs of having a higher ceiling in the same way that Crowley looked to have. It’s hard to say that Farrell made any kind of an error of judgement here at all. And any decisions he made thereafter are irrelevant as Healy signed for Edinburgh before the 6Ns squad was announced.

Graham Rowntree

Rowntree looked to offer Healy an extended contract in an effort to retain the 10. He obviously saw enough in him to push for stronger contract terms rather than let him go. This means he must have seen something in him to warrant the stronger terms, and that bore out in the second half of the season. So it’s hard to say Rowntree made any errors in judgement there either. In the end his decision seemed to have no bearing on what happened at all (that said we don’t know what conversations were being had in the background re Healys position in the squad).

Ben Healy

Healy started the season as 2nd choice 10 behind Irelands number 2. By November he had seen Crowleys star rise quickly and significantly. He was arguably still 2nd choice at the time (Crowley was playing a lot of his rugby at 12 and 15, but whether that was because he was seen as 3rd choice 10 or because they were looking to develop him/get their best players on the pitch is something we simply don’t know) but, from his perspective, Healy was fighting what was likely a losing battle for that 2nd choice spot. He could either go to Scotland and be first choice for a club there while being in a strong position to feature in the RWC or stay in Ireland and fight a possible losing battle for 2nd choice at his province and not get a look in for the RWC. It seems a fairly obvious choice really. Nobody can blame him for making it and it looks to be working out for him, so fair play.

I don't think them offering him a contract is all that relevant. Of course they'd like to keep a decent backup 10.

Of course they would have wanted him to stay. Munster now have only two senior out halves, one of whom is in the Ireland squad and the other presumably still hopes to get back there too. Regardless of the pecking order, Healy's departure leaves them in a bind they would have liked to have avoided. He's a loss to Munster, for sure, but not to Ireland (based on what we've seen so far).

Ultimately, a guaranteed spot in the first team at Edinburgh and very few credible rivals for Scotland, that's something Munster could never match. It's just one of those things and trying to find ways to blame IRFU is a bit pointless really.

There was plenty of talk of it amongst munster supporters. Maby not from the media that obsessed over harty byrne and now sam prendergast but plenty of munster fans thought he should be our no.1 2 years ago