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

While I don’t think it’s fair to attack individual players there is no escaping that this muster team is very poor when compared with times gone by. The first 15 when everyone’s fit is decent if that will ever happen again.

They did excellent to win the URC last year, like let’s be real, did any of us expect to beat Leinster in the quarterfinal ? I didn’t anyway. It was unexpected, welcome mind you, but unexpected.

Northampton were down to 13 players for 8 full mins, and 14 for what, 45 mins? There’s no excuse for Munster not to have won that game, let alone an excuse to blow the lead they amassed.

Shit happens in rugby, it’s just happening too often now for Munster.

On the conditions yes they were crap ….for both sides …..not overly critical of Crowley but last night showed he still has a lot to learn ….he failed to grab the game ..exert control and play smart rugby when we needed it in second half …..he was great last week when things were motoring well but this week in second half he was way off what we needed ….Northampton and there 10 played smart rugby in the conditions

The only differences being

1. no or minimal contact with the scoring players
2. no reaction from the player, no blood, no stretcher, no review by the officials. But other than that almost identical to the Ahern situation

Are La Rochelle or Sale not getting in there after today maybe?

I think Rowntree's bench selection has to be questioned. He is obviously limited in what he can do in the front row but he has options in the back row and never elects to use them. How many times is he going to bring on Gleeson and Kendellan, watch the pack wilt and then go and pick the exact same bench the following week? He has picked those two as cover 5 times since the first Leinster game and 4 of those times Munster have capitulated in the final 20 minutes. Of the 16 second row and back row bench slots that have been available in that time, Kendellan and Gleeson have gotten 13 of them.

Is Quinn injured? Why has he not featured at all this season? He is older, more developed, a stronger carrier at this level (for now) and more experienced than Gleeson, yet he's not even worth a single bench slot in a URC game? Okeke has a genuinely stand out game in the champions cup which was notable for his aggressive effective carrying and then never again features in a competitive game for Munster. O'Sullivan is a relatively senior player who has been stuck playing AIL since his return from injury in November.

Some of those games were lost by tiny tiny margins and with a very depleted squad.

Will we turn it around? god only knows but last year shows/proves with a full squad available to us we can beat the best.

It worked at the end of last season against many so called superior opponents. Why? Player availability is a good starting point.

All teams, even Leinster struggle without their top players. Think of a leinster squad playing the top premiership team without porter, Sheehan/ kelleher, ryan, McCarthy, park, Keenan, and then to lose Baird at 35 mins

munster were without kilcoyne, Barron, Edogbo, Klyne, RG snyman, Murray, Haley, last night and who would have all made last nights squad , then lost Ahearne in first half.

Now maybe Leinster would have had better players coming into the squad , but you mist admit it wouldn’t look good , would it ?

might that explain the why ?

sometimes the simple answer is the correct answer.

the rain was very heavy in the 2nd half. Some racket from the roof of the stand as it fell

got soaked going to the car afterwards

So with a patch-quilt pack, inexperienced captain and young out-half, we focused too much on getting the BP and let the team with an increasing advantage via the weather chip back into the game. A team who are <checks notes> ah yes, top of the Premiership.

Massively disappointing but certainly an identifiable lesson to learn.

Is Kleyn gone for the season?

This in a nutshell, guys moaning about Munster bad, Munster bad, Munster bad while ignoring the injuries, particularly to our 2nd row.

Again, we showed last year that with a full deck to pick from we can run with the rest.

to “kick when they should run and run when they should kick” as per Rowntree.While I can admire the honesty in that comment id prefer the coach watching the game plan literally unfold before them to get the ex international flyhalf off the bench earlier with the message to correct the tactics as best they could. Casey was Obv struggling and the reluctance to bring on PP also was a bit disappointing. I realise that’s all easy with hindsight, but second half collapses should be firmly on the coaches radar at the mo and to act so late is baffling.

Any word on Ahern? He looked in a bad way coming off. Should be a hefty ban for the Northampton lad. Cheap shot and incredibly dangerous. Hopefully Ahern makes a quick and safe return. Has he had any previous history of concussion?

Are we looking at Northampton away if Toulouse win?

unless Exeter win by 52 points then they top the group.