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

Cause he wants to play for Munster (as in his contract)? Lots of players aren't internationals.

phog they have picked him to train in the squad for 2 days. It's literally less than Ireland have done.

Good luck to him if he wants to make a shot of it in France.

Ufff… I've been loathe to post here lately, but here's the thing in all of this.

@Munster fans:

I don't think Andy Farrell has made an enormous error here. I understand the capture-cap reasoning, but I wouldn't like us to go down that road. I just think Ringrose, Henshaw, Aki and McCloskey are all objectively better players.

I also don't think, prior to the RWC, he made an error with Haley given the squad restrictions. I'd like to see that change come, at least, the AI's. (For me, Kleyn was his biggest error).

@Non-Munster fans:

Munster don't have the depth beyond their 15/23. Retaining their starters is really important. Also, building familiarity with the players around you is really important. Potentially moreso in the style of attack Munster want to deploy.

But Munster losing a player from our 15/23 has happened a number of times now in the recent past. I can completely understand Munster fans getting very annoyed at this point.

@Podge_irl you mentioned the Frisch situation is "unfortunate". This happening once is unfortunate. But with Healy, Frisch, Kleyn (and the knock-on impact with Snyman), this feels more than just unfortunate.

@Former Former Former your "I'd like to see SOB get a start in the centre, see what he can do." just reads as a little casual (and I appreciate it wasn;t meant that way). We're losing a starter here, who was fundamental in our URC win last season, and is a very good fit to our style of play.

As well as SOB has been playing on the wing of late, I just don't think he has the attributes Frisch brings in attack. It also doesn't mean everyone is attacking Farrell.

(Fwiw, there were similar comments earlier in the thread along the lines of "I'm sure Munster would survive without [Hodnett and Coombes]"). That stuff is going to irk Munster fans, and I can understand why tbh.

One final point - if there is an increasing perception within squads that it's more difficult to get into Ireland camp / get Ireland caps than it is with Leinster because of continuity, cohesion, familiarly with each other / systems etc. (and there seems to be an increasing perception of this within fanbases) then that is an issue / potential issue down the line, whether with fanbases and/or players.

I'm not sure how to fix it, and I'm not saying it's even Andy Farrell's job to fix, but it is an issue.

Now, can't we all just get along? Back into hibernation with me…

#lazy

Apparently.

Occam's razor.

@aloooof It's very unfortunate? I do get the frustration, but I think it is worth stepping back to try and look at it and realise it's not some conspiracy which is what the discussion veers towards at times.

I will absolutely agree on Kleyn to a point. I think if he had shown the form he showed last year just a few months earlier he would have been in the squad - or at least in contention for it. Farrell decided to stick to his selected squad for the whole of last season for good or ill (albeit with the exception of McCarthy which partly throws my argument out I'll admit). However, while I think it's largely just unfortunate I will happily acknowledge that I can see an alternate reality where he had a smattering of caps. I'm not convinced Snyman would have stayed either way mind you - would the 1014 club folk have been happy to put yet more money against someone who never played?

I don't particularly think Healy would have had any interest in being second choice at Munster anyway. I just don't understand how you can argue Farrell was ignoring a Munster player when he essentially plucked Crowley out from the depth charts to start against Australia. AF just thought Crowley was better and frankly he was correct. I mean he jumped Crowley straight in ahead of the more conservative selection of Ross Byrne! And frankly, I just don't rate him that much anyway - he strikes me as a player who had a few months of being incredibly in form but will never repeat that. And Frisch just isn't good enough as you've said yourself.

The reality is Munster have had a glut of borderline international players who Ireland, in their current run, have not seen the need to cap. In a different era where Ireland were not doing as well or had more injuries etc etc who knows. I also think this is not unrelated to Munster's general level of performance in the URC and EPCR - they are capable of runs like the win last seasons but it is clear they are not a complete squad for whatever reason.

As to the perception of Leinster players getting in easier, I understand that one. I think Haley should have been brought in when Keenan was ruled out, but I think the fact they thought he might be fit played a factor there and Larmour was just drafted in as a 24th man - a position Haley can't really fill. And I will happily admit I don't get the Frawley love in. I think there is a balance to strike that is probably slightly off-kilter at the moment.

Ross Molony isn't capped? And there are rumours he is English qualified, not sure if true, and he's off to an English team 😁

it's an otherworldly level of bad luck.

I mean, yes it is. If that is the complaint I am fully on board and I think people should vent and rage about it as much as they want. What I think is silly is blaming the IRFU or Andy Farrell for it.

I also still think you're far better off with Crowley and Burns than Crowley and Healy so that has worked out as well as it could.