The I'll Start a Munster Thread Before ... Thread

[hellovating]

yeah, true. i'm still optimistic though. no signs of any drop off in attitude with the coaching issue ongoing. they still look a well drilled outfit. thought niall scannell looked very sharp when he came on. and young liam o'connor continues to impress. with keith, cj, murray and pom to come back, we're in a good place.

i'm still nervous about our second row though. lose Kleyn and we're in the shit there.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

I think both O'Connor boys showed well on Saturday. The way Alex, Darren and Andy are going, I wonder if Keith will get a start? JOD seems to have turned himself into a pretty powerful 8 over the summer and Dunc has continued this season where he left off last; all the talk of him playing back-up to Hart turns out to be bollocks (Makes me feel bad about all the times I slagged him).

I agree we're in a good place, but also agree that Jean is the lynch-pin.

[paddy no 11]

Mayo make limerick look clinical, pished another away yesterday though being realistic they have a stellar defence and andy moran after that they come up short especially the bench which counts in 80 minute games

[hellovating]

Mayo make limerick look clinical, pished another away yesterday though being realistic they have a stellar defence and andy moran after that they come up short especially the bench which counts in 80 minute games

who wins an all ireland first, mayo footballers or limerick hurlers?

[paddy no 11]

We look to have more talent coming thru, should win 2019 (our ability to go fubar aside), Kiely is a good manager but was tactically poor this year, mayo ship looks to have sailed as they don't have a bench and are getting too long in the tooth, they would need to find a serious forward to have any chance next year (thought loftus would do it for them in the final but not to be)

[SerjeantWildgoose]

That was a pretty abject performance last night, with the scoreline being a fair reflection of Glasgow's dominance. It is somewhat of an eye-opener that the first quality opposition - and Glasgow were on excellent form - we come up against are capable of such a destruction job. Make no mistake, this was as emphatic as Scarlets taking us apart in the final.

There are some real issues of concern and all the positive words coming out of the back-room are doing a piss-poor job of papering over the cracks. Last night Glasgow pulled our defence apart with ease, particularly Cummings' try which came off the back of some desperate and desperately poor kicking that allowed them to run ball back at a defence that was not so much pulled out of shape but stretched to the point of losing its elasticity. I am not sure how many tacklers fell off Sarto on his way to setting up Cummings, but it seemed like everyone had a pop; 19 missed tackles would suggest that Jacques isn't exactly working out his notice.

Our own line-out is not sparking, but to be fair the scrum put in a mighty shift and is perhaps our one beacon of hope.

I am loathe to point fingers at individuals this early but feel compelled to do so following last night's act of petulant thuggery by Wycherley. 5 minutes to go in a game that is so far gone it ceased to be a competition half an hour earlier, what possessed the man to throw that shoulder into Swinson's head? My son suggests that we are fortunate that he has got this out of his system when it had little impact on the result, but I worry about any man who has this sort of thing in his system. I suspect that we might well be the side that are held least fondly by Glasgow and its support, but I have always felt that we held some element of moral advantage; Fineen hasn't done much to add to that store.

We can't avoid looking closely at our half-backs. Dunc is playing well beyond his previously-limited talents and I am delighted to see him enjoying some excellent rugby. James Hart is a long way off being a capable understudy at this level so it is a good job Dunc is doing so well. Tyler on the other hand has had a mare of a start. His kicking from the tee is beyond shyte and his kicking from the hand is utterly erratic. Last night was a perfect demonstration of feeble conservatism and futile punting. That neither Ian nor Rory have been able to score from the tee suggests that we've not spent nearly enough time on this over the summer.

I know its early in the season, but there is so much that needs to be fixed that I am not really convinced that it will come together as the season progresses.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

... and Linfield have more chance of winning an All Ireland than Mayo or Limerick.

[hellovating]

Castres
15. Julien Dumora; 14. Taylor Paris, 13. Afusipa Taumoepeau, 12. Robert Ebersohn, 11. David Smith; 10. Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9. Rory Kockott; 1. Antoine Tichit, 2. Jody Jenneker, 3. Daniel Kotze, 4. Loic Jacquet, 5. Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 6. Yannick Caballero, 7. Steve Mafi, 8. Maama Vaipulu
16. Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17. Mihaita Lazar, 18. Damien Tussac, 19. Christophe Samson, 20. Anthony Jelonch, 21. Ludovic Radosavljevic , 22. Florian Vialelle, 23. Armand Batlle

Munster Rugby
15. Simon Zebo; 14. Darren Sweetnam, 13. Chris Farrell, 12. Rory Scannell, 11. Keith Earls; 10. Tyler Bleyendaal, 9. Conor Murray; 1. Dave Kilcoyne, 2. Niall Scannell, 3. Stephen Archer, 4. , 5. Billy Holland, 6. Peter O'Mahony, 7. Tommy O'Donnell, 8. CJ Stander
16. Rhys Marshall, 17. Liam O'Connor, 18. John Ryan, 19. Robin Copeland, 20. Jack O'Donoghue, 21. Duncan Williams, 22. Ian Keatley, 23. Andrew Conway

[paddy no 11]

Is that even a 2nd row

[hellovating]

Is that even a 2nd row

it's better than any second row that contains Copeland

[SerjeantWildgoose]

The boys went well yesterday. Ian managed the conditions a good deal better than Galactic Dan and for a brief few minutes deep into the forth quarter we looked like we were going to rip them to pieces. There is an awful long way to go, I think, to get out of this group, but the draw in Castres may be the thing that tips it.

[paddy no 11]

Good win, earls is playing great rugby. Keatley's kicking the corners won the game, good on him

Huzzah for Exeter and La Rochelle who are just pipped to hoot of the year by the all singing all dancing nandolo

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Simon is on his way, it seems.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... -world-cup

Hardly unexpected and I would wish the man the best of luck.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Now this is good news!

https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ ... 12045.html

[paddy no 11]

Good win, we'll be in the Q's. Leicester in rag order though

Paul Browne vice captain for limerick, shocking decision, he's not a leader..........

[SerjeantWildgoose]

I wouldn't be quite so fast to count the chickens, Paddy. Racing are still in with a shout and we have to go to Paris in January (they haven't given up on this competition by any means with both their losses coming with a BP). If they hand us a beating and we come away with nothing then we go into the final round needing to beat Castres at TP with a BP and a rake of points and hope that Leicester can stop Racing doing the same at Welford Road. I'd say the odds are with us, but there's nothing certain yet and no guarantee that 2nd place with 20 points will be enough.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Hats off to another of our lads who remain largely unsung beyond the confines of Limerick and Cork; Billy H had an absolute stormer yesterday. So, too, KOB whose throw in to the line out was immaculate, scrummaging superb and work around the park worthy of a mention in dispatches; a cracking 1st start in Europe. Great to see Niall back and what an embarrassment of riches we now find ourselves with at hooker.

[paddy no 11]

Agree on O'Brien and Billy surrounded by more physical players is generally excellent for us

[francoisfou]

An impressive couple of wins, albeit against an out of sorts Leicester.
A place in the QFs is for your boys to lose. Castres at home shouldn't pose any problems and at least an lbp at Racing should be well within your grasp. Then again, if Tigers come back from Castres with 5 points and send Racing home pointless, y'aul' feckers'll need be at your best!

[Spiffy]

CJ Stander reportedly offered 840,000 Euros by Montpellier for next season. It will be hard for the IRFU/Munster to come anywhere near it. This is close to double what Furlong/O'Mahony signed for last week with the IRFU.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

I am worried that this sort of money can be lashed about. I am a great fan of CJ in the Munster jersey but still not entirely happy that he runs out in green. It’s not as if Joe is strapped for quality back row forwards and it could be argued that Munster can survive without him (Even more so now that he is in the Irish camp).

This will all come down to how much playing for Ireland means to CJ. And I have to say if he signs an IRFU contract for half of what those rapacious French feckers are offering then I’ll be truly converted to him playing for Ireland.

[paddy no 11]

Indeed

Not certain munster are stacked at 6/8 though

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Good man, CJ.

[BBD]

One of Us, One of Us

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Dead right, Dom. If only we were one of us, too. Then there’d be three of us.