A great big Munster thread

[munstermuffin]

Doesn't


Doesn't sound true. It'd be f****** hilarious if it happened though.

100% false especially when most SA news outlets here don't even mention JVG as a contender. Its more Irish news trying get paid with clicks and well it works to be fair to them. As they say in Cork - Paper never refused ink

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Not that it was ever probable but that's good. Munster need stability and Van Graan has two seasons to reach a final and if he does he'll probably be afforded two more to win something.

If he can get his players to buy into the pro14 100% (I do believe it's just not seen as being worth much effort down south) it might provide Munster with the launchpad they need to be real European contenders again.

 

[sugary tae]

I'd definitely have taken a 5 points win at altitude when I saw our team. In fact to rally and come back and win having fallen behind is impressive. Certainly a good bit of sloppy play and we'll be disappointed with some of the tries conceded. Bill Johnson Daly and Wycherley are all becoming options. Kob was very impressive while loughman certainly showed ability. Good to have Tyler back in the mix. Whether he's a viable 12 long term in terms of bulk I don't know but as a sub 12 for the final 20 mins of big games he could be a weapon.

Any chance we could keep alby till the end of the year??

Cloete needs to eliminate the silly penalties

 

[munstermuffin]

I'd definitely have taken a 5 points win at altitude when I saw our team. In fact to rally and come back and win having fallen behind is impressive. Certainly a good bit of sloppy play and we'll be disappointed with some of the tries conceded. Bill Johnson Daly and Wycherley are all becoming options. Kob was very impressive while loughman certainly showed ability. Good to have Tyler back in the mix. Whether he's a viable 12 long term in terms of bulk I don't know but as a sub 12 for the final 20 mins of big games he could be a weapon.

Any chance we could keep alby till the end of the year??

Cloete needs to eliminate the silly penalties

Very unlikely as Neil Cronin and James Hart are getting back. We also have a lot of 9's on our books and I feel if we do Leinster may go mad and arguably rightfully too.

 

[sugary tae]

Very unlikely as Neil Cronin and James Hart are getting back. We also have a lot of 9's on our books and I feel if we do Leinster may go mad and arguably rightfully too.

Well the ulster lads certainly would.
Fair enough I suppose.
Is hart being kept on? I think Mccarthy will turn out to be a decent signing tbh.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Very unlikely as Neil Cronin and James Hart are getting back. We also have a lot of 9's on our books and I feel if we do Leinster may go mad and arguably rightfully too.

I doubt Leinster would complain. Where they have a legitimate gripe is that they were forced into playing a 12 at flyhalf against Kings whereas Munster had Bill Johnston, Ian Keatley, JJ Hanrahan and Tyler Bleyendaal available.

I'm not going to cover old ground but if Joey Carbery was moved to help Ireland, at two of the other Munster flyhalves should be moved to help the other provinces. I for one would be very happy to have Ian Keatley covering 10 while Ross Byrne and Johnny Sexton are on international duty.

 

[sugary tae]

I doubt Leinster would complain. Where they have a legitimate gripe is that they were forced into playing a 12 at flyhalf against Kings whereas Munster had Bill Johnston, Ian Keatley, JJ Hanrahan and Tyler Bleyendaal available.

I'm not going to cover old ground but if Joey Carbery was moved to help Ireland, at two of the other Munster flyhalves should be moved to help the other provinces. I for one would be very happy to have Ian Keatley covering 10 while Ross Byrne and Johnny Sexton are on international duty.

You're entirely correct of course. In fact I'd probably do one of jj or Johnson a bit of good to get some game time. I suspect Tyler being so Crocked played a part.

 

[munstermuffin]

I doubt Leinster would complain. Where they have a legitimate gripe is that they were forced into playing a 12 at flyhalf against Kings whereas Munster had Bill Johnston, Ian Keatley, JJ Hanrahan and Tyler Bleyendaal available.

I'm not going to cover old ground but if Joey Carbery was moved to help Ireland, at two of the other Munster flyhalves should be moved to help the other provinces. I for one would be very happy to have Ian Keatley covering 10 while Ross Byrne and Johnny Sexton are on international duty.

Well that is what I mean in a way. Like being fair Keatley is completely out of the picture now. Tyler was originally signed as a 12 remember and I think that is where he will stay. BJ and JJ will be back up 10's although JJ may move on soon too.

Like Ian Keatley to Leinster would make sense for all parties. On the 9 issue I think it would also be irritating for us to try keep Alby until we get N. McC.

But separately it 100% made sense Joey going to us as he has really progressed due to being the leader of a team. But the issue you spoke of the weekend would still have been there had he been with Leinster.

 

[munstermuffin]

Suprised not posted here.
Alby staying with us until March 31st at least.
Due to James Hart set back and IRFU wanting to take over Conor for season. He will play very little for us this season but is fit enough.

 

[sugary tae]

Pretty much full team out this week bar carbery and cj. I hope they're easing the workload in training. We've ran out of puff in the last month in both the last 2 years.

 

[munstermuffin]

Pretty much full team out this week bar carbery and cj. I hope they're easing the workload in training. We've ran out of puff in the last month in both the last 2 years.

Sure is. Joey is in Paris and Rome I believe. CJ is probably camping

 

[sugary tae]

Some good contract renewals. Delighted we get to keep Arno.

I wonder is it end of the line for bleyendaal with jj renewed

 

[munstermuffin]

Some good contract renewals. Delighted we get to keep Arno.

I wonder is it end of the line for bleyendaal with jj renewed

Arno was a no brainer.

Tyler is an interesting one. We originally signed him to be long term 10. Now we have Joey. Mix it with his injury record and he is seen now as a 12. I believe there is a deal on table for him but who knows

 

[KerryRed]

Some good contract renewals. Delighted we get to keep Arno.

I wonder is it end of the line for bleyendaal with jj renewed

Not necessarily, JvG could be looking at him as a 12 in which we a short back up for Scannell. Goggin can play there though I think he's a better 13

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

This link might be of interest:
https://dementedmole.com/2018/12/29/maintaining-a-lean-squad/

It examines Munster's squad, the split of game time among players and asks if there are too many players contracted. It's a long read, I agree with much of it. See what you think.

I've argued in the past that Munster have too many players on their books and aren't giving enough opportunities to young players. There's a lot to be gained from investing significant game time in Jack O'Sullivan (once healthy), Calvin Nash, Bill Johnston, Fineen Wycherley and others. Taking a look at the current Munster squad (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munster_Rugby#Senior_Playing_Squad), you could cut roughly €500000 off the annual wage bill easily and not hurt their prospects in the Pro 14 and Europe.

 

[munstermuffin]

This link might be of interest:
https://dementedmole.com/2018/12/29/maintaining-a-lean-squad/

It examines Munster's squad, the split of game time among players and asks if there are too many players contracted. It's a long read, I agree with much of it. See what you think.

I've argued in the past that Munster have too many players on their books and aren't giving enough opportunities to young players. There's a lot to be gained from investing significant game time in Jack O'Sullivan (once healthy), Calvin Nash, Bill Johnston, Fineen Wycherley and others. Taking a look at the current Munster squad (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munster_Rugby#Senior_Playing_Squad), you could cut roughly €500000 off the annual wage bill easily and not hurt their prospects in the Pro 14 and Europe.

Snoop you left out Ben Healy but there is an overhaul coming

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

While accepting that Thomond Park will always be the home of Munster, Lenihan feels that staging games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh would bring a "carnival atmosphere" to the southern capital and cited the recent success of the Liam Miller tribute match and the possibility of Leinster coming down for a Pro14 encounter, as cases in point.

He added: "There are times you have to shift your matches to other venues, when commercial reality comes into play.

"Munster Rugby are under pressure, they need finances in terms of servicing their own debt on Thomond Park, as are the Cork county board.

"It would be win-win for all concerned."

Full comments from Donal Lenihan here: https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2019...unster-in-pairc-ui-chaoimh-a-win-win-for-all/

It's worthy of discussion. Both Thomond Park and Pairc Uí Chaoimh are in quite a bit of debt. If Munster could make more money hosting a one off game in Pairc Uí Chaoimh (thus servicing the debt on Thomond) while at the same time the GAA stadium clears some of it's debt, both parties win.

The greater Cork City area has about 400000 people living in it. The population of Limerick County is about 200000. Cork is providing far more players to Munster than Limerick yet it's stab city the Shannonside city that gets all the big games.

I'm not suggesting moving all big games from Thomond Park, far from it. Thomond is a great venue for European games. I do think it's worth exploring the possibility of the Leinster game every year being moved to the 45000 capacity Pairc Uí Chaoimh in much the same way that Leinster shift their home game against Munster to Lansdowne Road. It'd be an opportunity to give back to Cork based fans who can legitimately gripe about Munster's focus being primarily on Limerick.

 

[munstermuffin]

Full comments from Donal Lenihan here: https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2019...unster-in-pairc-ui-chaoimh-a-win-win-for-all/

It's worthy of discussion. Both Thomond Park and Pairc Uí Chaoimh are in quite a bit of debt. If Munster could make more money hosting a one off game in Pairc Uí Chaoimh (thus servicing the debt on Thomond) while at the same time the GAA stadium clears some of it's debt, both parties win.

The greater Cork City area has about 400000 people living in it. The population of Limerick County is about 200000. Cork is providing far more players to Munster than Limerick yet it's stab city the Shannonside city that gets all the big games.

I'm not suggesting moving all big games from Thomond Park, far from it. Thomond is a great venue for European games. I do think it's worth exploring the possibility of the Leinster game every year being moved to the 45000 capacity Pairc Uí Chaoimh in much the same way that Leinster shift their home game against Munster to Lansdowne Road. It'd be an opportunity to give back to Cork based fans who can legitimately gripe about Munster's focus being primarily on Limerick.

I think this is being more exposed now due to Munster exploring about PUC for European Home Country games instead of goung to Dublin.

The thing is though thr IRFU will not pay rent to GAA when they have a stadium there

 

[sugary tae]

I think this is being more exposed now due to Munster exploring about PUC for European Home Country games instead of goung to Dublin.

The thing is though thr IRFU will not pay rent to GAA when they have a stadium there

Semi final receipts go to champions cup doesn't it with the teams paid a fee and stadium paid rent? Depends then on how much irfu charges doesn't it? Catch 22 for Munster. They have a. Very poor record in the aviva while a cork game would be attractive considering how many will travel to Edinburgh (myself included). However money info irfu coffers comes straight down the line to Munster in terms of wages etc.


I think it's all a show to be honest. Sarries will beat Glasgow

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I think this is being more exposed now due to Munster exploring about PUC for European Home Country games instead of goung to Dublin.

The thing is though thr IRFU will not pay rent to GAA when they have a stadium there

Absolutely agree. If Munster got to a semi final in Europe the IRFU would want the stadium rental fee from EPCR. As stakeholders in EPCR, they'd get it.

The reason a game against Leinster in Pairc Uí Chaoimh could be a runner is because Munster won't want to play a home Pro 14 game in Dublin against their biggest rivals. If a game in PUC can make Munster more money than a game in Thomond Park, Munster should look into the possibility. I've no idea if it would or not. For example, Leinster need to clear 30000 fans in the Aviva Stadium in order to make more than a full house in the RDS.