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A great big Munster thread
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<blockquote data-quote="snoopy snoopy dog dog" data-source="post: 367532" data-attributes="member: 13611"><p>Good post but I respectfully disagree!</p><p> </p><p>In my opinion prop is one position where there's no first choice player. You have a starter who gives his all for 50 minutes and a substitute who does so for 30 minutes. The sum of their parts add up to a solid scrum a la van der Merwe/Healy and Ross/Wright for Leinster. I agree that Andress and Shawe aren't top quality but they're capable of strong 30 minute displays. By mentioning Shawe I was merely pointing out that if a 4th choice tighthead for Leinster who was an amateur only 5 months ago can lock a scrum, surely there are decent options to be found in Ireland. Also with Ross and Hagan looking like capable players, Munster may not be restricted to an Irish qualified answer to their tighthead problem. It's only right too since they've supplied the bulk of Ireland's props for the last decade.</p><p> </p><p>In place of Foley you can swap Ian Nagle who's impressed in his limited opportunities. Holland and Ronan are on a similar level to Stephen Keogh at Leinster. Joe Schmidt took the plunge and gave Rhys Ruddock and Dominic Ryan a chance ahead of Keogh even though neither were as polished. He picked Eoin O'Malley and Fergus McFadden when the easy choice was to pick the proven Shaun Berne (admittedly he was injured for a long spell). 5 months later those looks like inspired moves. I also believe that if you're good enough you're old enough. Another 19 year old, Craig Gilroy, has scored 5 tries in 3 games for Ulster. 18 year old Paddy Jackson has been on the bench in the Magners League while 19 year old Luke Marshall has quite a few games in the centre. Cian Healy and Luke Fitzgerald played for Leinster a couple of months after leaving school. Rhys Ruddock won a cap at 19 and there are multiple other players who made their Leinster debut before they turned 20. It is true that picking solely kids would destroy their confidence but picking Hanrahan alongside O'Leary/Stringer, O'Gara, Earls, Howlett and Warwick would benefit him greatly. Sam Tuitupou gets too much criticism because he's been decent at ML level but he doesn't represent the future. The short term pain of blooding somebody like Hanrahan would have borne fruit very quickly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="snoopy snoopy dog dog, post: 367532, member: 13611"] Good post but I respectfully disagree! In my opinion prop is one position where there's no first choice player. You have a starter who gives his all for 50 minutes and a substitute who does so for 30 minutes. The sum of their parts add up to a solid scrum a la van der Merwe/Healy and Ross/Wright for Leinster. I agree that Andress and Shawe aren't top quality but they're capable of strong 30 minute displays. By mentioning Shawe I was merely pointing out that if a 4th choice tighthead for Leinster who was an amateur only 5 months ago can lock a scrum, surely there are decent options to be found in Ireland. Also with Ross and Hagan looking like capable players, Munster may not be restricted to an Irish qualified answer to their tighthead problem. It's only right too since they've supplied the bulk of Ireland's props for the last decade. In place of Foley you can swap Ian Nagle who's impressed in his limited opportunities. Holland and Ronan are on a similar level to Stephen Keogh at Leinster. Joe Schmidt took the plunge and gave Rhys Ruddock and Dominic Ryan a chance ahead of Keogh even though neither were as polished. He picked Eoin O'Malley and Fergus McFadden when the easy choice was to pick the proven Shaun Berne (admittedly he was injured for a long spell). 5 months later those looks like inspired moves. I also believe that if you're good enough you're old enough. Another 19 year old, Craig Gilroy, has scored 5 tries in 3 games for Ulster. 18 year old Paddy Jackson has been on the bench in the Magners League while 19 year old Luke Marshall has quite a few games in the centre. Cian Healy and Luke Fitzgerald played for Leinster a couple of months after leaving school. Rhys Ruddock won a cap at 19 and there are multiple other players who made their Leinster debut before they turned 20. It is true that picking solely kids would destroy their confidence but picking Hanrahan alongside O'Leary/Stringer, O'Gara, Earls, Howlett and Warwick would benefit him greatly. Sam Tuitupou gets too much criticism because he's been decent at ML level but he doesn't represent the future. The short term pain of blooding somebody like Hanrahan would have borne fruit very quickly. [/QUOTE]
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