The better competition sponsored by Guinness - Round 15

[Groundhog]

I think Porter 100% would when you consider guys like Parker are young getting plentt of chances. Ryan yes as he was always touted as a special talent and well we have given guys a shot. Maybe not Deegan as we have competition across the board in backroe and he reminds me a bit of Jacko. Is playing across the backrow, settling in no position and will potentially get stuck in rut.
Leavy would as he was a talent. If ypu look at pur backrows they're possibly not as good as Leinsters backrow but they get chamces.

All this talk of Munster not giving talent a chance and not doing yada yada got me thinking and then it occurred to me we produced a pretty decent player for Leinster recently

James Ryan is a Munster product. Leinster academy BTFO and relegated to producing squad players for Ulster. Munster deserve another star on their jerseys.

 

[Leinster Fan]

All this talk of Munster not giving talent a chance and not doing yada yada got me thinking and then it occurred to me we produced a pretty decent player for Leinster recently

James Ryan is a Munster product. Leinster academy BTFO and relegated to producing squad players for Ulster. Munster deserve another star on their jerseys.

How does it feel to know that Munster's greatest ever lock is from Leinster?

 

[profitius]

If Johnston is injured he’s injured. Honestly it’s seriously disappointing either way. I don’t see the point in comparing him to Frawley or Byrne because neither has had anywhere close to the number of injury issues. That said we can do better in giving academy guys chances. Not sure where guys like Nash and a few others have fallen off in the eyes of coaches, but this isn’t a solely Van Graan ticket problem. A few other guys never seemed to get chances and disappeared in the past. I will Say they’re doing a good job on Wycherley, Coombes, Liam O’Connor (who featured in most squads before he was crocked for a year) and his brother but there is a case of Jack O’Donoghue syndrome where guys who appear to have it all talent wise have to battle so hard for time and don’t really get a chance to build form barring a host of injuries. We need to see more of Nash and one of Stafford or Casey soon as an example. Hopefully O’Sullivan gets fit soon.
I agree with Muff that a lot of our more talented players have had awful luck but also agree with Snoop that we have a bad tendency to sign a player almost in anticipation of our academy not being good enough to do the job. We have some serious talent at our disposal and need to trim the fat to let it show. I can definitely see that happening though with how
contracts are planning out though.
Sorry I’ve gone fairly off topic

I'd echo that.


One problem area for Munster is the lack of Limerick players. Where are they all? Compared to the past, its fairly pathetic looking at this stage.

 

[munstermuffin]

I'd echo that.


One problem area for Munster is the lack of Limerick players. Where are they all? Compared to the past, its fairly pathetic looking at this stage.

Was a studyon this. Schools rugby has crumvled and had an impact on spillage to clubs. There's an effort to improve it and it is getting back on track but will take year ot two. Like even now Munchins aren't as powerful as before. Castletroy and Ard Scoil Ris are the 2 main Limerick rugby schools

 

[Amiga500]

Grim watching last night, but very valuable 4 points!

Very blunt in attack. The big punchy carrying of Coetzee badly missed to keep the opp. backrow in tighter.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Grim watching last night, but very valuable 4 points!

Very blunt in attack. The big punchy carrying of Coetzee badly missed to keep the opp. backrow in tighter.

How did Henderson play?

 

[Amiga500]

How did Henderson play?

Not very explosive, looked to be blowing at times, but did do a full 80.

Happily pitch him in against Italy - more gametime would do him good - wouldn't be so comfortable starting him if it were Wales next. Could be with either Ulster (Zebre) or Ireland next weekend.

 

[Groundhog]

I’m going to see Ulster vs Zebre next week. Worried to see how badly ulster capitulate against a side easily outplaying a team that beat them by 40 points only a month ago.

 

[Leinster Fan]

I’m going to see Ulster vs Zebre next week. Worried to see how badly ulster capitulate against a side easily outplaying a team that beat them by 40 points only a month ago.

In fairness we were doing alright until we scored the third try. A rant at half time should change things up.

 

[Groundhog]

In fairness we were doing alright until we scored the third try. A rant at half time should change things up.

I’d hate a rant from cullen. I’d say it’s like being shouted at by someone else’s dad for cursing.
I don’t know why but I wish ill upon the people in the carsireland.ie ad

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Leinster have been very fortunate not to have had anyone binned yet. They've given away a lot of penalties in their 22.

Zebre could win this!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Noel Reid was always there in case of emergency. Game never in doubt.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

24-40 Leinster win in the end. Two tries for Max Deegan who has now scored more tries for Leinster than Bill Johnston has appearances for Munster!

A lot to work on. Hard to argue with 6 tries but for about 55-60 minutes, Zebre were the better team.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Not the best performance but at the end of the day a bonus point win away is a bonus point win away. 22 points clear now which is ridiculous.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Glad it sounds like Zebre put up some kind of resistance, they have really stagnated after a decent start to the season.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Glad it sounds like Zebre put up some kind of resistance, they have really stagnated after a decent start to the season.

They played well. Couldn't have complained of they'd won really.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The lack of attention the Munster academy lads get even spills over to their behaviour on nights out!

https://lovin.ie/entertainment/viral/munster-lad-shift

(This may have been posted on these boards already, genuinely can't remember where I saw it last night)

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Huge win for Benetton!

 

[Leinster Fan]

The lack of attention the Munster academy lads get even spills over to their behaviour on nights out!

https://lovin.ie/entertainment/viral/munster-lad-shift

(This may have been posted on these boards already, genuinely can't remember where I saw it last night)

Mad that he thinks that's a positive.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Huge win for Benetton!

It's great to see. Great chance of making the playoffs and qualifying for the champions cup. Brilliant news for the league.

 

[Amiga500]

Huge win for Benetton!

Big time. They had to dig for it too.

 

[munstermuffin]

Can i ask why Leinster are obsessed with Munster. Be it our signings, our academy, our attendances even our funds.

Is it the return of Lunster???

@snoopy snoopy dog dog I think Bill still has more appearances (10) but agreed Deegan did well and lets hope he does reach potential.

But glad to see ye are all still looking on at us too

 

[Leinster Fan]

Can i ask why Leinster are obsessed with Munster. Be it our signings, our academy, our attendances even our funds.

Is it the return of Lunster???

@snoopy snoopy dog dog I think Bill still has more appearances (10) but agreed Deegan did well and lets hope he does reach potential.

But glad to see ye are all still looking on at us too

Munster are more obsessed with Leinster's academy, can't blame them though!

 

[munstermuffin]

Munster are more obsessed with Leinster's academy, can't blame them though!

How? By signing guys. How do you know some don't approach us. And well how come some leave so easy to Munster. If it's because Leinster don't want thwm then what harm. Just alwaysbshocked with how Leinster always even now despite all the success still do be obsessed with us. It's nice though

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Once I hear "obsessed" in an argument about sports teams I zone out... It's never clever or even a point.

 

[Groundhog]

24-40 Leinster win in the end. Two tries for Max Deegan who has now scored more tries for Leinster than Bill Johnston has appearances for Munster!

A lot to work on. Hard to argue with 6 tries but for about 55-60 minutes, Zebre were the better team.

Weird cheap shot on an injury ridden player, but ok

Wouldn't consider Leinster's performance in Zebre particularly concerning considering their relatively weak team and their position on the table. I don't rate that back three they played today highly at all, and I do think now that a guy like Kelleher could thrive in this squad. I was surprised at how much joy Zebre got in the scrum against a pretty good Leinster front row on paper, but again no big deal. Guys like Fardy and JGP show as really important in fixtures like these I feel. O'Brien I felt went well and made some good momentum shifting tackles and carried hard.

Connacht were a bit lucky tonight I felt as well. Looked well the better team for great parts of the game but their mistakes kill me. Their ball presentation alone among a series of other really poor mistakes for a pro team cost them badly. I'd really like to see Dillane shake some bad habits he's developed, he was stripped a couple times and faded in and out of the game. Was very surprised he was MOTM, but he has all the makings of a top notch second row. On a positive Carty is a player transformed this year though everything he kick to gold and he's running well although the centre combo they ran tonight really struggled to make good ground.

I didn't see Munster, but it sounds like a pretty slow start against what was non-opposition. Beyond that keeping a team to nil is nice, but whatever about the Cheetahs clear ability to score some very nice tries, the Kings are a genuine scratch side and their squad needs serious investment if they're to do the South African experiment justice.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Weird cheap shot on an injury ridden player, but ok

Wouldn't consider Leinster's performance in Zebre particularly concerning considering their relatively weak team and their position on the table. I don't rate that back three they played today highly at all, and I do think now that a guy like Kelleher could thrive in this squad. I was surprised at how much joy Zebre got in the scrum against a pretty good Leinster front row on paper, but again no big deal. Guys like Fardy and JGP show as really important in fixtures like these I feel. O'Brien I felt went well and made some good momentum shifting tackles and carried hard.

Connacht were a bit lucky tonight I felt as well. Looked well the better team for great parts of the game but their mistakes kill me. Their ball presentation alone among a series of other really poor mistakes for a pro team cost them badly. I'd really like to see Dillane shake some bad habits he's developed, he was stripped a couple times and faded in and out of the game. Was very surprised he was MOTM, but he has all the makings of a top notch second row. On a positive Carty is a player transformed this year though everything he kick to gold and he's running well although the centre combo they ran tonight really struggled to make good ground.

I didn't see Munster, but it sounds like a pretty slow start against what was non-opposition. Beyond that keeping a team to nil is nice, but whatever about the Cheetahs clear ability to score some very nice tries, the Kings are a genuine scratch side and their squad needs serious investment if they're to do the South African experiment justice.

Cant agree with you about our back three, even if Kearney is s**** these days. Daly and Byrne have been great over the last few months, both have really improved their defence and they offer a lot in attack. (And Daly has the best hair in the league). Byrne's performances against Toulouse and Bath in the Heineken Cup were genuinely brilliant and Daly had an 80 metre breakaway try taken off him through no fault of his own. Kearney was poor though. I'd rate Byrne much higher than Kelleher even from what I saw of Kelleher when he was at Leinster. Id say he's mostly been signed as a fullback because we've got very little there after Rob Kearney and Larmour. He could do really well there as well but longer term I think Byrne is much more likely to win further Ireland caps than him.

Munster were alright against the Kings, Conway looked sharp as did Haley. The rest of the backline was a bit meh. Good stuff here and there but nothing amazing. Botha wasn't great at all I thought but on the flipside the second row were very impressive. It wasn't an amazing performance at all from Munster but they scored seven tries without really turning up which says an awful lot more about the Kings than it does about Munster. They aren't nearly good enough to justify their presence in the league, the SARU doesn't give the impression of taking the Pro14 experiment seriously which doesn't exactly help. But I suppose it took the Italians the best part of a decade to show any signs of serious improvement so you have to give them time.

Agree completely on Dillane. He has the potential to be very very good but he seems to constantly undermine it. He should never have ended up behind Quinn Roux in the national pecking order. He does seem to be improving though and a lot of locks play their best rugby late in their careers to be fair. At his best though he's very good and he had flashes of that today, as well as cheaply coughing up possession a few times.

 

[Chetto4]

Huge win for Benetton!

Really huge one! Finally something positive for italian rugby. They got a little lucky with the first try (probably a double movement) but were the better side in the second half, no doubts. The only negative thing is that they almost ended up wasting everything in the final two minutes with a couple of silly mistakes. They should have been in Scarlets'22 looking for a bonus point and somehow they ended up gifting a very dangerous lineout on the 5 meter line.
Obviously Scarlets weren't even close to full strenght but Benetton was also missing 12 players, that's how it is during the 6N. Great result but still a very long way to go, the clash with Edinburgh in couple of weeks will be a huge game.

Great to see Zebre playing good rugby again. Clearly Leinster weren't completelty focused but still, it was great to see Zebre's scrum being so competitive and watch some entrataining rugby instead of a massacre.

 

[munstermuffin]

Weird cheap shot on an injury ridden player, but ok

Wouldn't consider Leinster's performance in Zebre particularly concerning considering their relatively weak team and their position on the table. I don't rate that back three they played today highly at all, and I do think now that a guy like Kelleher could thrive in this squad. I was surprised at how much joy Zebre got in the scrum against a pretty good Leinster front row on paper, but again no big deal. Guys like Fardy and JGP show as really important in fixtures like these I feel. O'Brien I felt went well and made some good momentum shifting tackles and carried hard.

Connacht were a bit lucky tonight I felt as well. Looked well the better team for great parts of the game but their mistakes kill me. Their ball presentation alone among a series of other really poor mistakes for a pro team cost them badly. I'd really like to see Dillane shake some bad habits he's developed, he was stripped a couple times and faded in and out of the game. Was very surprised he was MOTM, but he has all the makings of a top notch second row. On a positive Carty is a player transformed this year though everything he kick to gold and he's running well although the centre combo they ran tonight really struggled to make good ground.

I didn't see Munster, but it sounds like a pretty slow start against what was non-opposition. Beyond that keeping a team to nil is nice, but whatever about the Cheetahs clear ability to score some very nice tries, the Kings are a genuine scratch side and their squad needs serious investment if they're to do the South African experiment justice.

On Munster game we didn't concede a single pen either so discipline was good.
But key was always just to try get a gap at top over this window if possible.

 

[MikeTheNative]

Another clean sweep of losses for Welsh regions. Seems all these contract worries are actually starting to affect the players now.