<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (snoopy snoopy dog dog @ Oct 26 2009, 10:46 AM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Logorrhea @ Oct 25 2009, 07:55 PM)
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Funny how O'Gara's poor form coincides with the Munster pack turning into a bunch of ladies. Leinster absolutely hammered them up front. The saints did the same. Treviso did for a half, and Edinburgh, despite being smaller and lighter actually got parity. Their pack is playing pish poor and the kids arent freshening it up too much. Great prospects they may be, but they havent delivered yet. Any team without a pack will struggle. the fact they they got the BP away to saints was a massive bonus.
O'Gara is playing total an utter shite. Even the most died in the wool munster man is calling for him to be dropped. I agree.
DeVilliers and Mafi arent combining, but they are playing outside of o'Gara so that could be half the problem. Personally i always thought deVilliers was a bit overrated as an offensive threat so I'm not too sure what the Munster fans expect of him.
Coaching has to be stale. its the same regime for years and a new coach trying to put his own name to it. Personally i think a team like Munster should be coached by McGeechan or Pat Howard, not Tony "I was promoted" McGahan. (Incidently i dont want an internal promotion when Cheika goes either.) These are top quality players they should be coached by the best.[/b]
I agree with almost everything you've posted here.
The pack have changed the way they've played since early last year. In the first 6 months of McGahan's reigh, the forwards were running from deep as first receiver and smashing over the gainline. They barged their way through rucks with reckless abandon freeing space for their backs to operate out wide. I doubt John Hayes ever carried as much ball as he did before Christmas last season. This year, Marcus Horan and Denis Leamy in particular have gotten back into old habits of waiting statically on the wing and between the centres respectively. The results is slow ball and a cluttered midflield neutering the backline.
O'Gara's total loss of form is a massive issue. It'll be interesting to see who Declan Kidney picks next month. For the last 5 or so years he's been the only viable international option at 10 thus the IRFU would never allow Munster replace him. If Sexton and/or Humphreys show they've up to it at international level over the next 6 weeks, it might afford Munster the opportunity to drop ROG. Right now, Paul Warwick is a better option to run that backline. Hell, even the eternally average Jeremy Manning played better early this season.
The signing of Jean De Villiers was great on paper but may have upset the balance of the team. Both he and Lifeimi Mafi operate best as 12s. Perhaps Munster may be better off picking one or the other (likely De Villiers for big games) inside Keith Earls. Mafi would make one hell of an impact offthe bench.
I've no issue with Tony McGahan as head coach and think he's done a terrific job. He recognised that he was inexperienced so he brought in a head coach (Laurie Fisher) as assistant to help him along. He got David Wallace, Alan Quinlan and Tomas O'Leary playing the best rugby of their careers. He gave Keith Earls a chance when Declan Kidney wouldn't. He cleared out a lot of dead wood from the squad and recruited very well - Brugnaut, Morland, Jones, De Villiers and Varley all look like good additions. He's actively trying to improve the academy from it's previously inadequate level. I think he's failing in one major area though.
In an almost Eddie O'Sullivanesque manner, McGahan is taking too much work upon himself. When he took the job as head coach, he was the backs coach and defense coach. Neither role has been adequately replaced. As backs coach he put in a video analyst without any experience, Jason Holland. I suspect McGahan is still very much in charge of this area. They still haven't brought in a defense coach. Paul McCarthy wasn't a great scrum coach but he hasn't been replaced. Fisher doesn't seem capable of fixing the lineout problems yet he hasn't gotten any outside help in that area.
In short, Munster will improve when they fix their problem at 10 and their coach delegates responsibility a bit more. Longer term, they need to find some players to replace Hayes, O'Connell, Wallace, Quinlan and O'Gara. They have some talent in their academy but I doubt any are as good as the players they've going to replace over the next 2 or 3 seasons.
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Their pack is playing pish poor and the kids arent freshening it up too much. Great prospects they may be, but they havent delivered yet.
I agree with almost all of that none of the youngsters have really been given a chance to deliver. Darragh Hurley has only got a game and a half, just back from injury because nearly the entire front row was out. Donnocha Ryan has played well enough but only gets time off the bench which really isn't enough.
Besides that Ian Nagle and Stephen Archer who played well in pre-season haven't even seen the bench since. Peter O'Mahony, Last years Ireland U-20 World Cup captain didn't even get pre-season game time. And the 2 best prospects (in my oppinion), the Brians Hayes and O'Hara are in the 'sub-academy' even though there's space in the full academy. Which strikes me as a tad retarded.
Meanwhile, in the backs Danny Barnes and Scott Deasy also had brilliant preseasons and haven't been since since either. If this were Leinster (or Wales) they'd have seen some sort of action by now.
Also, Damien Varley is a better player than Fogarty and has seen F All match time.
So the comparrisons to an Eddie O'Sullivan reime are ringing true it seems - Once you have a plan you stick with it even if it isn't working (JDV - Mafi).
Oh, yes, Tommy O'Donnell has played as well as whoever he's replaced every time he comes off the bench. Dunno why we don't see more of him.
