Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

CatFromHue

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

It may not be settled yet or he may prefer to wait until after Darbyshire's funeral or he might just be too busy on the farm.

it should have been mentioned in the press release what his status is, even if if just to say its undecided.

as it stands the rumour mill is all we got. you should know i heard from a good source he has moved to leinster. he got a good deal on some land in meath and has moved the farm in all!

Amazotheamazing

CatFromHue wrote: »

it should have been mentioned in the press release what his status is, even if if just to say its undecided.

as it stands the rumour mill is all we got. you should know i heard from a good source he has moved to leinster. he got a good deal on some land in meath and has moved the farm in all!

Nice try, no-one would trade land in the Golden Vale for the crap that passes for land in Meath.

I don't think it's unfair at all, it's how Hayes is, it's how he's always been. He's never been one for fanfare. For all we know, everyone could be waiting to see if he makes the RWC squad or not.

profitius

Good squad overall. Its a massive squad of players again and I thought they would have let a few go, like Gleeson.

Good to see Sean Scanlon get a development contract. I think hes an excellent player who'll be a good backup to Felix Jones. Dineen also gets a development contract. Hopefully he'll get more games next season.

I think the props are looking healthier than last season. John Ryan looks a powerful player and hes not too tall either. Theres also Cotter in the academy who helped Young Munster destroy the Cork Con scrum which included Darragh Hurley.

Theres alot of experience but also alot of inexperienced players in the squad. I think McGahan will have seen how Barnes, Jones and Murray have taken their chance and will be more confident about giving other players opportunities. I'd like to see the likes of Paddy Butler and POM more. No point playing Niall Ronan at this stage.

touts

thomond2006 wrote: »

The squad on the page is a long list, I've seperated it below (italics denotes a player who can cover in that position):

Hookers: J Flannery, D Fogarty, D Varley, M Sherry, S Henry

LH Props: M Horan, W du Preez, D Hurley, J Ryan

TH Props: BJ Botha, S Archer, J Ryan, P Borlase

Locks: M O'Driscoll, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, D Foley, I Nagle, B Holland, D Ryan

Backrows: P Butler, D Leamy, N Ronan, T O'Donnell, P O'Mahony, D Wallace, J Coughlan, D Ryan, B Holland

Scrumhalves: T O'Leary, C Murray, D Williams, P Stringer

Flyhalves: I Keatley, R O'Gara, D Cusack, S Deasy

Centres: T Gleeson, L Mafi, I Dineen, D Barnes, K Earls, J Murphy, S Zebo

Wingers: D Hurley, D Howlett, K Earls, J Murphy, S Zebo, D Barnes, F Jones, S Deasy, S Scanlon, T Gleeson

Back 3: F Jones, S Deasy, S Scanlon, K Earls, J Murphy, D Hurley, D Howlett

I'm concerned there is still no word on a NIQ centre signing.

With that current squad, I'd like to see a first choice XV of (assuming all are fit):

du Preez, Flannery, Botha, DOC, POC, Ryan, Wallace, Coughlan;
Murray, ROG, Earls, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Jones

Point out any mistakes I've made!

So Barnes is the big centre signing of the year and Hayes has been retired without giving the fans a chance to say goodbye.

When you factor in the retirements, Irish Squad and injuries (both current and potential) then I have to say we are very light between now and Christmas. I hope there is not a run of injuries in the Irish training and warm up matches and that we get some disappointed players back fit, early and with a point to prove.

ormond lad

touts wrote: »

So Barnes is the big centre signing of the year and Hayes has been retired without giving the fans a chance to say goodbye.

When you factor in the retirements, Irish Squad and injuries (both current and potential) then I have to say we are very light between now and Christmas. I hope there is not a run of injuries in the Irish training and warm up matches and that we get some disappointed players back fit, early and with a point to prove.

Interesting way to announce his retirement from Munster Rugby - just leave it to the silence of omission
Its interesting that over half the 45 listed as the squad for next season have never started a heineken cup game

jolley123

So is that it? Or is there still a chance of a signing down the line.

thomond2006

jolley123 wrote: »

So is that it? Or is there still a chance of a signing down the line.

I'm sure there's a chance of a signing but I'm surprised there's been no announcement or even rumour in the press. IIRC the signing of De Villiers was rumoured for a few months before it happened.

jolley123

Will Munster be getting new kit this year as well? Or does there current one have another year in it.

profitius

I think they'll sign a big name center unless they get priced out of the market by the French.

The most important thing for next season is bringing through a few more home grown players. If another 3 or 4 can come through like Murray last season it'll be far more important than any big name signing.

thomond2006

profitius wrote: »

The most important thing for next season is bringing through a few more home grown players. If another 3 or 4 can come through like Murray last season it'll be far more important than any big name signing.

Yup. A lot of NIQs will be out of contract at the end of this season (du Preez, Mafi, Dougie) so there will be places at prop and in the three quarters up for grabs.

Tomtom364

jolley123 wrote: »

Will Munster be getting new kit this year as well? Or does there current one have another year in it.

Ya munster are getting a new home kit.
Home and away I think.

theboss80

Its like waiting for exam results or something this season with no news of signings or new jersey. In my opinion I think there will be a decent signing in the next couple months and a major signing after the world cup.

buck65

Every time Hayes went off the field this season he got a standing ovation, mostly as people felt it could be for the last time!
I would hazard a guess that Hayes hasn't fully made up his mind about post RWC and Munster are trightly giving him a few months to decide.
If he makes the plane to NZ he may retire afterwards, if he doesn't? who knows he might hang around for another season.
The reduced playing time certainly was of benefit to him this year, what a stormer he had in the ML final.
I for one wouldn't mind him as back up for next season. To say Munster are heartless for not letting the fans say goodbye is ridiculous. Munster look after their liginds (maybe too well).

GerM

Hayes drawing out his retirement saga for as long as possible, milking all the attention for everything it is worth. Typical of his media whoring nature.

GerM

CatFromHue wrote: »

i dont we can judge him fairly on what happened last season.

look at strauss in leinster he only started 1 game in his first season. who would have known what would have happened to him if john foagrty hadnt had to retire.

I get what you're saying but in his cameos with Leinster, Strauss was very impressive. The raw materials were there already, accurate darts, extremely mobile and excellent tackling. Over on Leinsterfans a lot of people were wondering why he wasn't being given a better crack of it. Cheika is conservative naturally so I can only attribute it to that. Borlase looked half decent in clips I saw him playing in when in NZ so I think there's talent there but his appearances for Munster last year really were poor. Rob Sweeney, essentially an AIL prop, gave him a fairly solid going over when Munster played Connacht. Prop is a concern for Munster. They seem quite light in that department. One injury to their front liners sees a significant drop to the next option particularly at tighthead.

I wonder if there's anything to be said for employing Keatley in the centre to learn his trade outside ROG and rounding out his game whilst filling in at 10 for a fair few games. If successful, it would allow Munster to bring in an additional back row player where I think a NIQ would have most influence and would think there are more available out there than centres post WC.

kerrysdad

John Hayes will make his decision when he is ready.
He owes nobody anything.
The Bull being accused of having a "media whoring attitude" is direspectful.
Go on Bull "It's still your field !"
Winning a penalty try in the 79th minute at 37 years of age is pure class.

pajunior

kerrysdad wrote: »

John Hayes will make his decision when he is ready.
He owes nobody anything.
The Bull being accused of having a "media whoring attitude" is direspectful.
Go on Bull "It's still your field !"
Winning a penalty try in the 79th minute at 37 years of age is pure class.

Riskymove

GerM wrote: »

Hayes drawing out his retirement saga for as long as possible, milking all the attention for everything it is worth. Typical of his media whoring nature.

indeed, I look forward to his appearance on Miriam's couch to tell us all about his dilemma

and of course, the 'Hello' exclusive of his official retirement party at Krystle!!

CatFromHue

Don't forget the hair care endorsements!

buck65

Strictly Come Calving....I'll get my coat.

roycon

GerM wrote: »

I wonder if there's anything to be said for employing Keatley in the centre to learn his trade outside ROG and rounding out his game whilst filling in at 10 for a fair few games. If successful, it would allow Munster to bring in an additional back row player where I think a NIQ would have most influence and would think there are more available out there than centres post WC.

i dont think people realise how good keatley is as an outside back. as an outhalf he's never going to be as good as rog at place kicking or kicking out of hand but he can slot in as full back or centre fairly easily. hes got great pace and a great step and is solid in defence even though he'd be a relatively small centre. when he was younger his main weakness was that he was always small but as he got bigger he was used in ucd,clontarf in the ail and leinster under age as an outside back. him and eoin omalley used to swap between outhalf and second centre in school and leinster because keatley had more pace than omalley and wouldnt be rounded in defence

Amazotheamazing

roycon wrote: »

i dont think people realise how good keatley is as an outside back. as an outhalf he's never going to be as good as rog at place kicking or kicking out of hand but he can slot in as full back or centre fairly easily. hes got great pace and a great step and is solid in defence even though he'd be a relatively small centre. when he was younger his main weakness was that he was always small but as he got bigger he was used in ucd,clontarf in the ail and leinster under age as an outside back. him and eoin omalley used to swap between outhalf and second centre in school and leinster because keatley had more pace than omalley and wouldnt be rounded in defence

While he will be compared to ROG it's not really a fair comparison. He's far, far more of a runner than O'Gara. What's his distribution like, it's hard to judge from watching him with Connacht.

Conor Murray used to be a decent kicker, there's no need for Keatley to kick the points but I don't think he's as bad as your suggesting at it.

Judgement Day

Okay so Ian Keatley isn't ROG but he has no trouble knocking over the points be they conversions or penalties and he amassed some total in last season's Magners league. Given that Jonny Wilkinson has yet to declare for Munster I think we should give the bold Ian a chance before we start knocking him.

porterbelly

Judgement Day wrote: »

Okay so Ian Keatley isn't ROG but he has no trouble knocking over the points be they conversions or penalties and he amassed some total in last season's Magners league. Given that Jonny Wilkinson has yet to declare for Munster I think we should give the bold Ian a chance before we start knocking him.

Keatley's well able to kick. Having tracked him closely in the 3 years since he moved to Connacht, his technique has improved 100%, as has his consistency. He has got very good length as well. Obviously he's had his poor patches with kicking but who doesn't bar Wilko and Carter. Other parts of his game have improved as well. He's extremely quick and can certainly keep defences on their toes and loves to make a break. He can improve on his game management and tactical kicking but who better to learn from Rog. I find some people seem to dismiss Keatley as a poor player. I think you're doing him a great disservice. He'll be a big loss at Connacht and can certainly bring alot to Munster and he wouldn't look out of place in the Heineken Cup.

durkadurka

GerM wrote: »

Hayes drawing out his retirement saga for as long as possible, milking all the attention for everything it is worth. Typical of his media whoring nature.

Next thing you know, he'll be taking out a superinjunction over claims that he took 'animal husbandry' too far .

durkadurka

He'll be starring opposite Will Smith in 'I am Ligind'


Ok I'm going to bed now.

profitius

I've always thought keatley looked a good player but he seems to be very inconsistant. He's a different player to ROG. Keatley will give Munster a different attacking threat because hes well alble to play with ball in hand.

You'd also think that he'll improve at Munster like Warwick improved. ROG is a very intelligent player and has had a great career despite his physical disadvantage. If ROG can pass on some tips to Keatley, Keatley could turn out to be a fantastic signing. He just seems to be a small bit short at the moment and thats why people are writing him off but people were not exactly excited when Warwick arrived too.

Podge_irl

For better or worse Keatley is going to be Munster's no.10 and sooner rather then later. I think he's a good player. It's one thing looking good in a limited backline where you're the best player though. Put him in Munster with a solid forward pack and Dougie Howlett and Keith Earls outside him and he could falter or he could excel. Munster need to take the chance though. ROG, though he's just had quite a good season actually, isn't getting any younger.

Monty Burnz

Podge_irl wrote: »

ROG, though he's just had quite a good season actually, isn't getting any younger.

For your convenience, I've appended at the end of this post a complete list of rugby players from all over the world who are getting younger.




.

bamboozle

roycon wrote: »

i dont think people realise how good keatley is as an outside back. as an outhalf he's never going to be as good as rog at place kicking or kicking out of hand but he can slot in as full back or centre fairly easily. hes got great pace and a great step and is solid in defence even though he'd be a relatively small centre. when he was younger his main weakness was that he was always small but as he got bigger he was used in ucd,clontarf in the ail and leinster under age as an outside back. him and eoin omalley used to swap between outhalf and second centre in school and leinster because keatley had more pace than omalley and wouldnt be rounded in defence

Keatley's a brilliantly balanced player with great hands and an eye for a break, i just dont think he's big enough to play at 12 especially if that's outside ROG cause that would leave too weak a channel. He played 2 maybe 3 games for Clontarf at 15 and looked good but was unreal at 10 for them.