Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

ed7890

GerM wrote: »

What a simplistic way of looking at things.

For Earls to be effective it means that Munster would be spreading the ball to him. Playing that game against Llanelli would be suicidal.

If they were all fit or still playing, the ideal back three for Munster next weekend would be Dowling, Howlett and Payne. Two of them aren't world beaters but they would be absolutely rock solid and make all their tackles and be positionally perfect. Wales showed already how their backs can target Earls. Munster will have to win the game up front and go through the pack and set piece. The back three next week should be the best players defensively. As Northampton showed, the back three might not win you the game against Llanelli but they will certainly lose you the game if they're not solid defensively.

By getting 2 on one against him? Genius.

irishbucsfan

Earls would be a massive improvement, even if Munster played 10 man rugby.

GerM

ed7890 wrote: »

By getting 2 on one against him? Genius.

:rolleyes:

Watch the game again.

phog

GerM wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Watch the game again.

Would that be the same game where out back row were crucified and made zero line breaks. Hard for a winger to impress when the forwards cant make ground or keep the ball.

I cant really recall how Earls did but taken it as a given that he was poor then he was one of 15 that day that were piss poor.

thomond2006

I think the boys on Setanta are right, that the Pro12 isn't important and it's all about Europe this year.

Now I must find some more straws....

GerM

Not bothering. It's impossible to make any constructive criticism of Munster without the same people jumping down your throat on something they've gone out of their way to find remotely offensive. Earls is a great player. He's not great defensively though and could be exposed by the Scarlets. Done.

smurphy29

totallegend wrote: »

Yeah, the Scarlets back line will rip Munster to shreds if they get any sort of quality ball - the problem for them is their pack is very weak. They have a decent front row but of their loose forwards, only Ben Morgan would make the Munster team so there is real gap in quality there.

Hmmm, not sure the pack is as wea as you make out. In the very unit you mention they've Dan Lydiate, who excelled on the blindside in the World Cup and made over 20 tackles against Ireland. A more than useful player.

GerM

smurphy29 wrote: »

Hmmm, not sure the pack is as wea as you make out. In the very unit you mention they've Dan Lydiate, who excelled on the blindside in the World Cup and made over 20 tackles against Ireland. A more than useful player.

No they don't.

Lydiate is a Dragon.

totallegend

smurphy29 wrote: »

totallegend wrote: »

Yeah, the Scarlets back line will rip Munster to shreds if they get any sort of quality ball - the problem for them is their pack is very weak. They have a decent front row but of their loose forwards, only Ben Morgan would make the Munster team so there is real gap in quality there.

Hmmm, not sure the pack is as wea as you make out. In the very unit you mention they've Dan Lydiate, who excelled on the blindside in the World Cup and made over 20 tackles against Ireland. A more than useful player.

Good point.

Except he plays for the Dragons

durkadurka

Ah yizzer all very pleased with yourselves after that aren't ye?

Flincher

I think we could do well in the set piece at the weekend. Varley's throwing is poor, but the Scarlets don't have a lot of quality in the second row. You would have to fancy O'Connell, Ryan and O'Mahony to pick off a few of their throws. Rhys Thomas at tighthead is decent, and should be able for du Preez, but Botha should have the edge over Iestyn Thomas.

Poite will side with a scrum he perceives to have the advantage, and obviously isn't swayed by a baying home crowd (as we well know) so we could do well out of our set piece.

danthefan

Rees would start ahead of Varley, no question.

phog

GerM wrote: »

Not bothering. It's impossible to make any constructive criticism of Munster without the same people jumping down your throat on something they've gone out of their way to find remotely offensive. Earls is a great player. He's not great defensively though and could be exposed by the Scarlets. Done.

He's as defensively sound as the options that you proposed in your initial post on not selcting Earls for this game and he offers way more in attack.

Sorry if this doesn't meet with your agreement.

danthefan

phog wrote: »

He's as defensively sound as the options that you proposed in your initial post on not selcting Earls for this game and he offers way more in attack.

Sorry if this doesn't meet with your agreement.

Just wondering, does Earls have any weaknesses to his game at all?

As for us not making ground against Wales, I know this isn't the thread but we spent extended periods camped in their half and in fact in their 22, so you're pretty much wrong.

phog

danthefan wrote: »

Just wondering, does Earls have any weaknesses to his game at all?

As for us not making ground against Wales, I know this isn't the thread but we spent extended periods camped in their half and in fact in their 22, so you're pretty much wrong.

Where have I said Earls is flawless or that we didn't make it into Wales 22?

danthefan

phog wrote: »

Where have I said Earls is flawless or that we didn't make it into Wales 22?

Eh? I asked you a question (which you obviously didn't answer), I didn't say you said anything.

Now, does Earls have any weaknesses to his game?

As for the second part, the meaning I took from your post is that we didn't have platform against Wales that would allow our backs to do anything useful. This is patently wrong.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Earls defense is poor for a player of his quality. That is to say it is better than the average players Munster could replace him with.

Earls Jones Howlett now thats a top quality back three, but after that Munster can bring in Murphy, Zebo, Hurley and/or shift one of the centers to the wing.

His defense will be better than Barnes/Chambers/Mafi just cause he is used to the positional demands of playing on the wing. So then you have to ask yourself if Murphy Zebo Hurley all deserve to be ahead of Earls. Even if you base that question solely on their defensive attributes the answer will be no.

Purely theoretical discussion since I haven't seen anything to suggest Earls will be back

phog

danthefan wrote: »

Eh? I asked you a question (which you obviously didn't answer), I didn't say you said anything.

Now, does Earls have any weaknesses to his game?

Did you read the post that you quoted when you asked me that question? My points to GerM is that I think that Earls is the best option to Munster of who's available to them and if wasn't injured he'd have two more H/C caps under his belt.

Yes he has weaknesses to his game, i think most players have weaknesses but I dont watch his game though my hands in fear.

danthefan

phog wrote: »

Did you read the post that you quoted when you asked me that question? My points to GerM is that I think that Earls is the best option to Munster of who's available to them and if wasn't injured he'd have two more H/C caps under his belt.

Yes he has weaknesses to his game, i think most players have weaknesses but I dont watch his game though my hands in fear.

Yes, I did.

He's as defensively sound as the options that you proposed in your initial post on not selcting Earls for this game

Is the bit that caught my eye in particular. You honestly believe Earls is as good a defender as Howlett? Serisously?

Asking whether he had any weaknesses was somewhat tounge in cheek, because his defence is probably the worst part of his game and if you think he's as good a defender as Howlett...

thomond2006

Basically Munster are in trouble.






and that's the bottom line, 'cause thomond says so!

phog

danthefan wrote: »

Yes, I did.



Is the bit that caught my eye in particular. You honestly believe Earls is as good a defender as Howlett? Serisously?

Asking whether he had any weaknesses was somewhat tounge in cheek, because his defence is probably the worst part of his game and if you think he's as good a defender as Howlett...

Howlett is out injured so I was discounting him but even with Howlett playing Earls is usually on the other wing.

CatFromHue

danthefan wrote: »

Yes, I did.



Is the bit that caught my eye in particular. You honestly believe Earls is as good a defender as Howlett? Serisously?

Asking whether he had any weaknesses was somewhat tounge in cheek, because his defence is probably the worst part of his game and if you think he's as good a defender as Howlett...

Howlett can put in big hits but I think he is a bit of a flawed defender. Certainly Rokocoko's try against Munster springs to mind as does some of his defending in the Harlequins game last season.

Amazotheamazing

I'm always surprised at the level of stick Earls get, no he's not perfect defensively but he's not a disaster either, he more than makes up for any weakness with his try scoring ability. I'd love to see what a proper backs coach could do with him.

thomond2006

Howlett averages about a try for every 3 games. Earls the same.

Murphy is a try for every 9 games and Hurley 1 try in 13 (although almost a third of his appearances have been as a sub)

Now our backplay is terrible, but I think that's a stat that emphasises the importance of Dougie and Earls.

duckysauce

CatFromHue wrote: »

Howlett can put in big hits but I think he is a bit of a flawed defender. Certainly Rokocoko's try against Munster springs to mind as does some of his defending in the Harlequins game last season.

you could say the same about any player , Howlett has been outstanding lost a bit of pace bit all heart class player.

Amazotheamazing

duckysauce wrote: »

you could say the same about any player , Howlett has been outstanding lost a bit of pace bit all heart class player.

No, no, Ger saw him miss a few tackles, he's defensively suspect. You have to get every single tackle, apparently Wallace missed one in an u15's game once, was really lucky he got a pro contract after it.

duckysauce

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

No, no, Ger saw him miss a few tackles, he's defensively suspect. You have to get every single tackle, apparently Wallace missed one in an u15's game once, was really lucky he got a pro contract after it.

CatFromHue

duckysauce wrote: »

you could say the same about any player , Howlett has been outstanding lost a bit of pace bit all heart class player.

Nothing to do with pace or heart just from a player of his undoubted quality I was surprised he made the mistakes.

duckysauce

CatFromHue wrote: »

Nothing to do with pace or heart just from a player of his undoubted quality I was surprised he made the mistakes.

he has made more massive hits and trys than mistakes , the guy just got injured give him the respect he deserves.

CatFromHue

duckysauce wrote: »

he has made more massive hits and trys than mistakes , the guy just got injured give him the respect he deserves.

The massive hits are sometimes the easier type of tackle to make. His try rate stands out for itself. My point was that sometimes he can get caught out in defence and I don't think his it's is as good as people think.