Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Fireball07

Podge_irl wrote: »

You can make two injury "joker" replacements. The replaced player is then unavailable for the rest of the tournament. You can add 3 (I think, maybe 2) additional players for the knock outs.

Well O'Dea should be an injury joker for Howlett. Nothing to lose from it.

RuggieBear

thequizmaster banned, rereg.

thomond2006

I didn't notice that Sherry is out for another 6 weeks, it said it on the BBC article. That will Varley and Fogarty for the rest of the pool stage then.

Amazotheamazing

Fireball07 wrote: »

Well O'Dea should be an injury joker for Howlett. Nothing to lose from it.

Sadly, O'Dea got an injury in the last few minutes of the game last week, missed last weekend's game for shannon as a result. He may not be fit and even if he is it'd be a big ask for him.

Fireball07

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Sadly, O'Dea got an injury in the last few minutes of the game last week, missed last weekend's game for shannon as a result. He may not be fit and even if he is it'd be a big ask for him.

Are you serious? :rolleyes:


Well, at least he'd be in for the rest of the season. I think I'd favour Barnes/Mafi going on the wing now, but if O'Dea gets more pro12 gametime and does well, then he becomes a viable option.

Hopefully Earls and Zebo will be back for the return game though.

ambid

durkadurka wrote: »

This is unbelievable. I think were gonna see stuffed up the jumper rugby the like of which has never been seen before this weekend.

TopOfTheRight wrote: »

And i cant wait! In front of the fire watching up-the-jumper-rugby all day is what the winter is all bout for me

Are Munster's forwards good enough for "up the jumper" rugby anymore? The current front row and especially the back row seem a fairly significant downgrade compared to the 2006 and 2008 teams.

thomond2006

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Sadly, O'Dea got an injury in the last few minutes of the game last week, missed last weekend's game for shannon as a result. He may not be fit and even if he is it'd be a big ask for him.

ah here...

Amazotheamazing

Fireball07 wrote: »

Are you serious? :rolleyes:


Well, at least he'd be in for the rest of the season. I think I'd favour Barnes/Mafi going on the wing now, but if O'Dea gets more pro12 gametime and does well, then he becomes a viable option.

Hopefully Earls and Zebo will be back for the return game though.

It's hard to believe that McGahan isn't under some sort of gypsy curse at this stage.

Amazotheamazing

ambid wrote: »

Are Munster's forwards good enough for "up the jumper" rugby anymore? The current front row and especially the back row seem a fairly significant downgrade compared to the 2006 and 2008 teams.

Against a truly top team, no, but we might be able to do it against the Scarlets, frankly, I don't see that we've any other option. That's not to insult the Scarlets, their pack is much improved but i don't think anyone would say either they or Munster are at the top table at the minute.

Podge_irl

Munster are incredibly lucky (in a somewhat twisted way) that they're playing Scarlets. They're about the only "top" team that Munster could hope to stomp into submission with absolutely no back line to speak of. Unfortunately Scarlets could also expose a callow back line easier then most.

irishbucsfan

I think ROG will be relishing a return to 10 man rugby. 2006 all over again.

CiaranMT

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think ROG will be relishing a return to 10 man rugby. 2006 all over again.

Halstead on a medical joker?

castie

With Dougie out for the season.

Can Munster bring in a temporary NIQ replacement?

Flincher

The situation with Dougie is interesting. He's out for the rest of the year, but his contract is also up in the summer. I hope that wasn't his last game for Munster, but he'll be 34 early next September. Munster have a tough decision to make. Are they going to take a chance on a 34 year old being able to make a recovery from such an injury, or just let his contract run out, and look to develop or sign other wingers.

I really hope that isn't the last we have seen of Dougie, he has been exception for us over the last few years, and if anything, the last 6 months have been his best in a Munser shirt.

Benny Cake

Playing away from home and decimated with injuries there still is feck all value to be had with the bookies.. Munster 10/11 to win, handicap betting has the teams even...

premierstone

Benny Cake wrote: »

Playing away from home and decimated with injuries there still is feck all value to be had with the bookies.. Munster 10/11 to win, handicap betting has the teams even...

Well then surely there is value in backing the scarlets, the only time there is no value is if the bookies have gotten the line spot on and in this case they are under estimating the injury crisis Munster have been thrown into.

Back the scarlets who are overpriced and if they win , money in the pocket and if Munster win yipee were well on the way to topping the group, simples

Tomtom364

squad for the scarlets game is in.

http://munsterrugby.ie/news/9767.php

Simon Zebo is included although he did end training yesterday early having gone over on ankle but at this stage he hasn't been ruled out of consideration for selection.

Tom Gleeson returns to the squad after he featured for the Northern Hemisphere XV in the Heroes Rugby Challenge last Saturday in Twickenham.

Munster: Marcus Horan, Wian du Preez , Stephen Archer, BJ Botha, John Hayes, Damien Varley, Denis Fogarty, Donncha O’Callaghan, Donnacha Ryan, Mick O'Driscoll, Ian Nagle, Paul O’Connell, Billy Holland, Peter O’Mahony, Niall Ronan, Tommy O’Donnell, Denis Leamy, James Coughlan, Conor Murray, Tomas O’Leary, Ronan O’Gara, Ian Keatley, Scott Deasy, Tom Gleeson, Danny Barnes, Will Chambers, Simon Zebo, Lifeimi Mafi, Denis Hurley, Johne Murphy,

Good news on the Zebo front I hope.

Id go for backs of

15. Hurley
14. Murphy
13. Chambers
12. Barnes
11. Mafi
10. ROG
9. Murray

21. TOL
22. Keatly
23. Zebo (fingers crossed)

I put mafi on the wing for defence but id swap himself and barnes on attack.

Cpt_Blackbeard

Great to see that thrre isn't anything too sinister behind Mafi's disappearance. We'll probably have a kiwi centre partnership with Barnes out on the wing. I can't see Zebo making it so Gleeson will probably be our outside backs sub. Speaking of Gleeson, I was impressed with him from what little I saw of the charity match at the weekend.

wixfjord

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Great to see that thrre isn't anything too sinister behind Mafi's disappearance. We'll probably have a kiwi centre partnership with Barnes out on the wing. I can't see Zebo making it so Gleeson will probably be our outside backs sub. Speaking of Gleeson, I was impressed with him from what little I saw of the charity match at the weekend.

Is Chambers a Kiwi?

ed7890

wixfjord wrote: »

Is Chambers a Kiwi?

No he's an Aussie. Danny Barnes is actually originally a Kiwi, moved here when he was 10 or something.

Cpt_Blackbeard

wixfjord wrote: »

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Great to see that thrre isn't anything too sinister behind Mafi's disappearance. We'll probably have a kiwi centre partnership with Barnes out on the wing. I can't see Zebo making it so Gleeson will probably be our outside backs sub. Speaking of Gleeson, I was impressed with him from what little I saw of the charity match at the weekend.

Is Chambers a Kiwi?

Nope, an Aussie. Dunno how I made that mistake.

PhatPiggins

premierstone wrote: »

Well then surely there is value in backing the scarlets, the only time there is no value is if the bookies have gotten the line spot on and in this case they are under estimating the injury crisis Munster have been thrown into.

Back the scarlets who are overpriced and if they win , money in the pocket and if Munster win yipee were well on the way to topping the group, simples

Theory is great but betting against your own team always ruins your viewing.

I'd imagine the fact that we've beaten the Scarlets the last 12 times we've played them is the main factor in the closeness of the prices.

premierstone

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Theory is great but betting against your own team always ruins your viewing.

I'd imagine the fact that we've beaten the Scarlets the last 12 times we've played them is the main factor in the closeness of the prices.

I would always be a ''bet with the head'' man over the heart, and I think at the prices scarlets are the value.

PhatPiggins

premierstone wrote: »

I would always be a ''bet with the head'' man over the heart, and I think at the prices scarlets are the value.

I'm usually the same but you'll find it impossible to cheer for the Scarlets if they're winning and it'll leave a sour taste in your mouth when we beat them.

CIARAN_BOYLE

premierstone wrote: »

I would always be a ''bet with the head'' man over the heart, and I think at the prices scarlets are the value.

The closest I come to that is to avoid bets with the head no matter the value

finatron

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

I can't see Zebo making it so Gleeson will probably be our outside backs sub. Speaking of Gleeson, I was impressed with him from what little I saw of the charity match at the weekend.

I watched all the game he was one of the stand out players on his team very busy and got a great try

Judgement Day

ROG is looking forward to the game anyway as he makes his 100th Heineken Cup appearance and he refers to retiring in a 'few years' http://www.espnscrum.com/heineken-cup-2011-12/rugby/story/155694.html - hopefully after the 2015 RWC.

thomond2006

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7362821,00.html

Tim Ryan starting at tighthead for Cavalieri Prato at Perpignan this weekend.

Amazotheamazing

thomond2006 wrote: »

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7362821,00.html

Tim Ryan starting at tighthead for Cavalieri Prato at Perpignan this weekend.

Would be great if he could make some sort of career out there for himself, he was unlucky at Newcastle in some respects. Whatever else about Italy, they have decent scrummagers so he must be doing something right to get a look in.

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7362821,00.html

Tim Ryan starting at tighthead for Cavalieri Prato at Perpignan this weekend.

I was watching Newcastle and Toulon play tonight and wondering what had become of him. Are Cavalieri even a fully pro team?