Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

profitius

PhatPiggins wrote: »

A fair question. Is the area around Musgrave classed as a working class area?

To be honest if the Leinster crowd were in charge they'd market the pants off the brand everywhere (which they do really well) but play all the games in Thomond where it makes economic sense to do so.

I'm not sure if it is a working class area.

What Munster should be doing is looking at areas in the province who has a high population density and target that area by buying up some fields etc. Start a club and they'll reap the rewards in a decade.

CatFromHue

phog wrote: »

BTW, one of our lowest attendances this season was for the Scarlets game in Musgrave Park as it turns out they were also our H/cup competitor this season.

You can't really blame the Cork fans for not going en masse to the Musgrave games as it's usually the Munster second team against a lower half of the table team. Not particularly exciting!

Ildere

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

Also worth pointing out that Cork fans do travel in fairly large numbers to Thomond games.

I doubt many fans from outside Cork make the trip down to Musgrave for Aironi matches.

I live in North Tipperary and have only been in Musgrave Park once and that was for a Junior Cup final.
Why does Munster rugby still confuse Amateur and Professional Rugby,
surely it has to be Thomond for the professional set up and Musgrave for the amateur game.
Its probably very difficult for Administrators of the pro game who have lived in Cork all their lives and dont want to move, but why not let that continue for a sensible amount of time but at least make the decision, give it a starting date and then work to make it happen.

ormond lad

Ildere wrote: »

I live in North Tipperary and have only been in Musgrave Park once and that was for a Junior Cup final.
Why does Munster rugby still confuse Amateur and Professional Rugby, surely it has to be Thomond for the professional set up and Musgrave for the amateur game
Its probably very difficult for Administrators of the pro game who have lived in Cork all their lives and dont want to move, but why not let that continue for a sensible amount of time but at least make the decision, give it a starting date and then work to make it happen.

Munster Rugby does not confuse the two, and has to work on improving both the pro and amatuer games
We cannot ignore musgrave park, Cork is where we can expand the game more so we need pro 12 games to be held there.
How is Thomond for the pros and Musgrave for the amatuers possible?

Riskymove

CatFromHue wrote: »

You can't really blame the Cork fans for not going en masse to the Musgrave games as it's usually the Munster second team against a lower half of the table team. Not particularly exciting!

funnily enough, some of our better performances and more exciting games came from our weaker sides against lower opposition

KenSwee

RodVelvet wrote: »

Think it's this guy you're on about; Diogo Mateus. From Portugal was with Munster around that period. Don't think he was up to much.

I think you're right.

Thanks for that.

phog

KenSwee wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm looking to know if a Spanish player ever lined out for Munster?
I was chatting to few friends and one of us thought they remembered a Spanish player playing in the Celtic League circa 2006/7?
If not, maybe South American?

Maybe somebody can shed a light on this?

Thanks

RodVelvet wrote: »

Think it's this guy you're on about; Diogo Mateus. From Portugal was with Munster around that period. Don't think he was up to much.

This is Diogo, taken in TP on 13/10/06. He warmed up with Munster that night, fairly sure he didn't play.

Amazotheamazing

he was probably worth a look in fairness, pity we'd no proper A team back then.

cuttothechase

Just looking at the last few threads it has dawned on me Munster might have missed a golden opportunity in promoting the game in Cork city. Jersey sales in the past ten years might have gone through the roof but when you look at it from a geographical point of view the Lee still seperates the rugby crowd in Cork city, even if Christians is on the northside. Highfield, UCC, The Well, Dolphin, Con, Douglas all south of the Lee. North of there you have Cork Transport who have dropped back down to J3, are Shandon still going? Old Christians are the only club north of the Lee who are showing progress. There is a huge area up there that was never expoited but hurling and soccer are the more popular sports there. But look, on the other hand, somebody mentioned rugby in Tipp has exploded which it has but Tipp always had great junior teams and deservedly has two senior clubs now. But somebody mentioned Waterford booming? No senior club in Waterford. Waterpark finished mid table in division 1 and Waterford city are in division 3. Fair enough Waterpark has a great underage structure but we still haven't seen anybody from there breaking through. Cork county is and always was rugby strong, it is the backbone of junior rugby in Munster and clubs like Bandon, Ballincollig, Muskerry, Cobh and Yoghal have always been feeder clubs for the senior city teams, the cream more than always get poached whether these clubs like it or not. Off the top of my head I may be wrong but in Cork county there are 18 teams, 2 senior, 5 in division 1, 6 in division 2, 3 in division 3, one playing in junior 3 and one club didn't represent last year (Dunmanway). That is not bad. For god sake west Cork alone has more rugby clubs than a lot of counties in Ireland. The problem with Munster now is, it is no longer a winning entity, when teams stop winning support thins out, that is what is happening, that is the cold truth. The rugby people are still playing and watching rugby and the fine day supporters are waiting for Munster's next day in the sun. The first Heineken Cup game I went to was against Cardiff in Musgrave in 1997. I think entry was 3 pounds on a schoolboy entry. The place was only half full. Look what happened after 2000? My point is, rugby didn't need to be promoted in Cork. Of the three Munster Junior league divisions, one third of the teams are from Cork. AIL Division 1A, 2 Cork teams, Division 1B, 1 team, 2A, 2 teams, 2B, 2 teams. I think that is strong enough.

ormond lad

cuttothechase wrote: »

Just looking at the last few threads it has dawned on me Munster might have missed a golden opportunity in promoting the game in Cork city.
Jersey sales in the past ten years might have gone through the roof but when you look at it from a geographical point of view the Lee still seperates the rugby crowd in Cork city, even if Christians is on the northside. Highfield, UCC, The Well, Dolphin, Con, Douglas all south of the Lee. North of there you have Cork Transport who have dropped back down to J3, are Shandon still going?

Old Christians are the only club north of the Lee who are showing progress. There is a huge area up there that was never expoited but hurling and soccer are the more popular sports there.

But look, on the other hand, somebody mentioned rugby in Tipp has exploded which it has but Tipp always had great junior teams and deservedly has two senior clubs now.

But somebody mentioned Waterford booming? No senior club in Waterford. Waterpark finished mid table in division 1 and Waterford city are in division 3. Fair enough Waterpark has a great underage structure but we still haven't seen anybody from there breaking through.

Cork county is and always was rugby strong, it is the backbone of junior rugby in Munster and clubs like Bandon, Ballincollig, Muskerry, Cobh and Yoghal have always been feeder clubs for the senior city teams, the cream more than always get poached whether these clubs like it or not. Off the top of my head I may be wrong but in Cork county there are 18 teams, 2 senior, 5 in division 1, 6 in division 2, 3 in division 3, one playing in junior 3 and one club didn't represent last year (Dunmanway).

That is not bad. For god sake west Cork alone has more rugby clubs than a lot of counties in Ireland. The problem with Munster now is, it is no longer a winning entity, when teams stop winning support thins out, that is what is happening, that is the cold truth. The rugby people are still playing and watching rugby and the fine day supporters are waiting for Munster's next day in the sun.

The first Heineken Cup game I went to was against Cardiff in Musgrave in 1997. I think entry was 3 pounds on a schoolboy entry. The place was only half full. Look what happened after 2000? My point is, rugby didn't need to be promoted in Cork. Of the three Munster Junior league divisions, one third of the teams are from Cork. AIL Division 1A, 2 Cork teams, Division 1B, 1 team, 2A, 2 teams, 2B, 2 teams. I think that is strong enough.

Good post, i broke it up as it was difficult enough to read as 1 paragraph.

Cork should have another top rugby playing school at this stage. Crazy to think Limerick has 5 if you include Glenstal while Cork only has 2.
Tipp always has had quite a strong junior set up and things have exploded to a degree but some clubs are not doing as well, and struggling to field at underage levels.
Rugby in Waterford is booming, yes there isnt a senior club in the city. There hasnt been since Waterpark completely disintegrated in div 3 of the AIL in 2009 but with the success waterpark have had at underage level in recent years it will not be long before they are back in the AIL.
Yes there isnt anyone from waterford who has broken through, Murray Kinsella was in the academy for a while several years ago, but there will soon enough. They have 1 of the strongest underage systems in the country and will provide players to the pro set up in the near future.

Rugby does need to be promoted in cork, look at the crowds at games down there. Even if they are the weaker teams etc there is no reason musgrave should not be sold out for every home game, its only 9000 or so capacity

Monty Burnz

ormond lad wrote: »

Cork should have another top rugby playing school at this stage. Crazy to think Limerick has 5 if you include Glenstal while Cork only has 2.

Bandon Grammar used to put out a team, and I seem to remember coming up against a team from Ballincollig or somewhere at schools level. Do Rochestown College field teams these days? I don't know where the 'new' rugby schools are going to come from - Chriost Ri and North Mon are great sports schools but they are already tied up with football and hurling. Meanwhile CBC has introduced soccer and GAA (I think), diverting talent away from rugby. Don't know what Pres are up to.

cuttothechase

Yes, it is a crying shame that Cork has only two rugby schools. Bandon Grammar and Midleton College are still way below par. Leinster rugby was a bomb waiting to explode with all the great schools they have there. But a lot of the country clubs have great underage structures. Bandon for example, they beat a great Waterpark U-19 team in the semi final of the league this year and narrowly lost to Shannon-St. Marys in the final. A lot of young guys from there have gone to Dolphin in the last few years. There are former Bandon underage players now playing AIL with Dolphin, Con and Highfield. But yes, we need another school team.

As for getting numbers back in Musgrave. The best marketing a club can do is get it's team back on top and back to winning ways. An exciting brand of rugby and playing games against some of the bigger Rabo teams would be the first stepping stone. Look at Leinster and Connaught, their explosion in popularity is down to great marketing, but their core competency is they are becoming more successful on the pitch and increased support stems from success, whether people like it or not.

thomond2006

CatFromHue wrote: »

You can't really blame the Cork fans for not going en masse to the Musgrave games as it's usually the Munster second team against a lower half of the table team. Not particularly exciting!

Spot on, they need a bigger name than Dragons or Aironi to entice the crowds to come along.

ormond lad

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Bandon Grammar used to put out a team, and I seem to remember coming up against a team from Ballincollig or somewhere at schools level. Do Rochestown College field teams these days? I don't know where the 'new' rugby schools are going to come from - Chriost Ri and North Mon are great sports schools but they are already tied up with football and hurling. Meanwhile CBC has introduced soccer and GAA (I think), diverting talent away from rugby. Don't know what Pres are up to.

Bandon Grammer and Midleton College are B schools, the level below the CBCs,PBCs, Munchins, Rockwells.
CBC/PBC have introduced other sports and have sides in soccer+GAA but doubt its affecting rugby numbers that much.
Its up to the Munster rugby development office to be always going into other schools in the city and improving the standards of rugby.
Dont know if Rochestown field rugby sides, they could but i havent a clue.
Look at the emergence of Castletroy in Limerick, if 8-10 years of work by interested teachers, munster development staff, local club coaches etc was put into a school in cork they could get up to C/B standard and maybe higher.
Munster rugby needs at least 1 more rugby school at the top level

profitius

ormond lad wrote: »

Bandon Grammer and Midleton College are B schools, the level below the CBCs,PBCs, Munchins, Rockwells.
CBC/PBC have introduced other sports and have sides in soccer+GAA but doubt its affecting rugby numbers that much.
Its up to the Munster rugby development office to be always going into other schools in the city and improving the standards of rugby.
Dont know if Rochestown field rugby sides, they could but i havent a clue.
Look at the emergence of Castletroy in Limerick, if 8-10 years of work by interested teachers, munster development staff, local club coaches etc was put into a school in cork they could get up to C/B standard and maybe higher.
Munster rugby needs at least 1 more rugby school at the top level

A friend of mine is from Youghal. He said they built a big new secondary school literally next door to the rugby club there but rugby didn't take advantage. The GAA were in there straight away though.

shootermacg

Yeah, a lot of rugby talent in Youghal, and has been for years. Some really talented players I grew up with never ended up anywhere because there really isn't a structure in place to develop the talent. I can safely say a lot of athletes in Youghal would be happy to play rugby if there was a structure in place to progress them.
But like every school in cork, the GAA is the main PE exercise mainly because of the Christian Brother influence.

ormond lad

shootermacg wrote: »

Yeah, a lot of rugby talent in Youghal, and has been for years. Some really talented players I grew up with never ended up anywhere because there really isn't a structure in place to develop the talent. I can safely say a lot of athletes in Youghal would be happy to play rugby if there was a structure in place to progress them.

By structure, you mean??
The first thing youghal rugby club have to do if the best players in the area are to progress is ensure that a team is fielded at each age grade level and a team in entered every season into the u15/17/19 leagues. If that happens and sides are fielded at each age grade then the talented players should progress.

shootermacg

Well the coaching is pretty much non existent. No money filters it's way down down to the clubs, so it's left to the club to compete with soccer, GAA and the other fifty sports.
The weekend swingers night, barely covers costs as it is. Youghal is not a rich town. We need someone to sponsor a good coach or two for the younger levels.

The current rugby setup coaches games but no nutrition, bulking clinics support etc. leinster is actually turning out some beasts at school level these days because the money's there.

Maybe some travelling workshops. Its not unusual for young athletes to play soccer, GAA(hurling, football, handball) and rugby all year round.
It's fine in Leinster, they have a school system with rugby as the main sport.

ormond lad

shootermacg wrote: »

Well the coaching is pretty much non existent. No money filters it's way down down to the clubs, so it's left to the club to compete with soccer, GAA and the other fifty sports.
The weekend swingers night, barely covers costs as it is. Youghal is not a rich town. We need someone to sponsor a good coach or two for the younger levels.

The current rugby setup coaches games but no nutrition, bulking clinics support etc. leinster is actually turning out some beasts at school level these days because the money's there.

Maybe some travelling workshops. Its not unusual for young athletes to play soccer, GAA(hurling, football, handball) and rugby all year round.
It's fine in Leinster, they have a school system with rugby as the main sport.

Sponsor????
What about Volunteers/parents etc.
You wont find club youths systems offering nutrition, and all that. Cant compare small to average sized clubs to the big rugby schools.
Underage teams need a couple of coaches and someone to do waterbottles, write up the team sheet etc not give nitritional advice. Clubs dont have resources to do that.
If an underage team has a coach to look after the forwards, 1 to do the backs and 1 of those coaches or someone else to organise buses/fill in team sheets/ensure jerseys are washed every week etc they are fine
It isnt unusual for kids to play various sports, but if you work things out and kids have the option to play as many or as few sports as possible its ok

shootermacg

ormond lad wrote: »

Sponsor????
What about Volunteers/parents etc.
You wont find club youths systems offering nutrition, and all that. Cant compare small to average sized clubs to the big rugby schools.
Underage teams need a couple of coaches and someone to do waterbottles, write up the team sheet etc not give nitritional advice. Clubs dont have resources to do that.

If an underage team has a coach to look after the forwards, 1 to do the backs and 1 of those coaches or someone else to organise buses/fill in team sheets/ensure jerseys are washed every week etc they are fine

2 coaches per team? yeah good luck getting one coach in youghal! His wife used to wash the jerseys.

ormond lad

shootermacg wrote: »

2 coaches per team? yeah good luck getting one coach in youghal! His wife used to wash the jerseys.

Then the club has to talk to senior players in the club and recently retired players to help out as well as talking to parents of the kids who want to play. A diffferent parent a week could help out the team. set up a rota for the season. they would see what the coaches do and they may pick up an interest and then go on to help out in the future.

profitius

shootermacg wrote: »

2 coaches per team? yeah good luck getting one coach in youghal! His wife used to wash the jerseys.

Do you know how many students are in the new school?

thomond2006

Next season I want to see Pat Geraghty and the media team get their **** together with regards to the content on the Munster Rugby website, Leinster's site is fantastic with regards to news, press conferences and player interviews. Munster's site is poor in comparison. Plus Geraghty is an awful interviewer, he's no better at speaking coherently than I am....like you know.

durkadurka

I don't think leinsters is all that great. It's a bit faffy to navigate sometimes. Plenty of room to improve.

thomond2006

durkadurka wrote: »

I don't think leinsters is all that great. It's a bit faffy to navigate sometimes. Plenty of room to improve.

but at least they have so much video content.

We are falling behind Leinster both on and off the field, Leinster have really got their **** together in the last few seasons.

Monty Burnz

thomond2006 wrote: »

but at least they have so much video content.

We are falling behind Leinster both on and off the field, Leinster have really got their **** together in the last few seasons.

In a sense, this is a huge advantage for Irish rugby - Munster (and anyone else) should be copying the good stuff that Leinster do, and introducing our own innovations. Successful innovations should be shared with the other provinces. Ultimately, everyone will benefit if it's done right.

ormond lad

The Munster website isnt the greatest but has improved in some areas recently. Look at the academy page, up until fairly recently there was nothing online like what is there now. Now they mention what the players do in the off season/pre season/in season before they barely mentioned what the academy was there for

Tox56

Laulala was very good for the Barbarians today, very good bit of business there. He showed he has the capablity to create something out of nothing, even with poor service (which he recieved today), could be invaluable for Munster when they need a moment of magic.

Fishooks12

Tox56 wrote: »

Laulala was very good for the Barbarians today, very good bit of business there. He showed he has the capablity to create something out of nothing, even with poor service (which he recieved today), could be invaluable for Munster when they need a moment of magic.

I think himself and Downey will work very well together

considering we'll have Earls, Zebo and Dougie to go with them if we can sort our 9 and 10 it'll amount to a very good backline

cuttothechase

Yes, the backline looks promising. I don't know if this has been discussed already, sorry if it has but has the Munster managment made any strides in signing a world class backrow?

Quinlan, Leamy and Wallace are now permanently out of the picture. The guys we have are not cutting it in the most important area of the game, the breakdown. I am saying this comparing our backrow to Leinster and Ulster's. Our last southern hemisphere backrow signing was a flop (where's Nick Williams now - Itlay?).

I think the radar should be zoning in on someone like Liam Messam, especially since he didn't make the All Blacks 30 for the World Cup. Anybody know anything about his contract with the Chiefs? I know he's the captain but he has been there now for the bones of 6 years. I think a backrow of Peter O' Mahony, Dave O' Callaghan and Messam would be fresh. Anybody hear anything about a backrow signing?