Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

phog

durkadurka wrote: »

But thats 11 guys with no game. Seems a waste to me. By all means keep 25 or so.

Perhaps McGahan intends to use this squad for the next two games and wants to keep them together for the fortnight.

phog

From MRSC

Munster v Harlequins, Amlin Challenge Cup Semi Final - Tickets Now on Sale to All Members
13 Apr 2011
Thomond Park Stadium, Saturday 30th April at 1pm.

Following the sale of tickets to Full Members and Associate Members with combined season tickets over the past couple of days, and based on the information we have regarding additional tickets we will receive on Friday and Monday next, we have decided to open a sale of tickets to All Full and Associate Members of up to 2 tickets per member.

Any Full or Associate member who has already purchased a ticket retains that ticket but may now purchase an additional 2 tickets.

It may be the case that tickets returned later may be of a better quality than early returns. This is outside of our control

TheJims

what exactly is an Associate member? and how do i get tickets!!

GerM

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

A mate of mine claims that players not in the squad are made available to the clubs for AIL duty while provinces hold onto all players in the squad for the weekend.

I have no real idea about whether that is in anyway true though.

It's not true. The likes of Cusack, Archer and O'Mahoney were all named in the extended 27 man squad for the Leinster game yet still appeared for their AIL clubs that weekend. There are only the AIL play offs left at this point so if you don't play for YM or Con, you're going to have a weekend off. I would think that the Con players have been left out so they can spend a little more time with Con preparing.

ormond lad

TheJims wrote: »

what exactly is an Associate member? and how do i get tickets!!

Associate Members have all the benefits of Full Membership except for an entitlement to tickets for Heineken Cup matches

ormond lad

Munster need one more victory to guarantee finishing top of the Magners League regular season and a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals. Two more points will be good enough to guarantee them a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals.
does this sound correct???

phog

TheJims wrote: »

what exactly is an Associate member? and how do i get tickets!!

Assoc Members are spilt into 3 groups, member with combined venue ML tickets (Cork & Limerick) Member with single venue ML tickets and a member wioth no ML tickets.

Any available H/C tickets are usually sold to A/Members based on what M/L tickets they would have purchased

ormond lad wrote: »

Munster need one more victory to guarantee finishing top of the Magners League regular season and a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals. Two more points will be good enough to guarantee them a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals.
does this sound correct???

It all depends on how Ulster do, but they copuld potentially end up on 74 points and with us currently on 71, so we'd need 3 points to be certain to finish on top.

profitius

I hope Munster will target the Ospreys game. Stop Ospreys getting a home semi and help the other provinces qualify.

phog

profitius wrote: »

I hope Munster will target the Ospreys game. Stop Ospreys getting a home semi and help the other provinces qualify.

Actually, thats the one I thought we'd sacrifice if we had a choice.

buck65

ormond lad wrote: »

Munster need one more victory to guarantee finishing top of the Magners League regular season and a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals. Two more points will be good enough to guarantee them a home game in the Play-Off semi-finals.
does this sound correct???

Yes that's about the size of it. A home win against Connacht will do it. I don't really expect Munster to beat the Ospreys away. A LBP or two will also do it.

ormond lad

Munster prop Ryan set to leave at end of season
Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 02:31 PM
Dolphin prop Dave Ryan will not be contracted to Munster next season and will, according to reports, be playing his rugby in England or France.
The loosehead prop has not had his contract with Munster renewed and after an injury plagued season will look outside of Ireland to get his career back on track.
Former Highfield player Ryan, who turns 25 next week, came through Munster’s Academy.
Ryan’s older brother Tim, who played for Munster against the All Blacks, left Munster two seasons ago to take up a contract with Toulon and is now playing for Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership.
Article courtesy of the Evening Echo
its a pity hes leaving, never reached full potential with us

TheRevolution

Not really surprising to be honest. A lot of hype but at 25 he didn't have anything to show for it. However he was very unlucky with injuries as well.

thomond2006

Showed glimpses of potential but the poor guy has been a sicknote in the last 2 seasons.

phog

I'm disappointed to see him go, I thought he had a lot to offer just wasn't getting the opportunity to shine with his injuries.

buck65

He looked decent last year when he got the chance but I can understand Munster not offering a contract, we have enough injured players on our books. Best of luck to him.

onlyrocknroll

Seems to be some good but vague news on POC. Seems he might still be available at some stage this season.

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/8949.php

phog

Yeah, that's great news

Paul O'Connell could yet play a part in Munster's season following further tests on his injured ankle.

O’Connell had his injury reassessed in Dublin yesterday evening and the prediction is that he could be back training in four weeks time.
That of course would mean that if Munster were to progress to the final of either Amlin Challenge Cup or Magners League, O’Connell could be involved.

SomeFool

buck65 wrote: »

He looked decent last year when he got the chance but I can understand Munster not offering a contract, we have enough injured players on our books. Best of luck to him.

Agreed, with Hurley, Horan and Du Preez I think we're ok at loosehead too. Hopefully he'll get first team rugby somewhere and reach his potential.

bazzajf

We need to sign a world class back row forward and a world class centre at the very minimum, another top class prop would not go amiss either (in addition to BJ Botha)



We have a brilliant back 3 for next season, we saw that against Brive – Jones, Howlett and Earls.



In the centre, Murphy and Mafi have their plus points but we need something extra in there, a signing of Conrad Smith would be my recommendation, world class attacker and defender and keeps the errors to an absolute minimum. Look out for Barry Murphy and young Ivan Dineen next season too, Deasy doesn’t cut it for me at full back or centre, too weak in the tackle and defensively but has good pace.



We are relatively ok in the halfbacks with Murray, Stringer, O’Leary and Williams competing for SH and ROG and Keatley in the shakeup for OH.





The front row has Du Preez, Hurley and Horan in competition for loosehead and BJ Botha and Archer (Borlase looks out of his depth) in competition for TH, one more top class prop to shake us up would go down nicely, my recommendation is to sign Werner Kruger from the Bulls, a young international bruiser of a prop.



Hookers we are fine if Fla recovers, good back up in Varley and Sherry too..



The second row is very handsomely resourced with POC,DOC,MOD and Nagle as well as Donncha Ryan – No problems.



The Back Row needs to be addressed, we have Wally playing great stuff but we can only hope for another year or 2 out of him, we also have Leamy whose form has been frustrating and James Coughlan who is emerging but is now in his 30s, the back up is a lightweight if mobile Ronan, and the untried O’Mahony and Butler. We need a new signing in the back row quit badly and a world class signing at that, my recommendation is Willem Alberts from the Sharks, a huge wrecking ball of a number 8 who is dynamic and with skills and imposing size – what more could we want, push the boat out to get him I say and our fortunes may be transformed, recently capped by the Springboks but not getting the recognition he should be getting in terms of cap accumulation and at the right age – mid-twenties..







Munster 2011/12


Jones

Howlett

Mafi

Conrad Smith

Earls

O’Gara

O’Leary

Alberts

Wallace

Leamy

POC

DOC

Botha

Flannery

Kruger

danthefan

bazzajf wrote: »

We need to sign a world class back row forward and a world class centre at the very minimum, another top class prop would not go amiss either (in addition to BJ Botha)

Du Preez
Howlett
Mafi
Botha

You have 1 NIQ and 1 project player left to sign, so a world class centre AND backrow isn't going to happen, and another prop is definitely not going to happen.

Yup, time to put the faith in the young lads. There's players there, we just haven't seen enough of them.

SomeFool

danthefan wrote: »

Du Preez
Howlett
Mafi
Botha

You have 1 NIQ and 1 project player left to sign, so a world class centre AND backrow isn't going to happen, and another prop is definitely not going to happen.

Borlase is already there on project, hopefully he can improve with a proper pre season and Bothas infulence. Agree with Emmet on using the younger players more next season but you can be sure another NIQ will be signed too. I'd say a 10/12 type of player if I had to guess!

Risteard

I'm not convinced by this whole 'need another back row' thing. It's the one area where we are producing players. Judging by an interview with Foley a few weeks ago I suspect that he'll be pushing for more younger players to get gametime, which they will anyway due to the world cup.

thomond2006

Backrow is our strongest area in terms of youngsters coming through.

When Wallace retires we may need to sign a top NIQ backrow if the likes of O'Mahony and O'Donnell don't make the grade. I don't rate Ronan as a replacement for Wallace.

We definitely need a NIQ centre.

Buceph

thomond2006 wrote: »

Backrow is our strongest area in terms of youngsters coming through.

When Wallace retires we may need to sign a top NIQ backrow if the likes of O'Mahony and O'Donnell don't make the grade. I don't rate Ronan as a replacement for Wallace.

We definitely need a NIQ centre.

O'Mahony has had good and bad moments, more bad than good for the moment, but he definitely has promise. He needs to sort out his discipline and shape up in defense, but his attacking play has been exciting. When the lads are away next year he'll have the chance to prove himself. And if he can be drilled a bit more he'll make a decent player. It's just the step up from the AIL seems to have been tough for him.

O'Donnell has played a few matches, and performed just as well as Ronan has. And that's with a lot less experience and gametime. He's been extremely solid in defense, one of the most aggressive tacklers and ruckers on the pitch. And his attack has been good, no shows of brilliance, but he's scored a try, gained hard yards and broken the line when needed, and has run strongly when shown space.

And then there's Butler who was skipped through the academy straight to a development contract, so they obviously hold him in high regard.

If Wallace or Leamy was retiring then I'd be calling for a signing in the backrow, but at the moment there's a lot of talent coming through. And there's especially no point signing someone as the level of talent I'd expect to satsify our needs would be of someone who's going to the World Cup, so what's the point?

PhatPiggins

thomond2006 wrote: »

Backrow is our strongest area in terms of youngsters coming through.

When Wallace retires we may need to sign a top NIQ backrow if the likes of O'Mahony and O'Donnell don't make the grade. I don't rate Ronan as a replacement for Wallace.

We definitely need a NIQ centre.

Inclined to agree there. Maybe the likes of Luke McAllister? They came close to signing him in 2008, he can play 10 and 12 and wouldn't cost as much this time round.

totallegend

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Inclined to agree there. Maybe the likes of Luke McAllister? They came close to signing him in 2008, he can play 10 and 12 and wouldn't cost as much this time round.

Allegedly going to Toulouse

Cpt_Blackbeard

I'm on the fence about signing a backrow tbh. We have a lot of talent coming through and our backrow of Leamy/Wally/Coughlan is a handy unit but, its not physical enough for a team with big matches.

Signing a NIQ on a 1 year deal might be the way to go, I would love to see Willem Alberts.

We need a centre and will definitely be signing a centre (or 2?). I think we need a proven creative player like Conrad Smith. We've all seen how Mafi played with Tipoki so maybe Smith might bring the best out in him. But we'll probably just get Downey.

Risteard

I still disagree. After Rocky Elsom left Leinster, everyone was talking about who Leinster were going to sign to replace him. They didn't and picked one of their own players in McLaughlin who, shock horror, actually performed when given a run of games.

That's the way we should be looking to bring through these players. There are areas where we need signings but I firmly believe that the back row is not one of them.

durkadurka

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