Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Cpt_Blackbeard

thomond2006 wrote: »

Didn't know Holland was his cousin.

No doubt this will push along proceedings.

Sure isn't that the only way that people can find a way into the club nowadays? You need to have played for the club/be already working there to get a job coaching and you need to have a cousin involved to become a player now too. :rolleyes:

danthefan

thomond2006 wrote: »

Didn't know Holland was his cousin.

No doubt this will push along proceedings.

Are you sure you want proceedings to be pushed along?

touts

GerM wrote: »

Currently, Munster have 44 players in their senior squad (45 listed on site but Dowling is retired). That also doesn't include the likes of Zebo, Sherry and Murray who are regularly involved in senior match day squads and will surely be on development contracts soon if they're not already. Leinster have 37 (42 listed on site but Hogan, Galarza, Newland, McCormack and Fogarty are no longer with the team). This doesn't include the likes of Ryan, McKinley and Madigan who are regularly involved in match day squads. I know they're now on development contracts but it's easier to make the comparison without the players who started the season in the academy. They've signed 6 players but will be losing about the same number (Hines, Wright, Berne, POD and Keogh for starters with a couple more unclear). Ulster only have 35 in their senior squad.

Overall, Munster are probably going to trim the squad a bit. They've a massive squad after promoting so many younger players in the last season. They've the biggest squad in the country by some distance so I don't think they'll be making big moves in the transfer market aside from signing another centre to complete their compliment of non-Irish players.

Take out the ones who are probably going to retire after the World Cup (Hayes? Horan? Quinny). Factor in that many of those who don't retire will be simply too old to compete at the business end of the season this time next year. Take out those who are moving to other clubs (Buckley, Warwick, Murphy? Tuitupou?). Take out those who are injured most of the time (Flannery, O'Leary, Murphy?).

Also a third of the squad is made up of young lads with "potential" (Archer, Barnes, Butler, Cusack, Deasy, Dineen, Foley, Gleeson, Holland, Hurley, Jones, O'Donnell, O'Mahoney, Ryan, Williams, Murray, Zebo). You can easily take out half of those as Munster will be lucky if 50% of them make the grade. Thats just the life of a professional sportsman.

Now all of a sudden the squad looks very very limited. The two replacements for next year (Keatley & Botha) are hardly awe inspiring. In fact it would not surprise me if we are struggling to name a squad for some games when the Irish Internationals are unavailable. We'll certainly be limited to one of the youngest benches in professional Rugby.

I have followed Munster for 15 years. I will hopefully follow them for many many years to come. But I fear we are in for a very bad 2-3 years.

thomond2006

danthefan wrote: »

Are you sure you want proceedings to be pushed along?

Christ no, hence the smilie.

De Villiers or Jaque Fourie please.

GerM

touts wrote: »

Now all of a sudden the squad looks very very limited. The two replacements for next year (Keatley & Botha) are hardly awe inspiring. In fact it would not surprise me if we are struggling to name a squad for some games when the Irish Internationals are unavailable. We'll certainly be limited to one of the youngest benches in professional Rugby.

I have followed Munster for 15 years. I will hopefully follow them for many many years to come. But I fear we are in for a very bad 2-3 years.

Think you're being overly pessimistic. Munster will still be able to compete in the ML and in the week to week games. It's the top level games where they may be found wanting. I would be surprised if they couldn't maintain a good level of performance in the ML and against the weaker HEC sides.

Taking the likely Irish internationals out of the equation, next season, Munster should be able to field a 23 of:

1. du Preez
2. Sherry
3. Botha
4. MOD
5. Nagle
6. Ryan
7. TOD
8. Coughlan
9. Murray
10. Keatley
11. Hurley
12. AN Other (NIQ player to be announced)
13. Mafi
14. Howlett
15. Jones

16. Varley
17. Horan
18. Archer
19. Holland
20. POM
21. Williams
22. Deasy
23. J Murphy

That's a very strong panel minus its international contingent and there's no place for the likes of Niall Ronan, Darragh Hurley, Barry Murphy (contract pending), Zebo, Dave Foley or Denis Fogarty. There's more than enough experience there mixed with youth to take apart most teams. 7 full internationals in the starting side and almost certainly at least 3 more future internationals in Murray, Jones and Nagle if not more. Most sides would kill for that side if they were going to lose about 8 players to international duty.

thomond2006

Botha could well be brought to the World Cup by South Africa.

sock puppet

thomond2006 wrote: »

Christ no, hence the smilie.

De Villiers or Jaque Fourie please.

De Villiers has said he'll probably stay with Western Province. Donald would be a strange signing. Even if Munster have someone else to kick goals, his kicking out of hand is poor and so is his decision making. He'll probably play well in the ML and possibly the Heineken Cup but he'll never perform when the pressure's on.

edit: If Munster were to go all out on a signing Toeava would be a excellent addition imo. Though he'd presumably have lots of offers in France if he decided to come up.

touts

GerM wrote: »

Think you're being overly pessimistic. Munster will still be able to compete in the ML and in the week to week games. It's the top level games where they may be found wanting. I would be surprised if they couldn't maintain a good level of performance in the ML and against the weaker HEC sides.

Taking the likely Irish internationals out of the equation, next season, Munster should be able to field a 23 of:

1. du Preez
2. Sherry
3. Botha
4. MOD
5. Nagle
6. Ryan
7. TOD
8. Coughlan
9. Murray
10. Keatley
11. Hurley
12. AN Other (NIQ player to be announced)
13. Mafi
14. Howlett
15. Jones

16. Varley
17. Horan
18. Archer
19. Holland
20. POM
21. Williams
22. Deasy
23. J Murphy

That's a very strong panel minus its international contingent and there's no place for the likes of Niall Ronan, Darragh Hurley, Barry Murphy (contract pending), Zebo, Dave Foley or Denis Fogarty. There's more than enough experience there mixed with youth to take apart most teams. 7 full internationals in the starting side and almost certainly at least 3 more future internationals in Murray, Jones and Nagle if not more. Most sides would kill for that side if they were going to lose about 8 players to international duty.

Perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic. Hard not to be after Saturday. But you already have an AN Other in the starting team and despite many rumours and much speculation there is still no confirmed signing to fill the gap.

Meanshile Leinster and Ulster have been signing everyone they can and remember that the IRFU still have to use much of what money is left to rebuild Connacht. If Leinster win the Heineken cup Connacht get into the Heineken cup next year and right now they basically don't have a team for next year. If they are in the HEC there will be 2-3 NIQ signings for them and both Munster and Lenister will be under pressure to send development players to take up full contracts at Connacht. In fact, while I would hate to see them go, a move to Connacht would be an excellent step in the development of the likes of Nagle, Murray, Zebo etc.

At the moment assuming no additional recruitment the AN Other centre slot would be taken by Johne Murphy and he hasn’t exactly set the world alight any time he played in the centre this year. Varley has already been in a number of Ireland squads and with Flannery and Best injured more than they are fit that is likely to continue. Ireland is very short of out-halfs so once Keatley has a few Munster games under his belt he will be a bag carrier in the six nations squad next season (or even the World Cup if one of Sexton, O’Gara or Wallace get injured). Jones and Murray look promising and based on performances in the last couple of month are likely to be on the fringes of the Irish squad but lets assume if they are called up they are at least released to play in the league. Is Horan definately going to continue next season? If he does is he fit to play week in week out? Is Botha confirmed as finished with South Africa? I would not be surprised to see him in the squad for the World Cup and that will rule him out for the start of the season.

That makes the team next year:

1. du Preez
2. Sherry
3. Fogarty
4. O'Driscoll
5. Nagle
6. Ryan
7. O’Donnell
8. Coughlan
9. Murray
10. Cusack
11. Hurley
12. J Murphy
13. Mafi
14. Howlett
15. Jones

16. Ryan
17. Hurley
18. Archer
19. Holland
20. AN Other (out half)
21. Williams
22. Deasy
23. Zebo

Most Magners League teams will fancy their chances against that line up. Also listening to Matt Williams on Off the Ball last night he said that Leinster had used over 50 players in the Magners League and that Tolouse had 47 contracted elite level players. Our 44 with 1/3rd young lads and 1/3rd departing/old lads now looks decidedly limited.

buck65

Is it just me or is everyone getting carried away. Yes we need another couple of players and probably a new coach but come on!

GerM

touts wrote: »

Perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic. Hard not to be after Saturday. But you already have an AN Other in the starting team and despite many rumours and much speculation there is still no confirmed signing to fill the gap.

At the moment assuming no additional recruitment the AN Other centre slot would be taken by Johne Murphy and he hasn’t exactly set the world alight any time he played in the centre this year. Varley has already been in a number of Ireland squads and with Flannery and Best injured more than they are fit that is likely to continue. Ireland is very short of out-halfs so once Keatley has a few Munster games under his belt he will be a bag carrier in the six nations squad next season (or even the World Cup if one of Sexton, O’Gara or Wallace get injured). Jones and Murray look promising and based on performances in the last couple of month are likely to be on the fringes of the Irish squad but lets assume if they are called up they are at least released to play in the league. Is Horan definately going to continue next season? If he does is he fit to play week in week out? Is Botha confirmed as finished with South Africa? I would not be surprised to see him in the squad for the World Cup and that will rule him out for the start of the season.

McGahan has already stated that Munster will be making a signing at centre which is thought to be their last NIQ spot so there will be a significant player to come into the back line. Botha hasn't played for S.A. since last summer and was left out of their autumn international plans entirely. I would be very surprised if he was included in their 30 for the WC and I'm sure Munster looked into the likelihood of this before agreeing to fork out big money for him. South Africa have also announced their contracted players for the year which include 4 props, 2 of which are specialist tightheads, so Botha's involvement in the WC is very unlikely I reckon.

Leinster used 50 players in the ML this season but you need to look at the make up of those players. There were 8 or 9 academy players used. Then there were the temporary signings like Galarza, Newland, Shawe and Prescott. We also used Dundon from the AIL. The only reason we really used that many players was due to serious injury restrictions in specialist positions as well as being heavily hit by international call ups. I think 40 players would be a more accurate number if it wasn't for unexpected circumstances and, when those circumstances arose, we made temporary signings to cover things.

Really think there's enough quality left in the squad to handle the week to week games. Keep in mind the other sides will be without their international players too. A side weaker than that one went to Llanelli and beat them only a couple of weeks ago. If I was a Munster fan, my concern would be the team's ability to handle the top teams. The pack were completely beaten up in a couple of crunch European games. The sole signing of Botha is not going to stem that flow I feel especially with everyone being a year older. A back row of Leamy, Coughlan and Wallace will hold no fear for any of Europe's top sides.

EDIT: Also, I'm pretty sure Horan is contracted for next season although I think Munster should be giving Darragh Hurley more time ahead of him. Also, Dave Ryan is being let go.

ormond lad

munsterrugby.ie
O'Leary Back In The Mix
5 May 2011, 11:53 am
By The Editor
Tomas O'Leary returns to the Munster side for the first time since the game against London Irish in January, for tomorrow nights clash with Connacht at Thomond Park Stadium (7.05).
O'Leary will partner Ronan O'Gara who is just one of four players retained in the starting Xv from last weekend, the others being full back Felix Jones, wing Doug Howlett and Denis Leamy who this time around starts at number 8.
Danny Barnes will partner Johne Murphy in the centre while Simon Zebo takes over from Keith Earls on the wing.
O'Gara, who will win his 206th Munster cap tomorrow was honoured at a Civic Reception in Cork City Hall last night to mark his contribution to a sport he was illuminated since first making his Munster senior debut back in August 1997.
Togging out with him on Friday will be his colleague through all those years, Alan Quinlan who wins his 211th Munster cap.
Munster: F Jones; D Howlett, J Murphy, D Barnes, S Zebo; R O'Gara, T O'Leary:mad:; M Horan, M Sherry, J Hayes; D Ryan, P O'Connell capt; A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Leamy. Replacements: D Varley, W du Preez, S Archer, I Nagle, T O'Donnell, P Stringer, P Warwick, D Hurley.
Why in gods name do we have to start TOL, murray should start. we are going to finish first its a nothing game, why not see how murray gets on. The same with ronan, the TOD should be starting ronan will never be HEC standard but TOD could be

jacothelad

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

I don't disagree with any of that but even if the Academy is fixed, and it's possible it's been fixed already with guys like Sherry and Murray coming through, it's still a big ask for the kids to carry the team.

Ulster are loaded with SA players, Leinster have signed plenty of old pros like Hines, Wright, Reddan, Ross etc.

What is your point exactly. Each team has the same number of NIQ players. Yes. Ulster have 5 (and a Scotsman), to be down to 3 next season when ironically one will be going to Munster.

..and Munster are equally loaded with 6 NIQs. 4 Kiwis, an Aussie and a South African.- some of whom are not worth their wages. Borlase and Tuitupo? Mafi? Howlett is a top player and has been a pretty good signing as has Warwick. Maybe you didn't notice all those overseas guys in the red shirt.These players all block the way for young guys no matter what team they play for.

Cpt_Blackbeard

I just don't understand McGahan at all.

He is giving Zebo and Barnes a chance which is great but, Barnes is a 13 afaik and he is being played beside a journeyman winger at 13. . Hurley should be given a shot in the centre as he is a better player than Murphy and could be a decent Halstead-esque 12.

I can understand TOL starting and have no issue with that. Murray needs a rest but he won't start for Munster again until the WC as TOL is back :mad:.

The starting of Ronan ahead of TOD is the nail in the coffin for Munster Rugby under McGahan. We need to be jettisoning the middle tier of average performers for the youngsters (TOD isn't even young ffs!!) who have shown much more promise and have the ability to play at a higher level.

Its disappointing that Nagle missed out but, we have a lot of quality locks and at least he made the matchday squad. Ryan deserves a shot to get ahead of DOC and POC needs gametime so it makes some sense.

Amazotheamazing

jacothelad wrote: »

What is your point exactly. Each team has the same number of NIQ players. Yes. Ulster have 5 (and a Scotsman), to be down to 3 next season when ironically one will be going to Munster.

..and Munster are equally loaded with 6 NIQs. 4 Kiwis, an Aussie and a South African.- some of whom are not worth their wages. Borlase and Tuitupo? Mafi? Howlett is a top player and has been a pretty good signing as has Warwick. Maybe you didn't notice all those overseas guys in the red shirt.These players all block the way for young guys no matter what team they play for.

My point is there's a perception that Ulster's academy is leagues ahead of Munsters but if you took their NIQ's out of their side they'd be ordinary enough too. Ulster have loads of good young backs, one or two good young props, but fairly few second rows or backrows.

jacothelad

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

My point is there's a perception that Ulster's academy is leagues ahead of Munsters but if you took their NIQ's out of their side they'd be ordinary enough too. Ulster have loads of good young backs, one or two good young props, but fairly few second rows or backrows.

Correct. There is a guy called Henderson who is a good prospect at second row. Ali Birch is a promising 7. Apart from that the cupboard id bare although there are a few UIlster guys playing in England. The academy argument is a false one in some ways. If you hit a barren period in which no decent young players emerge then no academy is going to turn average guys into good ones. The academies are also a bit of a milstone in one regard. They have to make an assumption about a player at a young age, either deciding he's good enough or not. This assessment system is bery subjective and is wrong probably as much as it's right. Good players drift off into junior rugby because they have been rejected and therefore disappear from the radar.

jacothelad

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

My point is there's a perception that Ulster's academy is leagues ahead of Munsters but if you took their NIQ's out of their side they'd be ordinary enough too. Ulster have loads of good young backs, one or two good young props, but fairly few second rows or backrows.

Correct. There is a guy called Henderson who is a good prospect at second row. Ali Birch is a promising 7. Apart from that the cupboard is bare although there are a few Ulster guys playing in England/Scotland.


The academy argument is a false one in some ways. If you hit a barren period in which no decent young players emerge then no academy is going to turn average guys into good ones. The academies are also a bit of a milstone in one regard. They have to make an assumption about a player at a young age, either deciding he's good enough or not. This assessment system is bery subjective and is wrong probably as much as it's right. Good players drift off into junior rugby because they have been rejected and therefore disappear from the radar while others simply don't get any better than good club players.

Amazotheamazing

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

My point is there's a perception that Ulster's academy is leagues ahead of Munsters but if you took their NIQ's out of their side they'd be ordinary enough too. Ulster have loads of good young backs, one or two good young props, but fairly few second rows or backrows.

the perception is there and valid purely because Ulster's Team have had Academy players playing this season.

Marshall, Jackson, Gilroy, Spence were not involved 2 years ago, and have played ML and HEC games for Ulster.

Nobody who has joined the Munster Academy in the past 2 years has had near as much gametime as Spence or Gilroy.

What good is an Academy that doesn't produce players? It can only be judged on its results, and Munster's currently are very poor.

CatFromHue

there is also injurys to more senior players in ulster and leinster that have helped younger players get game time.

sean o brien got alot of gametime cos jennings was banned last year.
nevin spence got alot of game time this year cos cave was out injured.
dave kearney and niall morris it can be argued got gametime as rob kearney and luke fitz were out injured
dom ryan got gametime at the start of the season as jennings and ruddock werent allowed play due to going on tour last year with ireland.
john fogarty was leinster's starting hooker for most of last season when strauss was just a new guy. fogarty had to retire that has to have helped strauss in some ways.

bazzajf

The Magners League regular schedule concludes tomorrow night and there are some interesting ramifications in terms of who will be Munster's semi-final opponents at Thomond on Friday the 13th.

My own inclination is that the Ospreys are going to edge Cardiff for 4th and they will be served up as our opponents on semi-final day. That said we could be up against Blues, Ospreys, Ulster or in the event of a miracle - Scarlets.

Secondly, it looks most probable that we would have a Munster v Leinster final, if that happens - where will that be played, surely it should be Thomond and will be Thomond but I am hearing conflicting suggestions, Leinster played Ospreys at RDS in last year's grand final. F*ck the IRFU and any requests they make for where the final should be held..

I would luv it, luv it if we beat them the weekend after they were crowned Euro Champions and damn it, I would love it all the more if it was in Limerick.
Anyway, forgive my hypothetical analysis if none of this comes to fruition.

profitius

jacothelad wrote: »

The academy argument is a false one in some ways. If you hit a barren period in which no decent young players emerge then no academy is going to turn average guys into good ones. The academies are also a bit of a milstone in one regard. They have to make an assumption about a player at a young age, either deciding he's good enough or not. This assessment system is bery subjective and is wrong probably as much as it's right. Good players drift off into junior rugby because they have been rejected and therefore disappear from the radar while others simply don't get any better than good club players.

They do have to make an assumption alright and its based on coaches personal opinions which may be wrong so the best players are not always picked.

The Irish provinces do have an advantage however in the fact they bring players into the academies at a later age than most other countries. The English and Welsh players enter academies at a younger age and thats why Ireland U18's looked better than the English players even though the English were far bigger.

There should be quality players coming through every season in every province. Some positions might be a bit weak in certain years but overall if the academies are doing their job there should be no shortage. If not its a coaching issue.

Munsters production of backs for the last 10 years has been a big failure. The people in charge of Munster rugby Munster have a good look at themselves. Keith Earls has come through but he stood out a mile in schools rugby. It seems players have to do that to get selected. The more subtlety talented players hadn't a hope of getting spotted.

Deleted User wrote: »

the perception is there and valid purely because Ulster's Team have had Academy players playing this season.

Marshall, Jackson, Gilroy, Spence were not involved 2 years ago, and have played ML and HEC games for Ulster.

Nobody who has joined the Munster Academy in the past 2 years has had near as much gametime as Spence or Gilroy.

What good is an Academy that doesn't produce players? It can only be judged on its results, and Munster's currently are very poor.

Thats true but also the coaches won't play them.

Some Munster players are very underdeveloped too compared with all the other provinces.

ormond lad

jacothelad wrote: »

The academy argument is a false one in some ways. If you hit a barren period in which no decent young players emerge then no academy is going to turn average guys into good ones. The academies are also a bit of a milstone in one regard. They have to make an assumption about a player at a young age, either deciding he's good enough or not. This assessment system is bery subjective and is wrong probably as much as it's right. Good players drift off into junior rugby because they have been rejected and therefore disappear from the radar while others simply don't get any better than good club players.

profitius wrote: »

They do have to make an assumption alright and its based on coaches personal opinions which may be wrong so the best players are not always picked.

The Irish provinces do have an advantage however in the fact they bring players into the academies at a later age than most other countries. The English and Welsh players enter academies at a younger age and thats why Ireland U18's looked better than the English players even though the English were far bigger.

There should be quality players coming through every season in every province. Some positions might be a bit weak in certain years but overall if the academies are doing their job there should be no shortage. If not its a coaching issue.

Munsters production of backs for the last 10 years has been a big failure. The people in charge of Munster rugby Munster have a good look at themselves. Keith Earls has come through but he stood out a mile in schools rugby. It seems players have to do that to get selected. The more subtlety talented players hadn't a hope of getting spotted.

Thats true but also the coaches won't play them.

Some Munster players are very underdeveloped too compared with all the other provinces.

Profitus the english and welsh have a much better system. Their pro clubs/regions play a central role in elite player development with players from 16 very much training and playing under pro guidance. For example many english academy players dont play in some rounds of the daily mail cup because they are with their guinness premiership academy training or playing.
If we had intakes into our academies at 16/17 not 19/20 we would get players ready for the pro game that are several years younger then they are at the moment. At the moment some players dont enter the academy till they are nearly 20 which is rediculous.
I dont know much about the leinster system but in munster with the new structures in the youths season if a player initially doesnt make cadets(u16) or regional squads(u17) they do still have a chance of making the interpro squad if they can make enough of an impression in the pan munster last 16 competition.

thomond2006

16/17? Kids have to do their Leaving Cert first.

ormond lad

ormond lad wrote: »

Profitus the english and welsh have a much better system. Their pro clubs/regions play a central role in elite player development with players from 16 very much training and playing under pro guidance. For example many english academy players dont play in some rounds of the daily mail cup because they are with their guinness premiership academy training or playing.
If we had intakes into our academies at 16/17 not 19/20 we would get players ready for the pro game that are several years younger then they are at the moment. At the moment some players dont enter the academy till they are nearly 20 which is rediculous.
I dont know much about the leinster system but in munster with the new structures in the youths season if a player initially doesnt make cadets(u16) or regional squads(u17) they do still have a chance of making the interpro squad if they can make enough of an impression in the pan munster last 16 competition.

thomond2006 wrote: »

16/17? Kids have to do their Leaving Cert first.

We already have a sub academy looking at players at 15/16/17 through youths/schools development squads etc what im saying is that the very best of those players receive higher standards of training so hopefully we can get our best young stars ready for the pro game at 18/19 not 21/22.
All the english premiership clubs have elite programmes that have a major element at 16-18 so that the very best are ready at 18 to play pro. Why cant we do the same?
For all the press about how great the schools cups are, how many players are ready for pro rugby the season after coming out of school

profitius

ormond lad wrote: »

Profitus the english and welsh have a much better system. Their pro clubs/regions play a central role in elite player development with players from 16 very much training and playing under pro guidance. For example many english academy players dont play in some rounds of the daily mail cup because they are with their guinness premiership academy training or playing.
If we had intakes into our academies at 16/17 not 19/20 we would get players ready for the pro game that are several years younger then they are at the moment. At the moment some players dont enter the academy till they are nearly 20 which is rediculous.
I dont know much about the leinster system but in munster with the new structures in the youths season if a player initially doesnt make cadets(u16) or regional squads(u17) they do still have a chance of making the interpro squad if they can make enough of an impression in the pan munster last 16 competition.

It depends how you measure success. The Irish system is producing more talent than the English (in terms of playing numbers) or Welsh so its better to concentrate on finding talent before bulking them up. Sure, it means a delay in bringing them through but the players that do come through are higher quality on average.

I do agree though that 20 and above is too old for players coming into the academy, with the exception of props.

So maybe the answer lies in the sub academy. If the sub academy manages to get players to bulk up it will help the academy. At the moment there are too many full time professionals in Munster who are underweight.

Leinster are doing well and thats something Munster can look at. I think they already have copied the Leinster model.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

16/17? Kids have to do their Leaving Cert first.

and complete growing.

When my brother was 15 he played prop, because, excuse my french, he was a short fat bollox. He's now 6'2" and has played out half and full back at pretty serious levels.

Having lads in before they've even reached their body shape is bizarre, rugby is a full contact sport. There's no way that kids should see any professionalism past what we can already see at Junior and Senior Cup level.

Monty Burnz

Deleted User wrote: »

When my brother was 15 he played prop, because, excuse my french, he was a short fat bollox. He's now 6'2"

Yeah, but he's still a bollox.

buck65

If it is a Leinster/Munster final I doubt the Aviva would sell out with the HCup final a week away.
The way we are playing we mightn't even make the finals.

touts

bazzajf wrote: »

Secondly, it looks most probable that we would have a Munster v Leinster final, if that happens - where will that be played, surely it should be Thomond and will be Thomond but I am hearing conflicting suggestions, Leinster played Ospreys at RDS in last year's grand final. F*ck the IRFU and any requests they make for where the final should be held..

I would luv it, luv it if we beat them the weekend after they were crowned Euro Champions and damn it, I would love it all the more if it was in Limerick.
Anyway, forgive my hypothetical analysis if none of this comes to fruition.

A Munster V Leinster Final is probably the bookie's favourite but then again so was Munster to be in the final of the Amlin and Leinster to win the Magners Final last year. We will need to up our performance significantly on last week to beat the Ospreys (assuming it's them).

IF we do get to a Munster v Leinster Final then it will almost certainly be in the Aviva. The potential for an historic Domestic-Europe double by Leinster will attract a big Leinster crowd and the IRFU will want to cash in on that.

JustinDee

bazzajf wrote: »

Secondly, it looks most probable that we would have a Munster v Leinster final, if that happens - where will that be played, surely it should be Thomond and will be Thomond but I am hearing conflicting suggestions, Leinster played Ospreys at RDS in last year's grand final. F*ck the IRFU and any requests they make for where the final should be held...

It is up to the relevant provincial branch. If the Munster branch chose to cash in on a date at the Aviva Stadium then thats what they'll do.
For a final, the ticket allocation would be divided evenly.

You post as if Munster and IRFU are seperate entities. They're not.

Riskymove

touts wrote: »

IF we do get to a Munster v Leinster Final then it will almost certainly be in the Aviva. The potential for an historic Domestic-Europe double by Leinster will attract a big Leinster crowd and the IRFU will want to cash in on that.

what happens if they arrange that and then Leinster lose the HC Final?

remember they only have two weeks notice of knowing who is the final to arrange it

You post as if Munster and IRFU are seperate entities. They're not.

Justin

the fear is that IRFU will cash in on the opportunity to make more money as oppossed to which would be more advantageous to Munster winning

The Croke Park semi has left a legacy in that regard. Many fans will want it in Thomond.