Magners League Dream Team:1 Munster Player

Quint2010

O'Gara sole Munster man on Dream Team

Monday 2 May 2011
Ronan O'Gara - The sole Munster player in the Dream Team


by Brendan Cole
Despite leading the competition by 14 points, only one Munster player, Ronan O'Gara, has made it onto this year's Magners League Dream Team.
In total, the team contains eight Irish-based players, with five from Leinster and one each from Connacht and Ulster.
Three of those - Ulster's Ruan Pienaar and Leinster duo Isa Nacewa Richardt Strauss - are not Irish qualified though Strauss will qualify for Ireland through the three-year resident rule.
Uncapped Connacht wing Fionn Carr and Leinster and Ireland forwards Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip and Mike Ross also made the cut.
Heaslip and Dutch-born Edinburgh wing Tim Visser - who will soon by Scottish qualified - are the only players from last year's team to make the selection this time around.
And Heaslip, by making his fifth team in a row, became the only ever-present in the Magners League Dream Team selection, pipping Munster number eight James Coughlan and Llanelli Scarlets newcomer Ben Morgan.
Sean O'Brien could also have won the eight jersey. He received votes in all three back row positions and polled twice as many votes overall as any of the other 20 players nominated for the three positions.
In the end, O'Brien led the way for the blindside flanker's role, with Cardiff Blues rising star Sam Warburton taking the No 7 openside shirt.
Glasgow lock Richie Gray won the most votes in the second row, with Alun Wyn Jones taking second place.
Leinster led the way in the front row with Ross, who has put together a splendid record against all comers this year, and Strauss getting two of the the three with former Wales prop Iestyn Thomas taking the loosehead slot.
Leinster full-back Nacewa picked up 16 votes, with three other candidates polling only one each.
Scarlets' Welsh centre Jonathan Davies picked up 14 votes for one of the two centre berths with his nearest rivals getting only five.
Brian O'Driscoll, a Dream Team member for the two previous campaigns, was one of those two, but he was beaten on a second draw to the No 13 jersey by the Blues' Casey Laulala.
At scrum half, Pienaar was a runaway winner with 13 votes - ten more than the man he replaced, Leinster's Isaac Boss.
His half-back partner is Munster's O'Gara, who has beaten Jonathan Sexton in this selection battle and returns to the Dream Team after a season's absence.
Magners League 2011:
15: Isa Nacewa (Leinster)
14: Fionn Carr (Connacht)
13: Casey Laulua (Cardiff)
12: Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)
11. Tim Visser (Edinburgh)
10: Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
9: Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
1: Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets)
2: Richardt Strauss (Leinster)
3: Mike Ross (Leinster)
4: Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
5: Richie Gray (Edinburgh)
6: Sean O'Brien (Leinster)
7: Sam Warburton (Cardiff)
8: Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Teams (9): Leinster 5, Blues 2, Scarlets 2, Ospreys 1, Connacht 1, Glasgow Warriors 1, Edinburgh 1, Munster 1, Ulster 1.


Personally I think this is an unsult to Munster. Leinster have 5 players??

Hype710

Who cares? It doesn't carry remote significance.

CatFromHue

id have aled brew or dth van der merve ahead of carr, wannenberg ahead of heaslip, and dom ryan ahead of warburton

totallegend

I'd have given Howlett a spot ahead of either Carr or Visser.

Beyond that, which Munster players should feel aggrieved? DOC maybe, but there haven't been that many individuals who have really stood out.

totallegend

An individual who has stood out all season is Sean O'Brien:

"The remarkably versatile O'Brien received votes in all three back row positions and polled twice as many votes overall as any of the other 20 players nominated for the three positions. In the end, O'Brien led the way for the blindside flanker's role, with Cardiff Blues rising star Sam Warburton taking the No 7 openside shirt."

http://www.magnersleague.com/news/7787.php

What a legend.

thomond2006

The ML 'victory' has been a team effort. Tbh we have won a lot of games where we haven't played that well.

I think this "Dream Team" is a load of nonsense anyway.

Quint2010

thomond2006 wrote: »

The ML 'victory' has been a team effort. Tbh we have won a lot of games where we haven't played that well.

I think this "Dream Team" is a load of nonsense anyway.

Ah yeah it is-its nonsense and a bit of fun at the same time. Just found it weird that despite being the dominant team in the league, Munster only had one player whereas Leinster have five

sock puppet

Munster have chopped and changed a lot all season, particularly in the backline. Howlett would have been a decent shot though imo.

CatFromHue

thomond2006 wrote: »

I think this "Dream Team" is a load of nonsense anyway.

if it reflected the players who actually played in the tournament it would be a good thing.

warburton and heaslip started 7 games out of 21. them getting on the team is aload of nonsense considering dom ryan came from nowhere and played played 13. thats still a low enough number but he would have contributed far more than those two.

the choice of carr makes no sense either considering aled brew and dth van der merve were second and third on the top try scoring list yet their teams are seventh and eleventh!

David900

thomond2006 wrote: »

The ML 'victory' has been a team effort. Tbh we have won a lot of games where we haven't played that well.

I think this "Dream Team" is a load of nonsense anyway.

Sour grapes?

Piliger

Quint2010 wrote: »

Ah yeah it is-its nonsense and a bit of fun at the same time. Just found it weird that despite being the dominant team in the league, Munster only had one player whereas Leinster have five

Who was on the selection committee ?

Quint2010

Piliger wrote: »

Who was on the selection committee ?

No idea

ormond lad

Piliger wrote: »

Who was on the selection committee ?

Quint2010 wrote: »

No idea

selection committee was 19 journalists from the four participating nations

Pretty fair selection committee so.

Btw, there's nothing wrong with having a team doing really well in the league with few individuals involved in the "dream team". That's understandable due to the team nature of the game. It's very difficult for one player to win games singlehandedly in rugby.

That being said, SOB at 8 was his most devastating this season.

jolley123

I would of put Brew instead of Carr

Jemo

As a Leinster fan I'm surprised at the Heaslip inclusion, true he is the best 8 in the tournament but he has had limited gametime and a lot of that was spent regaining form. It would have been Coughlan for me. Howlett deserved a look in too, but this award will matter little at the end of the day, Munster are top and will look to reap the real rewards. (And hopefully I'm wrong and the Leinster boys are so bouyed by being selected that they drive us to glory )

onlyrocknroll

Not too much to disagree with there I think.

From a Munster perspective I think that Howlett might be a little disappointed, and Coughlan probably deserved it more Heaslip (on Magners form only of course) but on balance Munster didn't have many stand out players.

IMO Stringer, Earls and Wallace all played some great rugby this season, but only earlier in the season for Stringer, later for Earls, and mostly in internationals and HC matches for Wallace.

durkadurka

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

Not too much to disagree with there I think.

From a Munster perspective I think that Howlett might be a little disappointed, and Coughlan probably deserved it more Heaslip (on Magners form only of course) but on balance Munster didn't have many stand out players.

IMO Stringer, Earls and Wallace all played some great rugby this season, but only earlier in the season for Stringer, later for Earls, and mostly in internationals and HC matches for Wallace.

Munster have more to be worrying about than this tbh. I suspect Dougie Howlett is not too disappointed at not achieving this 'honour'.

To me this is a PR exercise by Magners league to wrest the attention back from the HEC for a few weeks.

onlyrocknroll

durkadurka wrote: »

Munster have more to be worrying about than this tbh. I suspect Dougie Howlett is not too disappointed at not achieving this 'honour'.

To me this is a PR exercise by Magners league to wrest the attention back from the HEC for a few weeks.

I'm sure he's not devastated but who wouldn't appreciate a little individual recognition.

These things remind of lists like 'Best films/bands/albums of the year'. If you don't take them too seriously they provide an excuse for some enjoyable discussion and debate. They're just a little fun, no reason to get worked up, or to dismiss them as pointless or stupid.

daveharnett

Quint2010 wrote: »

Personally I think this is an unsult to Munster. Leinster have 5 players??

Why is that? Nobody in the squad springs to mind as having had an overwhelmingly good ML season.

Based on the few matches I've seen each of them this season, I would have though that Jerry Collins and Paul Tito would both be in with a shout.