Munster vs Connacht, Sat 23 March 5:45pm, Live on TG4

eyeball kid

From a Connacht point of view, very disappointing. Far too many basic errors. We actually kept Munster out of it a lot after the first 15 mins but the damage was done at that stage and we were chasing the game. We still should have scored something at least. That was a great break by Marmion, pity no one was alert enough to keep up with him.

From an Irish point of view, it was great to see POC back and playing well. You could see how much the try meant to him and Munster. Talk of him captaining the Lions after one good game back though is ridiculously premature. If he can continue this for the rest of the season them he could be a possibility but not just yet.

its_phil

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

True Tonetti is a good option to have however I prefer the McSharry Griffin partnership when available so Tonetti as the next best center would be considered as cover.

To be honest I'd hold off on renewing Murphy's contract. If Munster can pick up a squad center from another province who is free at the end of the season, perhaps Barnes or Dineen (I think both of their contracts expire this season) then Murphy could be let go. If they can't I'd sign him up for another season.

Yeah they are three good centers to have for rotation.

Yeah I mean keeping Murphy on due to the probability that he probably isn't on that much money.

buck65

Connacht have not scored in all their away derbies this season!
Ulster 25 - 0
Leinster 17 - 0
Munster 22 - 0

Also the attendance looked to be around 5,000 last night, poor decision by Munster not to play this in Limerick where they would have got 13,000 plus.

All interpros should be played in Thomond as last night proved.

Thought Archer played well, Sheridan was a star, O Connell was awesome and O Callaghan decent beside him. O Gara played flatter and kicked well, however the less said about his defence the better, wish Keatley was given a go at 10 for 20 mins.
Still can't read too much into this as Connacht were awful. They really seem like rabbits in the headlights when playing Munster. And they've been decent at times this year.
Again the ref struggled at scrum time, remember when Munster were penalised when the Connacht hooker collapsed with a leg injury in the scrum? Woeful stuff.

twinytwo

Shelflife wrote: »

Connacht were poor, two good breaks that should have been converted and a brainfart from kearney (I thought a YC was a bit much).

TBF he went out of his way to put the shoulder in ROG right in front of the ref... was always going to be yellow.

irishbucsfan

Why were there so many handling errors from Connacht? Just a lack of focus?

twinytwo

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Why were there so many handling errors from Connacht? Just a lack of focus?

Too busy watching paulie coming at them like a train:D

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

Would have made no difference who played for Connacht, result would have been the same.

What a genuinely bizarre opinion.

jamiedav2011

thomond2006 wrote: »

I never said Munster were "epic". Those Connacht players would have made the scoreline closer but Munster would have still won, in the context of what transpired tonight.

And no, I'm not "full of myself", I'm just typing what I think.

What you said was that Munster were so good Connacht could do nothing about it!

Of course, that's entirely contextual, and more based on Connacht playing poorly than anything else, none of us have any idea what would have happened had other players started, so yea, it is a bizarre comment, no matter what the usual brigade think!

trouttrout

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

What you said was that Munster were so good Connacht could do nothing about it!

Of course, that's entirely contextual, and more based on Connacht playing poorly than anything else, none of us have any idea what would have happened had other players started, so yea, it is a bizarre comment, no matter what the usual brigade think!

He didn't say that at all. By the way, if you're talking about context it's worth looking at what Thomond used to qualify his opinion, which makes complete sense to me, and most other people by the looks of things

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster won comfortably tonight. Would a different fullback, McKeon and McCarthy have changed who won that game? Hardly.

jamiedav2011

trouttrout wrote: »

He didn't say that at all. By the way, if you're talking about context it's worth looking at what Thomond used to qualify his opinion, which makes complete sense to me, and most other people by the looks of things

Well that's what was intimated, by most other people you mean most other Munster fans?
It's a bit strange for me, and saying 'in the context of tonight' doesn't really mean anything!

Of course those players would have changed the context of what happened, and perhaps Connacht would have played better, and not conceded the yellow and therefore the subsuquent try.

It's all hearsay, so saying nothing would change 'in the context of tonight' is disingenuous, and fairly belittling to Connacht. May not be what Thomond meant but that's what it sounded like to me.

Buer

Connacht didn't have Swift and McCarthy on the field. Would they have made a difference in a game where three tries were scored up front through the forwards and mauls?

Of course they would. They're two of, if not the two best players for Connacht and are crucial to their fringe and maul defence.

thomond2006

Buer wrote: »

What a genuinely bizarre opinion.

If a different fullback, McCarthy and McKeon had played, I still think Munster would have won. McSharry was injured so he couldn't have played anyway. Look at the post I responded to in the first place.

That should be clear enough! It's only my opinion, it doesn't mean I'm right or wrong. On another day Connacht may have won with those players, however after what transpired last night I don't think three different players would have turned around the result given the Connacht performance on the night.

I'm not trying to be disingenious and I enjoy watching Connacht play, I've been to the Sportsground twice. That doesn't make me a Connacht fan/diehard obviously but I'm not trying to paint Munster 'as holier than Connacht'. I was only responding to a comment that was made before. I wasn't trying to imply that Munster were so good that Connacht could do nothing about it, more a kind of opposite: Connacht weren't great and I don't think three different players would have made much difference. Had Connacht turned up and their players had played to their potential as we've seen at times this season, the result would have been closer. But they didn't.

Apart from my John Hayes truth agenda, I'd like to think my posts are pretty level-headed? But I suppose that's up to ye to decide and not me.

(sorry for all the edits)

Shelflife

twinytwo wrote: »

TBF he went out of his way to put the shoulder in ROG right in front of the ref... was always going to be yellow.

tinytwo I only saw a quick reply, i didnt think that he moved into ROGs path, but it was still a stupid thing to do. I wouldnt argue with the card
id call it a yellow for being stupid , esp with Rolland who doesnt stand for that crap.

CatFromHue

Shelflife wrote: »

tinytwo I only saw a quick reply, i didnt think that he moved into ROGs path, but it was still a stupid thing to do. I wouldnt argue with the card
id call it a yellow for being stupid , esp with Rolland who doesnt stand for that crap.

A yellow for being stupid is a good way of putting it. He made the ref make a decision on something he did that he may have thought was borderline, when the ref rules against you it's your own fault. In saying that he did move into ROG's path.

accidentprone1

Shelflife wrote: »

tinytwo I only saw a quick reply, i didnt think that he moved into ROGs path, but it was still a stupid thing to do. I wouldnt argue with the card
id call it a yellow for being stupid , esp with Rolland who doesnt stand for that crap.

I agree - I think it wasn't so much the being in the way, it was more the way in which he turned his shoulder to deliberately make that bit more.

It was also completely unnecessary as it wasn't a particularly threatening garryowen.

seanin4711

cityman 18 wrote: »

From a Connacht point of view that was a really really poor performance. Very few positives (if any). We always have a howler when we're away to Munster and Ulster for some reason. George looks like a fish out of water in the second row. Muldoon is no number 8 either. Felt we had a real chance of getting a result tonight and i was certain we'd at least see a performance, unfortunately we got neither. Great to see POC back from a national team pov, how he was missed this spring.

beaten before they get on the bus to cork!
it has to be a mental thing with us and away games!!!

seanin4711

ouncer wrote: »

connacht were dreadful. but then the insanity continues. yes i pointed out henshaw has no future at 15 prior to the game but then to have macca and mckeon on the bench when available shows how daft the selection process is in connacht. this was potentially a game that connacht could have won, just not with the players they fielded. more daft connacht insanity

Really need a change in direction on the coaching front cos we are as good as we were when bradley was there!
the squads improved and will improve with the addition of Clarke et al(hopefully more on the way)
but seriously can anyone here say that we are making strides forward in relation to points on the table?

Gambas

buck65 wrote: »

Connacht have not scored in all their away derbies this season!
Ulster 25 - 0
Leinster 17 - 0
Munster 22 - 0

In all games they chose to kick to the corners and chase tries that never came rather than take easy 3 pointers. Three gimmes on Saturdays that Parks was told to kick to the corner.

Also the attendance looked to be around 5,000 last night, poor decision by Munster not to play this in Limerick where they would have got 13,000 plus.

All interpros should be played in Thomond as last night proved.

All the more so in this case as Limerick is easy for Galway-based folks to get to.

Still can't read too much into this as Connacht were awful. They really seem like rabbits in the headlights when playing Munster. And they've been decent at times this year.

Really seem to be storing up complete stinker of performances for Munster away games. At least at home they have performed reasonably well, but got edged out on the scoreboard, and it has been more a case of the wins being a credit to solid Munster performances and leadership from old hands, rather than a poor Connacht game. Mick O'Driscoll last year, Stringer and DOC this year. And again POC in Musgrave park.

ireland01

whats up with the munster scrum?? 2 high profile south africans and its hard to say they had any real dominance against connacht! buckley only 22/23 and and he was able for him!, should loughney be ahead of archer with ireland??

Cookiemunster

ireland01 wrote: »

whats up with the munster scrum?? 2 high profile south africans and its hard to say they had any real dominance against connacht! buckley only 22/23 and and he was able for him!, should loughney be ahead of archer with ireland??

Did you watch the match? For the first hour the Munster props were Kilcoyne and Archer. The 2 "high profile South Africans" as you call them came on after 60 and 71 mins.

culchienator

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Did you watch the match? For the first hour the Munster props were Kilcoyne and Archer. The 2 "high profile South Africans" as you call them came on after 60 and 71 mins.

Buckley came on in the 48th minute and Loughney came on in the 51st minute.

Cookiemunster

culchienator wrote: »

Buckley came on in the 48th minute and Loughney came on in the 51st minute.

Whats that got to do with anything? He made a statement about Munsters scrum not dominating Connacht despite having the 2 South Africans. The fact is that they were only both on the field together for the last 9 mins. How many scrums were there in this period?

Benny Cake

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Did you watch the match? For the first hour the Munster props were Kilcoyne and Archer. The 2 "high profile South Africans" as you call them came on after 60 and 71 mins.

Now THAT'S embarrassing.....

Tox56

Benny Cake wrote: »

Now THAT'S embarrassing.....

He was talking about the two Connacht sub props too so presumably he was talking about the last 20 odd mins

buck65

Nonsense, he was trolling. Not sure if du Preez even had a scrum, BJ maybe 2. Archer and Kilcoyne did more than break even I thought.

.ak

Do not accuse other posters of trolling. If you have a problem with a post, report it.

ireland01

no i wasnt trolling (due to having a life)..and yes i woz on about the last 20 mins!!..not even that though in general botha seems like a fairly average prop considering he proberly has a very high wage and du preez has been benched by a 23 year old (not just because kilkoyne is irish)

Benny Cake

ireland01 wrote: »

no i wasnt trolling (due to having a life)..and yes i woz on about the last 20 mins!!..not even that though in general botha seems like a fairly average prop considering he proberly has a very high wage and du preez has been benched by a 23 year old (not just because kilkoyne is irish)

Ok, so in how many scrums did the South African pair get beat up?