Munster Team Talk Thread - Snymans are(n't) Forever

aloooof

Indeed... In other news:

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1270978639501438977

thomond2006

I hope it goes well for SOC. He got a run at blindside in early Pro14 games in 2017-18 and then fell off the radar.

PTH2009

Any news when the renewal for associate membership for the MRSC will open up ??

Season ticket not an option for me, too much traveling

yerrahbah

PTH2009 wrote: »

Any news when the renewal for associate membership for the MRSC will open up ??

Season ticket not an option for me, too much traveling

25th of June, waiting on that myself

https://www.mrsc.ie/2020/06/03/mrsc-20-21-membership-renewal-details/


By renewing your MRSC membership for the coming year, and maintaining it for the following season, you will also secure your seats for the 2021/22 season ahead of the renewal process for that season, which we know is important, not only for your own seat or terrace location but also for the shared friendships and community that we are all so proud of.

Renewal of the Associate membership of the MRSC will open once this initial renewal phase ends for Full members on June 25th.

We have worked closely with the MRSC committee and we were strongly guided by the feedback we have got from you from our recent survey to develop these options and to help us craft our approach to when we can offer tickets to members.

Eod100

Presume it's just renewing MRSC membership for everyone at the moment ya? As in they will only sell season tickets on a match by match basis or specific number of games if they know they're able to?

bennyl10

Eod100 wrote: »

Presume it's just renewing MRSC membership for everyone at the moment ya? As in they will only sell season tickets on a match by match basis or specific number of games if they know they're able to?

Yes.
Mrsc members will get first refusal on tickets

Carioco

Does anyone know if the Munster team have been fully tested after Cronin popped for steroids?

Not just Munster, all the provinces should be tested to make sure this isn't just confined to Munster.

It wouldn't surprise me if Leinster and Ulster lads were copying their Munster colleagues at national level.

Im surprised Paul Kimmage isn't all over this

Richie_Rich89

Carioco wrote: »

Does anyone know if the Munster team have been fully tested after Cronin popped for steroids?

Not just Munster, all the provinces should be tested to make sure this isn't just confined to Munster.

It wouldn't surprise me if Leinster and Ulster lads were copying their Munster colleagues at national level.

Im surprised Paul Kimmage isn't all over this

I'd say there's hardly any testing in Ireland. Ciara Mageean was on Off the Ball and she had a plaster over where they'd just recently taken blood. You'd never see that with a rugby player. Johnny Holland said he never got tested once in his whole career. Cronin only got busted because he was over in France.

aloooof

Carioco wrote: »

Does anyone know if the Munster team have been fully tested after Cronin popped for steroids?

Not just Munster, all the provinces should be tested to make sure this isn't just confined to Munster.

It wouldn't surprise me if Leinster and Ulster lads were copying their Munster colleagues at national level.

Im surprised Paul Kimmage isn't all over this

Did you read the full report from the independent Judicial Officer (it's only 5 pages)? Or what Sport Ireland said on the matter?

I feel it would be worth your time, before throwing around accusations that doping is endemic in Irish rugby.

Kirk Van Houten

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

I'd say there's hardly any testing in Ireland. Ciara Mageean was on Off the Ball and she had a plaster over where they'd just recently taken blood. You'd never see that with a rugby player. Johnny Holland said he never got tested once in his whole career. Cronin only got busted because he was over in France.

Another one for the mods to move to the conspiracy thread. Thanks

irishbucsfan

Rugby is the second-most tested sport in Ireland. This is unfortunately going to be the preserve of the tin-foil hat brigade for a long while yet

Kirk Van Houten

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Rugby is the second-most tested sport in Ireland. This is unfortunately going to be the preserve of the tin-foil hat brigade for a long while yet

Especially when they don't know the facts and can't be bothered to read any of the reports or findings.

Zzippy

Carioco DO NOT post in this thread or any thread about the Cronin case again.

phog

Richie_Rich89 wrote: »

I'd say there's hardly any testing in Ireland. Ciara Mageean was on Off the Ball and she had a plaster over where they'd just recently taken blood. You'd never see that with a rugby player. Johnny Holland said he never got tested once in his whole career. Cronin only got busted because he was over in France.

There's a 3rd Cronin involved in this case so, the match that James Cronin played in was in Thomond Park and was selected for drug testing there.

Cronin tested positive for prednisolone and prednisone following the Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup match against Racing 92 at Thomond Park on November 23rd, 2019. He replaced Jeremy Loughman 49 minutes into the 21-21 draw.

Carioco

Zzippy wrote: »

Carioco DO NOT post in this thread or any thread about the Cronin case again.

LOL so were sweeping this under the rug?

Irish rugby player testing positive for a banned steroid and its not to be discussed.

Apparently there were two James Cronins going to the same pharmacy for medication around the same time and the medication mixed up coincidentally was a banned, heavily abused steroid that was coincidentally given to a professional athlete.

Didn't Frankie Sheehan pop before as well? Maybe Grobler felt Munster rugby was the best place to manage his doping.

I wonder how long this has been going on in Munster rugby and whether it is occurring at other provinces too.

troyzer

This MOLF couldn't give a **** about the Cronin case.

We're not all bad.

Vinnie222

Carioco wrote: »

LOL so were sweeping this under the rug?

Irish rugby player testing positive for a banned steroid and its not to be discussed.

Apparently there were two James Cronins going to the same pharmacy for medication around the same time and the medication mixed up coincidentally was a banned, heavily abused steroid that was coincidentally given to a professional athlete.

Didn't Frankie Sheehan pop before as well? Maybe Grobler felt Munster rugby was the best place to manage his doping.

I wonder how long this has been going on in Munster rugby and whether it is occurring at other provinces too.

On your bike

rayd3

Carioco wrote: »

LOL so were sweeping this under the rug?

Irish rugby player testing positive for a banned steroid and its not to be discussed.

Apparently there were two James Cronins going to the same pharmacy for medication around the same time and the medication mixed up coincidentally was a banned, heavily abused steroid that was coincidentally given to a professional athlete.

Didn't Frankie Sheehan pop before as well? Maybe Grobler felt Munster rugby was the best place to manage his doping.

I wonder how long this has been going on in Munster rugby and whether it is occurring at other provinces too.

Be sure to let the door hit you on the way out.

thomond2006

MOD was such a great player for us. Very reliable to come in when POC/DOC/Ryan were injured and a veteran presence during international windows. Even in his final season before retirement he made 20 appearances. 23 caps for Ireland as well which is more than I thought he had!

https://www.munsterrugby.ie/2020/06/09/munster-200-club-mick-odriscoll/

aloooof

Was about to say "You could copy and paste the same thing for Billy Holland too" until that last line, that's a bit of a surprise!

Buer

Munster had an incredible calibre of second row for around a 4-5 year period there. MOD benched for the 2009 6N for the last three games (didn't get a minute of pitch time which is unthinkable today) whilst POC and DOC started both games. Donnacha Ryan was 25 years old and kicking his heels in the Magners League. It was a weird dynamic as Ryan was ahead of MOD at that point for Munster and was selected in the 23 for mostHEC matches but MOD has a Grand Slam medal in his pocked despite not getting a minute on the pitch. Most test teams would struggle to match that quality.

It would be interesting to see how the same situation would be treated today; I would imagine one of MOD or Ryan would be strongly encouraged to move to another province by the IRFU, most likely Ryan as the junior player.

Whenever I think of the purpose of moving players around the provinces, Ryan is always the example that springs to mind. He has had a very good career but he could have had a great one. 26 test starts always seems extremely low for someone of his talents.

thomond2006

The Donnacha Ryan point you make is worth diving into.

I think the environment around 2009 didn't make a move to another province as attractive.

Connacht were the afterthought of Irish rugby. For all the an béal bocht talk of a few people on here regarding Connacht, their current situation is exponentially better compared to back then. They were rooted to the bottom of the old Magners League and struggled to keep the players they developed. Two years later in summer 2011 they suffered a brutal exodus of Cronin, Hagan, Carr and Keatley. Now some of those players were more successful than others away from Connacht, but they were key players while out west. I'm not sure what the facilities were like then but I'm guessing they were not of a standard a and the ground/crowds were poor.

Ulster at that time were a few years away from the Johann Muller and Ruan Pienaar days when they were competitive. In the Magners League they weren't much better than Connacht and they made no impact in Europe, though they won 4 pool games in 2009-10. They also were going through coaches until Brian McLaughlin steadied the ship.

I don't think Ryan would have moved to Ulster or Connacht. Leinster? *shudder*

There's an argument perhaps that Munster should have moved on from MOD sooner but he was performing in his own right and was the captain when POC/DOC were away. Ryan also probably suffered from being a 5.5 and he was used at blindside in particular in 2010-2011 before ending up as the bencher at the 2011 RWC.

Scottmactom

thomond2006 wrote: »

The Donnacha Ryan point you make is worth diving into.

I think the environment around 2009 didn't make a move to another province as attractive.

Connacht were the afterthought of Irish rugby. For all the an béal bocht talk of a few people on here regarding Connacht, their current situation is exponentially better compared to back then. They were rooted to the bottom of the old Magners League and struggled to keep the players they developed. Two years later in summer 2011 they suffered a brutal exodus of Cronin, Hagan, Carr and Keatley. Now some of those players were more successful than others away from Connacht, but they were key players while out west. I'm not sure what the facilities were like then but I'm guessing they were not of a standard a and the ground/crowds were poor.

Ulster at that time were a few years away from the Johann Muller and Ruan Pienaar days when they were competitive. In the Magners League they weren't much better than Connacht and they made no impact in Europe, though they won 4 pool games in 2009-10. They also were going through coaches until Brian McLaughlin steadied the ship.

I don't think Ryan would have moved to Ulster or Connacht. Leinster? *shudder*

There's an argument perhaps that Munster should have moved on from MOD sooner but he was performing in his own right and was the captain when POC/DOC were away. Ryan also probably suffered from being a 5.5 and he was used at blindside in particular in 2010-2011 before ending up as the bencher at the 2011 RWC.

He tried to move there at one point, not too long ago.

MOD had no right to be on the bench in the 6 nations, a kidney pick if I've ever seen it.

thomond2006

Scottmactom wrote: »

He tried to move there at one point, not too long ago.

MOD had no right to be on the bench in the 6 nations, a kidney pick if I've ever seen it.

In 2009 MOD took the bench spot from a 34 year old Malcolm O'Kelly. Hardly much difference.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

In 2009 MOD took the bench spot from a 34 year old Malcolm O'Kelly. Hardly much difference.

You shut your dirty mouth.

Scottmactom

thomond2006 wrote: »

In 2009 MOD took the bench spot from a 34 year old Malcolm O'Kelly. Hardly much difference.

ah yes the starting TH lock for that seasons european champions Vs Munster's 3rd/4th choice lock.

Former Former

D Ryan wanted to move to Leinster a number of years back. Didn't he ask to do so before going to Racing also?

thomond2006

Scottmactom wrote: »

ah yes the starting TH lock for that seasons european champions Vs Munster's 3rd/4th choice lock.

MOD was the future once.

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

I think the environment around 2009 didn't make a move to another province as attractive.
.

I'm not sure it was the environment so much as the sales pitch. In today's climate, the IRFU would be all over that situation like a rash. Lets be honest, Ulster was nowhere near as attractive an environment for Jordi Murphy and there's a strong argument the same is true for Munster and Carbery. But they were heavily encouraged to move and nudged towards it.

Nucifora would be heavily involved. Back then, it was only guys who were either kids or not going to make it at their province who moved. There were a couple of outliers who left when slightly older and made a mockery of the failure to give them a shot i.e. Reddan and Ross but no other province wanted them either.

Kieran Lewis was probably as high profile as it got given he was capped and still only 26 when he made the move south. It would be like Rory O'Loughlin moving now which wouldn't really surprise anyone.

It was a far less cohesive set up and Nucifora has changed that entirely for the better, to my mind. We no longer have resources wasting away on benches and they're getting genuine game time and playing good rugby. They also benefit those around them. Ulster have young forwards working with a guy who started and won a European Cup final in the back row.

Back then, I don't think it would have even been considered. A highly rated prospect move to a rival province would have resulted in some seriously negative publicity for the IRFU. Donnacha Ryan in blue was unthinkable even if it would have potentially been to the benefit of his career.

thomond2006

Agreed. Ryan I suppose could have also gone abroad for a year or two, this was all before Ireland went down the NZ route of capping home players only. He did start a lot of first XV selections at blindside before establishing himself alongside POC, whether that held him back from developing as a lock I don't know.