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

Neil3030

Coombes's maul defense is, in every sense of the word, huge.

Neil3030

Antoine Frisch.

Turns this:

Into this:

Brief_Lives

who owns those socks.... and how many different pairs of socks were there?

Neil3030

Free-kick won against the head leading to Coombes's first.

Northampton offside defending the scrum for the single penalty goal.

Scrum penalty lead to the lineout for Coombes's second.

Score should read John Ryan 17 - 6 Northampton.

Neil3030

Frisch again, straight up to make the consecutive hit, pretty much engineers the turnover to end the half.

This guy is unreal.

Neil3030

I think it speaks volumes for Crowley how, in an away Heineken match in England, he looks completely at home, and though a few things haven't quite worked for him in the firs half, you can see each time what he was trying to do. The game at this level doesn't phase him in the slightest. He's more than up for this. And you forget that he is still only 22, and was third-choice 10 early in the year.

Neil3030

I've seen it a few times now, close to the end of either half, Rowntree will make his way down to the sidelines. Can't stay away from the heat of battle. That old warrior spirit will never die. And I'm sure his management leads with the carrot more than the cane, but by Jesus the lingering threat of what he might do to you if you piss him off... can't ever discount the motivating energy of that.

Neil3030

Whatever you might say about the current state of English rugby, Saints' choice of "Bulls on Parade" to lead teams onto the pitch, shows that some clubs have their admin in order.

Neil3030

So this kicks it all off. After making sweet love to the Saints scrum in all of his favourite positions in the first half, Ryan was clearly a marked man. These two pr*cks should have seen red here. There's a clear attempt at an eye gouge from the 7, while the 5 holds Ryan around the neck. Red for the 7.

Once Ryan hits the deck, 5 then piles onto him with a forearm to the throat. Completely unprovoked. Red.

But can we at least have a shoutout for Mike Haley, first to the scene to clear the two lads out with perfect technique. Leamy will be thrilled with that.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012595#Comment_120012595

A tad dramatic. Thought it should have been yellow for Ribbans alright for taking Ryan to the ground by the neck. Potentially another for the Northampton player that flew in about half way through it all.

Neil3030

Definitely should have been a PT against Casey, but that balances out the farcical sanction on the two Saints players in the melee.

But the most disappointing thing was how Munster lost discipline in the aftermath, leading up the Casey yellow. Was it three consecutive penalties? Cooler heads will definitely be needed in future. Because they were in cruise control until that point.

almostover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012624#Comment_120012624

Was on the road during the game today and only watched it back now. Very satisfying win but the Northampton half backs were complete manure. Had Northampton taken their 3 points when we kept infringing in our 22 in the 2nd half they could have had us in right trouble. It was crappy captaining by Ludlam to not have recognised that, but he shouldn't have been on the field at that stage anyway.

Back 3 were excellent today, Haley in particular. Frisch had a good game. Crowley looked dangerous but made too many errors, he'll come good yet. Carbery was OK, Murray similar. Back row were awesome, won us the game. All 3 made huge contributions. Coombes would have been my MoM, he was immense. Now has to play 80 mins in every game and switch to 2nd row. Beirne was very good, as was Kleyn. Front row went well, Niall Scannell still liable to give away silly penalties though. Losing John Ryan will hit us hard, he should have been given a 2 year contract to keep him on. Nobody else we have comes close.

The ref was at sea. But what pleased me was that we recognised that and got a bit cynical. It's rare to see an Irish team play the ref. Northampton will be livid with the referee, Casey's YC was a stonewall penalty try too. But then again, Ludlam should have seen red for fingering John Ryan's eye, the no.5 should have seen at least yellow for pinning him down by the neck and their no 13 should have seen yellow for flying in off his feet dangerously into Keith Earls. So they can't complain too much.

Sets us up well for the return leg, could be spicy but I'm guessing that Northampton won't send a full strength side.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120011755#Comment_120011755

I'd agree with pretty much all of this

Casey was very lucky not to cough up that penalty try.

It was a clear penalty try for me

Munster were lucky that Lawes didn't play, he could have made the difference, but on the other hand, Saints 7 should have seen red for the contact to the eye area and I hope he is cited after the game

I think some of the penalties given against Munster were the wrong decisions. The referee seemed very nervy and I think he was overthinking a bit. We should have been rewarded for some clear jackals that would have made the game a dfferent kind of contest, instead of being pinned into our 22 for most of the 2nd half, we would have been able to clear our lines and launch an attack, but as someone else said, cest la vie

Munsters defensive effort was very impressive tonight in poor enough weather conditions.

I had hoped for the full 5 points but will take the 4 with no LBP for the Saints. Should mean they send jabronis over to limerick in 2023 and we should get 9/10 from the 2 fixtures

Neil3030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012650#Comment_120012650

"The ref was at sea. But what pleased me was that we recognised that and got a bit cynical. It's rare to see an Irish team play the ref."

Was thinking exactly this thought myself, when there was that series of several collapsed mauls before the O'Mahony steal. Their captain was in the bin, nobody else from Saints was pressuring the ref, and he had issued no warning, so I think it was absolutely worth risking the infringements which, ultimately, paid off.

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012595#Comment_120012595

Its not like they were not obvious in the replays. The officials saw these and decided to ignore them

I hate referees that give away loads of technical fouls, 'closing the gap' or 'changing your bind' in multiple lineouts and mauls, but then when it comes to actual player safety, they just turn the blind eye

Those maul penalties, one or two of them were blatent, but the rest were very marginal, meanwhile offside lines are being ignored for 20-30 minutes and then suddenly everything is offside...

Akrasia

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012619#Comment_120012619

Any hand contact to the eye is a straight red card in the laws of rugby.

It's one of the absolutely unambiguous laws in rugby.

letowski

I taught the pack were immense today and its good to see some impact of the bench too. I think Coombes has shown character the past few weeks, ok he had a bit of a dip in form in November, got dropped off the Irish squad, but he has been outstanding the past couple of games. Not just his work inside the 22, but around the field and on defense too.

I didn't think it worked for Crowley on the day, but I think its more to do with balance in the midfield than anything. We were asking a 14st flyhalf to crash ball up the centre off first phase, which obviously just isn't his game or ideal. I think we need a strikerunner in the midfield, we know Frisch is a distributor/ball player, so picking Crowley/Scannell at 12 is much of the same. Hopefully Fekitoa can come into the fray over the coming weeks and be an option for us.

I hope the some of injuries in the second row can start clearing up a bit too. Kleyn and in particular Beirne have played a huge amount of rugby since the season started. Beirne needs some rest over the holiday period, especially looking ahead to the 2023 rugby calendar, I think this is his 7th game in a row going back to the South Africa match.

Neil3030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012680#Comment_120012680

Just an inexperienced ref, unfortunately. Tried to apply "broken windows" theory early to establish control, which didn't work, then post-melee, as his own fatigue and the game's intensity ramped up he lost consistency completely. On the balance of things though, I'd say he was equally bad for either side.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012686#Comment_120012686

Where was the contact to you eye? Ludlow pushed him in the face.

Akrasia

The pictures have already been posted.

I saw them in real time, and in the replays

I don't know how you can't have seen the eye contact

CIARAN_BOYLE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012832#Comment_120012832

The obvious point I suppose.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012840#Comment_120012840

I'd need more angles to definitively say eye. I would definitively say eye area which I believe is also a red card offense (much lower ban though).

phog

Munster lucky, Munster unlucky but I'll take the win.

Early in the first half I'm certain Haley slapped the ball into touch, should have been a penalty to Saints but they took a quick lineout and game played on.

The scrap, JOD got a YC for smirking, nothing else,, ref copped out here 2 or 3 Saints players could have seen a red or yellow card here but ref takes the easy and wrong option with one card for each team.

Saints robbed of a PT from Casey's poor effort at trying save a try, he had a game he'd sooner forget.

I thought JOD, Gav and Murray had good games, Jack & Gav needed the improvement. Gav's try off the lineout was excellent.

Crowley didn't have a great game either and Nash saved his blushes with an excellent chase, tackle and winning a penalty.

I'm delighted we won a dogfight and that's what the second half turned into and I know some will point to our penalty count but we were unlucky a few times that Saints weren't penalised for sealing off, coming in from the side and a neck roll but ref seemed to ref the defence rather than the attacking team in the 22s

How good is POM, we hardly competed for their lineouts and then he does and robs one vital one. Beirne too.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012939#Comment_120012939

Early in the first half I'm certain Haley slapped the ball into touch, should have been a penalty to Saints but they took a quick lineout and game played on.

Ya, I thought the same as well. Even outside the big moments, the ref got smaller, but obvious, ones like this wrong too.

Another was when Joey called a mark in the 2nd half, but play continued.

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120013029#Comment_120013029

The ball had deflected off a munster player before Joey called the mark. so the ref was right about that one at least.

bingobango12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012840#Comment_120012840

Didn’t see any eye contact, they should have had two yellows for that melee and no idea why JOD was yellowed. In fact, haven’t heard any commentator, article etc complaining of eye contact. And nothing from the player so I think that says it all.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012595#Comment_120012595

Agreed on this - I cannot understand how it was one yellow apiece for this. Ribbans and Ludlam should have seen red in my opinion, with a yellow for the third guy who's number I couldn't get who flew in from miles away and smashed (Earls I think?) someone off the top of the scrap.

On the flip side, I'm surprised Casey's wasn't a red and a PT.

Good win for Munster. It felt more like a Heineken Cup game from around 2004 than 2022 in that second half.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120012656#Comment_120012656

Almost equally annoying for me in that incident as Ludlam's eye contact / face contact is Ribbans pushing Ryan into the turf with his forearm across his throat. The SA sides do this with frequency, and it needs to be stamped out. Absolute scrote behaviour.

Jump_In_Jack

For anyone like me that missed the match yesterday, found a link on YouTube

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X1bM02Q0ssI

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120013364#Comment_120013364

Akrasia's right tho; it only needs to be contact with "eye or eye area". There was definitely enough that it should've at least been looked at and could've easily been a red. You're running that risk any time you make contact with the face.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120013440#Comment_120013440

Proctor I think it was came storming into Earls. At least a yellow for me.

For Casey's one it was absolutely a penalty try imo, but a yellow.