Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

letowski · 01-01-2023 08:05PM

Antoine Frisch is such a joy to watch. He has such vision and ball skills in being able to release the players outside him. Those passes in the second half to send Kendellen and Coombes through were class. I don't think we've had a player like this in the centre since Rua Tipoki back in the late 00s.

washman3 · 01-01-2023 08:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053526#Comment_120053526

Agreed. Strong team on paper. Shambles on the pitch.

Some may be in awe that they have a World Cup winner on board (MOTM in the 2019 final) but he actually epitomises the mood up there at the moment. Uninterested and unfit. Probably just here for a pension top-up (and Guinness)

He would be laughed out the gate if he was a Munster on Leinster player.

cuttingtimber22 · 01-01-2023 08:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053798#Comment_120053798

And yet he was immense when Ulster won in TP.

washman3 · 01-01-2023 09:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053810#Comment_120053810

A lot has changed since. Especially that absolute hammering/embarrassment in Sale. Maybe he has realised the he is part of a spineless,gutless squad going nowhere fast and just decided to go through the motions like most of the others.

Akrasia · 01-01-2023 09:32PM

Big call out to Stephen Archer. He was excellent when he came on

durthacht · 01-01-2023 09:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053390#Comment_120053390

Yes but the versatility of Jimmy O'Brien and even Jordan Larmour to cover all the back three positions and centre must be attractive to a coach when planning a squad.

lawrencesummers · 01-01-2023 09:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053911#Comment_120053911

I think their unravelling was the loss to leinster when they fell apart a man up after making a great start, They haven't recovered since then, and their only win since was a unconvincing and pretty lucky one against connacht where carthy had a kick to win it.

Its not going to get any better either, Going away to treviso is a big ask when they will have to rest players and then away to larogchelle is an impossible one.

ersatz · 01-01-2023 09:47PM

Both teams were bang average today, no comparison to the level of skill and adventure on display in the Connacht Leinster match though Connacht fell apart in the last 30. But I thought Murray made a huge difference to Munster when he came on, maybe coincidence but they looked much more coherent and threatening with him.

Poorside · 01-01-2023 09:48PM

Being able to bring a player like Murray is invaluable, and I think that's his role now except when playing against monster packs.

Haley was my MOTM, he's been very good all season and is carrying really well, hard fécker to put down as well.

The change after halftime was stark and reads as good coaching.

Ulster are in free fall since the loss to Leinster and the players look like they've no believe in what they're doing which is polar opposite to the Munster squad.

Dubinusa · 01-01-2023 09:54PM

I thought Daly was superb. He's playing very well. O' Donaghue played a stormer too. Beast of a performance.

aloooof · 01-01-2023 10:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120053810#Comment_120053810

And should’ve received a red card early on for an eye gouge. Just to be completely accurate.

aloooof · 01-01-2023 10:37PM

Some thoughts on that:

A massive win for Munster’s season. Wrangled from the depths of defeat but I thought we played the better rugby in general.
Both Coombes and Kendellen were both immense 2nite for me. Hugely encouraging stuff. Coombes MOTM for me.
Mike Haley as well was superb; his counter-attacking, kicking, fielding. Showed again how much we missed him vs Leinster.
Frisch and Daly both very good again. Both putting together a very tidy season, on both sides of the ball. Frisch’s offloading ability is massive for us in attack tho.
For all the praise Crowley and Patterson are getting, our kicking from half-back (in the first half in particular) was very poor. They both improved a lot in the 2nd half for me (and Murray was a help too when he came on).
Some encouraging stuff from Fekitoa; possibly his best ~60 mins for us since he joined.
JOD was decent, but we’ve given away that penalty for chasing ahead of the kicker a few times this season. Senior player and captain, you can’t give away penalties like that.
Scrum was quality to be fair (encouraged by Salanoa overall, silly penalty aside).
Lineout in trouble in first half, but much improved in 2nd, and we did a really good job against Ulster maul, which caused us huge problems in Thomond.
Campbell very narrow for the Baloucoune try, but he’ll learn from that.
And we saw examples of the Ben Healy’s lofted pass and Crowley’s ability to break late on.
Ulster must be reeling from that, but that feels like a huge win in our season.

cuttingtimber22 · 01-01-2023 10:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120054124#Comment_120054124

You are right.

aloooof · 01-01-2023 11:29PM

As an aside I thought McCloskey was excellent.

Two very decent kicks in the first half and that was a super pass for Baloucoune’s try; things you don’t necessarily associate him with.

snotboogie · 01-01-2023 11:55PM

Fantastic win but we were poor for long periods of that game, there were a couple of occasions where the attack look completely stunted. We are short on dynamic ball carriers in the pack and are enormously reliant on Coombs in this regard. This meant we fed a lot of ball to 9 and 10 on the back foot. Crowley struggled with getting the ball under pressure and particularly with the lack of running options on his inside which made him predictable. Frisch and Feikitoa looked disconnected in the centre. The back three I thought were pretty average overall; Daly was smart in looking for work and Haley had some nice steps in lots of space in dangerous positions but at no moment did it ever look like they were going to run it back and actually create a try from deep if Ulster kicked waywardly or overextended chasing a Munster mistake. Munster looked better after the Moore injury and better again when we switched the halfbacks.

Going forward I think Snyman is massive for how the season pans out, Munster like having two finesse back rows (like Byrne and O'Mahony or Kendellan and O'Donoghue) and having a huge carrying threat from second row allows us to do this without leaving everything to Coombs. I'd like to see Crowley and Frisch get a chance to try and form a partnership in midfield, both had genuine moments of individual brilliance tonight which is rare in a Munster backline. I think Philips is worth another look on the wing, we really lack gamebreaking pace.

Neil3030 · 02-01-2023 12:31AM

Can't really add a lot to the comments already made here.

Some more directness needs to be mixed in with the wide game to make things really click.

Murray had a great cameo. Coombes, McDonald, Salanoa, Haley, Frisch, Kendellen, all very good.

phog · 02-01-2023 12:33AM

Real curates egg of a performance from both teams, overall, I think Munster deserved the win, thought the ref cost us 3 points with one of those kicks that Ulster got and then the lead up to the try they got a rather easy penalty that gave them field position but what a pass for the try - awesome.

Murray made a huge difference to the game when he came on. You'd have to ask how did Crowley get through 3 ulster forwards without a finger being laid on him.

That's a hard earned and huge confidence booster win for us.

We clutched a win from the jaws of defeat. I'm delighted.

phog · 02-01-2023 12:37AM

Forgot to mention Marty Moore's injury, I didn't hear what it was but it looked bad, hopefully not and that he has a speedy recovery

theVersatile · 02-01-2023 01:26AM

https://twitter.com/Pinergy/status/1609631563469160448?t=QJWJ60hIGSnFMmWfgOCy7Q&s=19

Mazy

budhabob · 02-01-2023 06:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120054332#Comment_120054332

I thought he was excellent, MOTM in my book. Those kicks were excellent and his defense was immense.

phog · 02-01-2023 11:22AM

Massive, massive result for us last night. Both teams were poor but Munster probably had a weaker team out and I wasn't expecting the win, which made it sweeter.

Neither will bother anyone in the knockout games unless there's massive improvements in attack and in our case in coughing up ball with silly errors and penalties.

Akrasia · 02-01-2023 12:44PM

Paddy Paterson's pass quality is an issue and our lineout was awful in the first half but we really did deserve the win

Coombes was outstanding. He caught a few stray passes that most other big forwards would have fumbled and made some lovely passes himself that created linebreaks. This was on top of his incredible ball carrying and breakdown work

leakyboots · 02-01-2023 01:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120055417#Comment_120055417

He had one lovely one-handed take with a pass out in front of him.

Neil3030 · 02-01-2023 02:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120055161#Comment_120055161

Munster with a higher ceiling, imo. Get one of Edogbo or Snyman back, and throw Casey, POM and Beirne back into the equation, and knockouts look a lot less daunting. Joey is also a wildcard. Could go either way with him.

phog · 02-01-2023 02:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120055786#Comment_120055786

There's that and then looking back at our game V Toulouse in the Aviva last year and you think anything is possible but last night wouldn't give reason for optimism

Akrasia · 02-01-2023 03:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120055786#Comment_120055786

Tom Ahern and Hodnet also add huge value to a 1st choice team

If we can get Ahern Kleyn and Snyman on the 23 man squad, that means Beirne can play 6 with Coombes at 8 and POM/Hodnett/Kendellen covering the back row

Here's my first choice Munster team if everyone was available. This team would seriously worry any top European side IMO