Following on from here
New Munster chat thread folks. warning deserved there. https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=109477571#post109477571
I'm very reluctant these days to talk about refs, but that reffing today was bizarre from start to finish.
Would have to rewatch it to know if it had an outcome on the final scoreboard, but between signalling for penalties that turned out not to be, and the TMO intervening inconsequentially, it was... Bizarre!
Was an excellent win. Completely undoes the damage from the Glasgow defeat.
I'd say 1 point against the Sharks would be enough to avoid dropping to 6th and having to travel to SA, but I actually think Munster are well placed to win that game now. That victory will do wonders for them.
Some of my thoughts on that
Disagee tbh. Couple of errors, sure, but I actually thought he did really well other than that and should retain the starting jersey for the rest of the season. Thought some of his carrying and passing was excellent.
Yeah agree here. The errors were blatant, pass intercept and a penalty given away for no clear release spring to mind.
But I really like what he brings in both attack and defence. He has an edge that Joey just never had, nor Healy. And Rowntree is right imo to finally let him have-at the 10 jersey. Hopefully he has it again next week.
To me, the biggest error was a missed tackle on their centre for one of the tries, but we saw plenty other really good contributions from him.
I’d even forgive him the 2 errors you mention, they’re the type of errors you can accept as it comes from trying to do the right thing.
Intercept passes can be very marginal; take the Daly try, Healy’s pass was so close to being intercepted but instead took 2 players out of the game.
And if your 10 is abrasive enough to jackal, that can only be a good thing. (I remember him winning a counter-ruck earlier in the season.
That was some win, a BP win in a stadium where the current URC champions haven't lost since Dec 21.We're the first URC team to win down there in a game where both teams needed the win.
Great start to the game to get the lead then a great start to the second half with some awesome defense and eventually getting a turnover to give us an opportunity to get upfield which led to a try to take the lead again.
Was it just me, or was the ref mic being played, booming out over the stadium btw?
Yeah think I noticed that once or twice too.
It sounded like the ref mic was broadcast within the stadium while discussing stuff with TMO. This is a great idea and needs to happen more.
In real time, I was thinking that Healy coming on at 55 minutes was a somewhat spontaneous decision based on a couple of Crowley's errors.
But in hindsight I think it might be because he's going to start the next match too at 10, and was a pre-planned thing.
Great thread on the game
To me, the biggest error was a missed tackle on their centre for one of the tries
It seemed to me they targeted Crowley, that wasn’t an isolated incident with their centre attacking his channel. They got good meterage out of it too. One of the things I like about Crowley is he is not shy in the tackle. He seemed off there last night though.
He combined that with some good tackles too tho. Imo, he still defended much better than we’ve seen from Carbery this season.
An aside, saw this on Twitter:
Yep he’s very robust. That’s why it surprised me that they seemed to deliberately target his channel. There is no comparison between his defence and Carberrys. It’s night and day.
And he held onto the ball
Looking at the table 1st to 4th are now nailed on and likely in the order they're in. As it stands we'd be playing Glasgow away in a semi-final the weekend of 5th May.
Connacht could mathematically overtake us if they get 4 match points over us in last game so them with a normal win and us not getting a lbp/tbp or them getting a tbp win and us not getting lbp/tbp.
Bulls could mathematically overtake us if they get 5 match points over us but they're playing Leinster who will be motivated to keep their unbeaten streak going.
Bottom line is holding onto 5th is within our control bar things going very badly against us.
Glasgow have nothing to play for next weekend, they might we'll be beaten by Connacht, we need a LBP at least, possibly two to stay in 5th place
With Connacht playing after us we will be aiming for the win of course. Glasgow likely be more focused on their Challenge Cup semi final against Scarlets the following Saturday
The main thing for me is that the Carbery-Crowley 10-12 axis is to be avoided at all costs. It provides two targets for dominant defensive hits or big carriers. Too much for the back row and Frisch to stress about.
Crowley has the 10 shirt in my mind, but I think it's a bit more complex than saying "we're better defensively with him at 10".
I mean, we are. Crowley is a superior defender. But the big big factor is Feiktoa-Frisch in the centre, which for me has been the foundation of the best defensive performances this season.
RGS
I heard Rowntree in a post match interview say that Munster (and probably Stormers) wore the longest studs available to them and they were still slipping at times. The field really was a mess and according to someone on MFs who was at the game there was a Currie Cup played there before our gane
Not sure was it a good or poor throw from Barron, but the lean across gave Munster a great go forward when he came back to ground.
That sounds like an injury waiting to happen.
Drainage?
If we get a TBP and win against Sharks, and Glasgow get nothing, we'll get the home QF
Not particularly likely, but Glasgow do have something to play for as of now at least
No
Glasgow will play A and Connacht should prevail
as you can't catch them. N° of wins first and you'll have one less than Glasgow anyway. They are safe
Now you won't. Glasgow have the tiebreaker over Munster on number of wins
Nope
The first tie break for teams on even points is number of games won and Glasgow on 12 are ahead of Munster on 10 in a way that can't be caught.
i thought it was pd first
Used be at one stage I think but first decided now number of matches won
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