Following on from here
New Munster chat thread folks. warning deserved there. https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=109477571#post109477571
So if POM is only good for sledging and lineout work, that basically means Munster got a win and a draw in South Africa, effectively fielding 14 players in each game.
Kinda badass, when you think about it.
😂😂
Dutchy will be involved with the ABs from next season
Was away over the weekend, so didn't get to see either game, and just watched the Munster game back last night.
Really good performance. From what I'd read, I was expected the Sharks to be more dominant in the first half, but on watching didn't actually think that was the case. Munster had some decent chances and possession in the 1H too.
Thought Diarmuid Barron, Jean Kleyn, Alex Kendellen, Conor Murray, Ben Healy, Malakai Fekitoa and Calvin Nash all were excellent. Barron looks to have found his mojo again a bit.
Kendellen for me has been a standout over the past two games - have said it before but I think he's a more traditional openside than Hodnett and brings a real jackal / disruptive threat to Munster. He also plays with a spikiness or aggression that is great to me.
Great to see Conor Murray in such good form coming into RWC season. He was excellent over the trip to SA.
Ben Healy is the form outhalf in the Munster camp right now, and presumably starts the QF? Crowley has been pretty poor for me the last two times out. He's clearly a good rugby player, but still not seeing the signs from him that he's an international calibre outhalf yet.
Ben Healy is the form outhalf in the Munster camp right now, and presumably starts the QF?
I’d be extremely surprised if this happened tbh. In fact, I think there’s close to a 0% chance of it happening tbh.
Crowley has been pretty poor for me the last two times out.
Disagree , particularly with regard the Stormers game. He had some mistakes, sure, but had a really good game aside from that.
He’s the first choice 10 on merit now for me. He should be back for however many games we have this season and into next for me.
I dunno on Crowley - absolutely didn't see him as superb in the Stormers game. He was better than he was on Saturday, but superb is a big stretch.
Healy's introduction changed both games significantly.
To me, for all of Crowley's talent and ability, he still looks like he's lacking composure. That's not unexpected given how young and relatively inexperienced he is, and the only real solution will be to keep backing him and giving him gametime, but Munster's attack to me just feels a bit shapeless and haphazard with him steering the ship.
I can't think of an 80-min performance from him this season where he had a commanding game from 10. Maybe I'm forgetting one, but I'm pretty sure I've seen every game.
I'm not saying he won't get there, but he definitely isn't there yet.
I literally didn’t say superb.
Against the Stormers at least, Healy’s initial introduction was brilliant, but he started introducing mistakes of his own as the game wore.
Ultimately Crowley still only has 10 starts from 10. He’s shown more than enough to continue to be backed.
Sorry, think I got confused with a message I read on another thread.
I don't disagree with this; but it will raise a question coming into the RWC camps and warm up games as to whether or not he's actually shown enough to be trusted as the third 10 in a RWC Squad.
People are going to scoff at this, but I think Harry Byrne has shown more at 10 this year in his good run of starts in 2023 than Crowley has. Crowley's versatility might still get him the nod, but I really don't think he's nailed on as one of our three 10s to go to France.
Is there a reason why the Munster thread is being used once again to discuss who plays for Ireland?
I'm sorry, were you appointed a moderator here without the rest of us being notified?
No backseat moderation. Move on please.
The winning of the match
Fineen put in a counter-ruck about 30 seconds later that got us back in possession as well, after a successful turnover. Great performance from him, his best game for us in a long time, imo. Really aggresively, particularly in the first half too.
The winning of the draw!
Ha, true that. Tho if ever a draw was as good as a win, that was it.
Wonder if Munster will run the rule over Luke Cowan Dickie after his move to Montpellier seems to have collapsed following his going on the piss, ending up in the drunk tank and failing to turn up to his medical.
He's a good player if the nerve damage in his neck isn't too big an issue. 10 years or so of chop tackling people with your head will cause some problems.
he's a damn good player... whats this about going on the pi$$ and the drunk tank (i could google, but i reckon you are a good source!)
should we just keep him at 6?
Agree re Crowley ….but really hope we see the poteintal he obviously has …..Jj hanrahan was same at his stage but never lived up to the hype ……healys loss is going to be massive for use …joey out of form ….Crowley as of yet an unknown at 10 …..big big trouble there next season
Crowley and Jj …..comparasion so far are very real
War God will some day need an heir....
I think Crowley absolutely starts next game. I don’t think Munster really believe they are winning this year and there is more value in getting Crowley the time right now.
Healy looks great but i would say its much easier to come in against SA teams in the last 30 mins when their blitz is a little slower. I also don’t think Crowley was actually bad per se in any of those games.
Nash is a massive standout to me. To the point where i wonder if he could get a call up for a summer ireland squad.
It sucks munster are losing Healy but there wasn’t much they could do about that.
He was in Montpellier last week to get a medical and sign a deal with them, and instead went on the piss the night before and failed to show up to the medical. Montpellier talking about pulling out of the move now.
While discussing it on the 42 podcast this week Bernard Jackman told a story about a Fijian winger he had at Grenoble, who was "fond of the nightclubs" and failed to show up to sign a new contract at Grenoble because he went on the piss the night before and slept it out. Jackman said the Grenoble president was in a panic that the player was on the TGV to Paris to sign for Stade Francais, so he almost doubled the offer to the player's agent.
So the player wakes up from his drunken coma only to find he's way better off!
I saw something somewhere that this might have been on purpose because he knew he was going to fail the medical due to neck issues.
Better to be feckless than definitively have neck problems, i guess.
Ya tbh, if I was Fineen, I’d be bending Tadhg Beirne’s ear at every opportunity.
Beirne’s predominantly been a 2nd row for us, but it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out if we get a spell with all of Snyman, Kleyn, Ahern and Edogbo available.
Heard the same story too. Supposedly rules are different in France vs England around medicals where neck issues are present...The French are a lot more stringent in what they look for before passing so he may have know he wasn't going to pass it and it's easier to say he missed it cause of the beer than failing it and struggling to find another club outside of France as a result. Max Lahiff is another player where he failed the medical in France but then ended up joining Bristol Bears as a result.
Tolofua was in the same boat, failed a medical at Toulon but could play for Saracens. He eventually got surgery that allowed him pass the French medical.
LCDs issue was known after the first medical visit over a month ago so it was highly unlikely he would have passed. Not sure what happens with him now
The Munster A team to play Ulster A tomorrow at the HPC in Dublin
Munster A: Conor Phillips, Shay McCarthy, Fionn Gibbons, Rory Scannell (c), Stephen Kiely, Tony Butler, Neil Cronin, Mark Donnelly, Danny Sheahan, Keynan Knox, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern, Jacob Sheahan, Ronan O’Sullivan, Jack O’Sullivan.
Replacements from: Max Clein, Dave Begley, Darragh McSweeney, Evan O’Connell, Oisin Toland, Jack Oliver, Ethan Coughlan, Josh Costello, Conor Ryan, Harry Long, Cian O’Halloran, Ihechi Oji.
Ahern should probably move to Leinster.
"spell with all of Snyman, Kleyn, Ahern and Edogbo available."
That really would be transformative.
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