Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

JOHN HODNETT

TAKE 'EM TO THE MATTHEWS BRIDGE

(few will get the reference, but those that do will never not be able to hear this)

Jesus, that’s a great question. Snyman’s been great since he came back but his injury record is obvious. Whereas Kleyn has been unbelievably durable.

It’s a tough one.

It’s a fair point seeing as he wasn’t picked for Ireland whilst IQ over the past 3 years but this is how Irish rugby has been run over the last 10-15 years. They’re not going to have two NIQ players blocking Ahern and Edogbo from coming through.

Pienaar not being allowed to renew in Ulster is an example of how it applies to all provinces. Didn’t work out bad as Cooney came through.

I suspect RG would be the one to be moved on due to a mixture of higher wage, injury profile and optics of the situation if push came to shove. When does his contract end?

Kleyn is up next season too I believe.

2 year contract signed January 2022.

3 big reasons why the IRFU would prefer that Kleyn was IQ.

Sometimes locks keep improving into their 30s (Toner and Donnacha Ryan were older locks before they established themselves as first choice).

Sometimes there's an injury crisis.

A possible future Irish coach might be a fan of a more powerbased playstyle than Kleyn would suit more.

He gets a proper summer rest rather than being involved in rugby championship which could effect his form for Munster.

Ahern needs to show he can get through a season relatively injury free, which he hasnt. Edogbo looks to have a sizeable ceiling but will need game time and a run without injury aswell...

5 countries, Neil, don’t downplay it!

Although I guess it gets a bit tricky since not all the UK are represented in the URC...

OK, best in 5 nations, probably easiest way to summarise.

Re-watched the final maybe a week ago, and one thing that jump out to me, Fekitoa was absolutely unbelievable. He had 1 or 2 high-profile tackles, but some of his ruck work as well was incredibly good.

He'll be a loss next season, and you'd have to say credit to him to delivering even tho he's off. Same goes for Ben Healy. And same goes for the management who got buy-in from them. Other playerrs would've been on the beach already.

Yup, I head Leamy say that in the recent interview on OTB.

Such great little nuggets of info in the Access Munster videos:

So I reckon (left to right) that's:

Murray, Crowley, Casey, Healy, Fekitoa, Earls, Haley, Barron, Scannell, Beirne, RG and POM.

Interesting omissions for me: Kleyn, Kendellen, Hodnett, Frisch, Daly, Nash and Coombes.

The very surprising omission there, for me though, is Kendellen.