Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

not a hope in hell

you would think Ben o C with his Gaa skills would be better under the high ball

That's yellow at least. Still a chance for Munster if they score quickly.

Or not.

2 points out of that is a miracle.

Not to excuse tonight, which was a shambles. But it’s probably not completely unexpected given we’re missing about half the squad and we don’t have a Head Coach. There are a lot of poor to average players on the current senior squad that we’re out there tonight. I know front row is always spoken about, but its really stark just how poor some of the players Munster have under contract in that area.

I agree that we probably haven't been quite as bad as tonight, but the losses to Zebre, Stormers and Sharks weren't far off. My point is more that with the coaching upheaval and injuries, it's not surprising to me that the team has been so inconsistent this season. And I expect that inconsistency to continue though to May unfortunately.

The scrum today was awful.. but we've 36 and 37 year old tight heads, no fit tighthead lock, no scrum coach, a temporary forwards coach.. that's exactly the scrum you get on the field.

Scrum has been poor for 2 years now..I know it was a different era but my God how good and resilient were the likes of John Hayes, Claw, Marcus Horan…hardly ever remember them missing games, yet alone seasons. Oli Jager cant catch a break with injuries, Lockman, killer, Salanoa all been out long term, Killers played what 2 games this year, 73 mins in total…our scrum was only ok lately thanks to Bluleur. Really missing a bit of size in 2nd row aswell, second row of Kleyn and edogbo really locks that scrum a lot more. Ahern and O'Connell dont have the heft, great athletes but playing the 2 of them hurts you due to their size. Back 3, nobody took control, we gifted edinburgh 2 tries..rebuild needed, but seem to be saying that every year, but we need a full front row, scrum half (Casey/Patterson/Coughlan) are all too similar in size, maybe a new full back, Haley is picking up a good few injuries..lets see how the season ends, new coach will have a few ideas what he wants to do I'm sure.

Are the front row forwards signed up for next year and beyond good enough scrummaging wise?

It just seems we've been having front row issues fir a few years just as mentioned above.

Really need some of the Academy guys coming through better than just URC level or we'll be making no impact in Europe for the foreseeable future.

Will Skelton got a red card over the weekend.

La Rochelle have 2 fixtures in march.

could he miss the game?

When he was banned in 2022 the disciplinary committee cited his previous record when increasing his ban so he could well miss the Munster game. I think he's had three red cards now. That said, I don't think it was worthy of a red card other than the Stade player's over the top reaction.