Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

JanuarySnowstor · 24-10-2025 06:10PM

I see tickets are going fast for Leinster match on 27th. I wonder will the main guys play or will they be off for Christmas?? Would be nice to see a proper rematch

Lost Ormond · 24-10-2025 06:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123934367#Comment_123934367

some will play but hard to know how many or which games theyll play in league between the european games. its gloucester in PuC on 13th dec then ospreys away before leinster then ulster away before the last 2 european games.

Jump_In_Jack · 25-10-2025 12:27PM

Match Thread

JanuarySnowstor · 25-10-2025 07:27PM

I see the Munster v Argentina game will be played to an almost empty stadium! No getting away from the fact that Thomond cannot fill stadiums anymore. In contrast the PUC game is down to terrace only for weeks...

I know it's a Champions cup game but still the take up for the Argentina game is nothing short of an embarrassment

Cookiemunster · 25-10-2025 07:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123937463#Comment_123937463

Mod: Quite a number of your posts in this thread are negative posts about the attendances in Thomond. You're getting very close to soap boxing. Give it a rest or a warning will follow.

Pepp1989 · 25-10-2025 09:33PM

Just leaving Thomond. Found a way to win again. This time with a ten who put in one of the worst performances in that jersey that I can recall.

Fineen and Jack were brilliant for me.

Piardi is a terrible ref. Im appalled at the level he has risen to.

phog · 25-10-2025 09:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938138#Comment_123938138

I'll hold fire on him until I watch it again on TV but he's a terrible ref and wasn't helped by his ARs, in fact the on the East Side on the second half was just about a TJ.

From a Munster pov, we go into the break having won all our matches, dropping two points from a max of 25. We're hanging in there in a few games and digging out wins that we lost last year.

What I liked about tonight was that McMillan gave the two young half backs the opportunity to close out the game, I know it was an easy choice to sub JJ off but he give Jake a few minutes with the result still in the balance.

Thrashssacre · 25-10-2025 10:20PM

Attendance looked shocking on TV, considering Munster are having such a positive start to the season it's a bit baffling.

phog · 25-10-2025 10:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938285#Comment_123938285

Mid term break so lots of families are away, there was a Halloween parade in town around the same time as kick off and 7:45 kick off is very late unless you're less than an hour from Thomond, as it happens the second half took nearly an hour to play because of injury and the ref messing about at scrum time

mun1 · 25-10-2025 10:47PM

thought it was a decent crowd for what it was minus top players etc.

Team for argies next week ?

Milne, Sheehan, foxe, EOC, Wycherley, JOD, Hodnett, quinn, Riordan, butler, NAnks, O brien, Nash, McCarthy, Haley

50HX · 25-10-2025 11:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938285#Comment_123938285

Of the home European teams in the urc this weekend I would say a 65% attendance is probably top of the pile in this round of fixtures.

Cardiff which has half of thomonds capacity had less of an attendance v Edinburgh tonight.

I would think that's more baffling considering the excellent start Cardiff have made & where Welsh rugby currently is.

Thrashssacre · 26-10-2025 03:49AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938383#Comment_123938383

The Welsh hate the URC and don't want to watch it or so they'll tell you, Irish interpros at thomond definitely had a bigger draw in years gone by, thomond crowd seems to have gone missing it's been a long time since Munster had anywhere near a sell out there.

Happyhouse22 · 26-10-2025 06:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938383#Comment_123938383

sounds like club rugby needs a whole revamp, say like a whole 360 degree change….

Jump_In_Jack · 26-10-2025 07:23AM

On the attendance, The Cork Jazz Festival is on this weekend so that would probably have soaked up a fair few that would have otherwise travelled to a late evening match in Limerick, also Bank holiday weekend and mid-term break, families will have plans made to go away.

Great match to watch, both teams equally determined in their defensive lines, there weren’t going to be many line breaks so their was a bit of pressure on the half-backs to try to create things, no harm, that’s the norm for higher stakes matches, should give the coaches plenty to pick through and learn from.

Great to see the young lads getting thrown into battle, O’Riordan did OK but needs to kick higher on those contestables, Foxe looked powerful ball in hand, McCarthy went on a few runs and looked for work.
O’Connell and Quinn got a few minutes and Butler got to close out the match. It’ll stand to them.

Of the experienced players, O’Donoghue and F Wycherley were influential as they have been so far this season. Coombes got stuck in too. The front row and Kleyn all did a lot of grunt work also. Great to have Hodnett back too.
Daly and Nankivell stood up to be counted also.

We’ll be fairly stretched v Argentina, but great opportunity to rotate in the young lads. The 23 will depend a lot on the injury update, and I’d expect JOD and Fineen have earned a rest, and John Ryan too.

Fingers crossed Abrahams and Scannell aren’t out for too long.
Nankivell hopefully OK too.

Last word for Kilgallen, after the frustrations of missing a good few matches he came up with a match-winning intercept. Good to see him back, he was holding his leg a few times so hopefully nothing too serious and he’ll be available again next week.

phog · 26-10-2025 08:38AM

Five won from five games in this block, some tight wins and possibly lucky wins but we've also only dropped two points from the max available.

So while fans can be delighted with the wins it probably keeps the players grounded and gives the coaches something to be worked on.

These wins come with huge changes to the teams every week, I think at this stage we've used 41 players. Jake O'Riordan got an opportunity last night in what was a very tight game and going on with a relatively young out half. Great to see McMillan giving him the opportunity in a game like that as there's usually a bit more niggle in the InterPros.

Boscoirl · 26-10-2025 09:02AM

next game out. Top of the table clash where one team will lose their 100% record

if we play like we did last night I feel it’ll be us.

phog · 26-10-2025 11:15AM

Coombes stats are once again close to the top for carries and tackles. He's a brilliant player for us.

Podge_irl · 26-10-2025 11:41AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123938715#Comment_123938715

Completely different side with Casey, Crowley and Beirne though (assuming they will be released back anyway…) and South Africa have a match still that weekend.

Jump_In_Jack · 26-10-2025 11:46AM

Nice look to that table

phog · 26-10-2025 12:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939069#Comment_123939069

The other thing to note here is that we are 10 points up from where we were at, at the same point last season.

Jump_In_Jack · 26-10-2025 03:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939121#Comment_123939121

The only thing that’d put a bit of a dampener on that league position is we still have a lot of the top teams to play: Stormers, Glasgow, Ulsterx2, Bulls, Leinster again, Connacht again.
We have a difficult block of 10 games after the November break.

Ospreys away should be one to win but after the Stormers and two Euro matches, it could stretch the squad, plus we’ll have Leinster the week after, then Ulster, then two more Euro matches, then Dragons and then Glasgow.

We have to be beating the likes of Ospreys and Dragons but Ospreys will be away and both will be in the midst of a string of tough opponents. If we are stretched with injuries, those fixtures could be banana skins.

Just underlines how important it has been to have a bit of a cushion built up already should we need it.

Cookiemunster · 26-10-2025 04:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939553#Comment_123939553

On the other hand, we still have to play both Italian teams and three of the four Welsh teams.

And we're not unique in having to play all these top sides either. As we've only played 5 rounds, most of the big sides still have to play each other.

Jump_In_Jack · 26-10-2025 04:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123939749#Comment_123939749

It’ll be interesting to see how Munster management decide to tackle the 10-match block after the November break.
Stormers, Euros x2, Ospreys Away, Leinster, Ulster Away, Euros x2, Dragons, Glasgow Away.

Jump_In_Jack · 27-10-2025 12:39AM

Watched the match back and JJ actually wasn’t as bad as I thought at first impression. He had a good first half, could argue maybe two of his kicks out of hand weren’t good enough, one was a nothing ball easily fielded for a mark in the 22, the other a weak left-legged kick dropped short into Ioane’s hands and he made a beautiful return kick that Daly covered and booted to touch on our 5-metre line. He also missed a reasonably difficult conversion after JOD’s opening try on the right wing.
Second half, JJ played about 20 minutes before being replaced by Butler, in that time he passed a short pass to Kleyn’s hip for a knock on, he passed a ball between two runners that went behind an had to scramble back, and he got blocked down attempting a kick inside their 22 that nearly sent Connacht away only a player ran over the ball by accident.

Other than that he defended well and kept the backline ticking over, one or two slick wide passes too.

He came back on for the closing few minutes at centre for Nankivell, and put in a couple of tackles and was part of the last breakdown where Connacht lost the ball forward that killed off the match.

Also, not to forget, Butler got blocked down inside our 22 only for a fortuitous bounce and regather by Lee Barron and pop to Daly to clear, that could have been way worse.

On rewatching it I noticed a few things I’d missed, there were loads of key moments in the match, one thing that struck me that TG4 video snippets showed in the post match analysis, Munster lost possession about 5 times in the Connacht 22 in the second half, that’s an unacceptable standard really. I’m sure the coaches will highlight those momentum killer moments to them.

Also, on rewatching, Coombes and Daly were both so involved in the match throughout, a lot of key moments.

Lastly, the ref wasn’t that bad. Not perfect but he wasn’t at fault for all the mistakes in their 22 that cost us a 5-0 win, the 4-1 win was down to the lack of accuracy at vital times.

Jump_In_Jack · 27-10-2025 07:46AM

Just on the 23 for the Argentina match,

Without our Internationals, (Beirne, Ahern, Kleyn, Casey, Crowley, Farrell),
I’m guessing anyone with a recent concussion won’t play, and possibly the named players to play Spain may be held back (Milne, L Barron, O’Connell, Quinn, Kelly).

Something like:
Loughman, Clein, Foxe,
C Ryan, F Wycherley,
O’Donoghue, Coombes, Hodnett,
Coughlan, Butler,
Kilgallen, O’Brien, Gibbons, McCarthy,
Daly.

Sheahan, J Wycherley, Salanoa, Foy, L Murphy, O’Riordan, Hanrahan, O’Connor.

Assuming we will be without the following though injury:
Scannell (head) , D Barron (neck), Jager (head), Bartley (hamstring), E Edogbo (head), Kendellen (ankle), Gleeson (elbow), S Edogbo (injury not known), Patterson (head), Nankivell (head), Nash (shoulder), Abrahams (head), Smith (hamstring), Haley (head).

I’d rest J Ryan, give Butler a start, and go as strong as possible otherwise, even then we’d have a lot of Academy and fringe senior players involved.

It’d be a good opportunity for the likes of Clein, Foxe, C Ryan, Butler, O’Brien, Gibbons, McCarthy, Sheahan, Foy, L Murphy, O’Riordan and O’Connor.

i’d be tempted to give Donnelly and K Ryan a chance, Maybe let Loughman sit it out and start J Wycherley with Donnelly on the bench, and keep Salanoa back and have K Ryan on the bench instead. I think that would mean all our senior players will have had at least one involvement before the break except for Salanoa, and no panic to rush him back at this stage. Could even start K Ryan instead of Foxe with Salanoa on the bench to have everyone involved.

leakyboots · 27-10-2025 09:09AM

Watched it back, similar thoughts to yourself @Jump_In_Jack…

Tough slog, very stop-start with injuries (hope all are okay). Second half we just strangled the life out of them and didn't give them much of a sniff... Denis Leamy take a bow, our defense is superb this season and a major reason as to why we're winning ugly. On another day with different half-backs that's maybe a 5 pointer for us with that amount of ball but credit to Connacht, they really pushed us. Some questionable decisions from half-back and a few occasions where we forced it. I don't know what's in the spuds in the last few years but we have a few monster young lads coming through in Quinn/Gleeson/O'Connell/Edogbos. Augurs well in the long-term. Definitely feels like we have a better squad now with less of a drop-off in quality than in previous seasons (bar half-back). Gleeson's injury isn't as bad as feared which is great news, back for Leinster at Xmas maybe? Smith's isn't a season-ender either. Edogbo is fine too, they're just being cautious.

Front Row - went well in the scrum, Milne handled Illo well, won a penalty against him at one point. Shout out to John Ryan who was keepin' on truckin' past the hour mark. I just don't know about Lee Barron, he hasn't had a 'wow, look at me' performance yet, I feel like the lineout hasn't gone well when he's at the helm. Ronan Foxe looks like a monster in the tight, would have to see more of his scrummaging, thought he got lucky with his scrum penalty.

Second Rows - worked hard at the coalface, solid but not spectacular. Evan O'Connell looks like a big unit, might find it tricky to get game-time ahead of the incumbents this season but his time will definitely come.

Backrow - John Hodnett picked up from where he left off, some great carries in the tight, he's so hard to stop. Great to see him back, good 50 mins out of him. JOD is arguably the form backrow in the country, a couple of penalties in the first half but everything else was great out of him. Turnovers, tries, tackles, super workrate. Our player of the season so far along with Dan Kelly. Kept them out at half-time for a chat about things before going back into the coaches.

I thought Gavin Coombes put in a superb shift also, he was absolutely everywhere in the tight, some nice link play and passing and great carries. Got a vital turnover when Connacht had a rare foray into our half around the 70 minute mark. He hits rucks to secure ball on his own then a phase later he's trucking it up sucking up defenders, and he does it for the full 80. He has it all bar pace (but we've others to do that). Not good enough to play Spain for some reason, am absolutely baffled how he can't get a look-in internationally, there must be more to it cos it sure as hell isn't what he's doing on the pitch.

Our centres and backrows as units are up there with the best at club level, there's a great balance going on.

Half-backs - Coughlan went okay I thought, couple of poor kicks. He was better v Leinster. JJ was very mixed to poor at times (though not as bad as I initially thought). You expect better from him, he did have some nice touches in the second half, poor first half, especially with the boot. That crossfield kick in the 22 charged down was terrible. Was impressed by young O'Riordan, injected good pace. Good debut, want to see more of him. Good to see some Limerick talent coming through. He name-checked Coombes, Coughlan, Fineen and Niall Scannell as ones who helped him settle this week. Is only a slip of a lad and needs to put on a bit of timber but one to watch!

Tony Butler, I just can't figure him out. It can't be easy averaging only 25 mins a game in 25 caps to make an impression but he hasn't caught the eye yet in a performance. Get the sense it's a big season for him, he's 24 in April, he's got Keith Wood's young lads coming through behind him and one of them looked the business at 10 pre-season if I remember rightly? But Crowley will be away a bit, you'd hope he'd bypass JJ when given a chance. I think we should back him cos the others are that bit too young still. Coughlan has moved up a level this season, would love to see similar from Butler. Either way, there's a real drop-off from Casey/Crowley as it stands.

Centres - absolutely loving our centres this season. Nanks is class personified, what a signing. Power, pace, athleticism, great offloader, lethal on the deck. Dan Kelly has had an explosive start to his career, tigerish in defence (saw comparisons to Rua Tipoki and would agree!) and then you've Tom Farrell there too who's been our best player for over a year now. Thought 12 and 13 went very well. Been a while since we had high quality partnerships and options there.

Wingers - Shay McCarthy had a good outing to remind us of his worth, he's looking more powerful now, he'll be chomping at the bit for opportunities in a position where we have a lot of options. Hope Abrahams is okay. Strange that SOB wasn't involved, he hasn't gotten much of a look-in yet, is he injured? Kilgallen is building nicely, took his try well and is straining at the leash also and looking for work.

15 - something I notice about Daly that you don't see with an awful lot of rugby players is he very much carries the ball in two hands when attacking. Very simple thing but watch him, keeps the defence very honest. He was brilliant in the air (a lot of our kick success was down to him) and constantly probing in attack with ball in hand. Good outing from him.

Management - impressed by them entrusting the likes of Foxe, O'Riordan and Tony Butler to close things out, bringing on Evan O'Connell and Quinn (couple of big carries from him) too. They seem to be getting the best out of players that until know you felt were not at the level they could be at... thinking Fineen and JOD for e.g.

Ref - I try not to complain about refs but jaysis, Piardi is woeful. Not biased, just incompetent. Bizarre call for their try.

16,516 at it, not a bad crowd considering the weekend and time. 5/5, can't ask for more. Big run of games either side of Xmas now will see where we are as a team, we're winning ugly without putting in a stream of high quality performances, only 2 of the 5 were at the level we'd want really... but we're finding a way. Plenty of injured players to come back too hopefully.

phog · 27-10-2025 09:55AM

Daly is involved twice in the JOD try, initially carrying to towards the middle of the field, as he passes he's tackled to the ground, the defender holds him on the ground and delays him getting to his feet to get back into play, they both tussle for a bit and then Shane gets back into play to get involved again before the ball goes to Jacko on the wing. Great to see that eagerness & workrate to get involved.

Jacko probably should have tried to get closer to the posts but the try should have been converted anyway.

mahoney_j · 27-10-2025 11:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123941041#Comment_123941041

agree re your take on Jj and butler …personally thought Jj was poor ….and I thought and still do think it’s a mistake bringing him back …he’s older than before and all the frailties in his game are still there ….id much prefer see more faith put in butler …give him a fair chance to put a claim on back up 10 jersey to Crowley

aloooof · 27-10-2025 06:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123941041#Comment_123941041

Great summary, leaky.

Thought Daly was his usual, dependable self. Excellent in the air, and good when running the ball back too. Think FB could be his long-term position, now we seem to be utilising more pace on the wings.

And on that note, thought Kilgallen and McCarthy both went well. Kilgallen seems to have huge initial acceleration to burst through a gap, and McCarthy had a couple of errors but overall an encouraging performance he'll take a lot from. Hopefully Abrahams' injury isn't for too long.

Thought O'Connell did a good job of shoring up the lineout when he came on. And I actually quite like Lee Barron, quietly efficient, tho still not sure which Barron is our first choice yet. (Thought Diarmuid's throwing last week was excellent for example).

Quinn and Foxe both with some big carries when they came on, and was delighted for Jake O'Riordan, and he did well too. (Looks absolutely tiny tho, even stood next to JOD).

JOD must be in his best spell of form in about 3-4 years (didn't he win our Player of the Year a few seasons ago?), his first try was probably the best piece of play all evening. Coombes does exactly what we expect of him every week at this stage (except for one period in the 2nd half when we were 5m out and he ended up on the wing, for some reason), and I thought Kleyn carried to tidy up a lot of our ball.

Far from a vintage performance, but they're exactly the type of games we were losing last season, have to be encouraged by that.

Mad to think we have 1, 2, 3, 13 and 17 point victories and the biggest one was against Leinster (and it probably flattered them).

phog · 27-10-2025 07:48PM

Mad to think we have 1, 2, 3, 13 and 17 point victories and the biggest one was against Leinster (and it probably flattered them)

The other thing I'd add to that is both Leinster and Connacht found it difficult to get into our 22 without the aid of penalty kicks, Leinster took advantage of their scrum dominance and Connacht gained hugely from a bit of indiscipline and a finicky ref.

Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

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