Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

Sean’s performances in Cork recently have shown his ability at the next level. He has a very good chance of progressing in the senior squad over the remained of the season and next season.

He is looking for a spot in a Back row that has Odonoghue, hodnett, kendellen, Quinn and some hybrid 2nd rows so nobody of international quality that he needs to get past.

He will see game time there in the next 12 months .

That's an embarrassing post. Deary deary me.

Coombes has several far superior players ahead of him. Its not a mystery

Great servant over the years, our scrum always looked better when he was at 2

Got me thinking about the brothers that have togged out in red

Wallace (x3)/Wycherley/Scannell/Edogbo... any others in the professional era I'm missing ...?

Donnacha and David... another pair

Wonder is it as prevalent in the other provincial teams…

Ha, yeah I meant O'Callaghan and yes, thought all this time they were brothers...!

Nice article on his patreon by TRK on Niall Scannell, here's a snippet:

"Niall Scannell captained the Ireland 20s in the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship, but it took him a while to fully get going at Munster.

He spent two years in the Munster sub-academy, then two years in the full academy before going on back-to-back development deals.

One turning point, oddly enough, came from the outside. When Rob Penney brought Eusebio Guiñazú in on a short-term loan in late 2014, Scannell was fourth choice. Fourth choice, and they still went and signed another man. It would have broken a lot of players or had the same impact as a bucket of cold sick down their back. Instead, Scannell did something smarter — he picked the Argentinian’s brain. Guiñazú’s message was simple, and it was probably exactly what Scannell needed to hear.

That’s not you.

At the time, Scannell was firmly behind Duncan Casey, Mike Sherry and Damian Varley, and he was on the dreaded ticking time bomb of one-year development deal extensions. Munster weren’t sure on him, something proven by the short-term signing of Guiñazú.

But what Guiñazú told Niall Scannell was vital to his career.

Stop trying to be Mike Sherry.

Stop trying to make breaks off the edge of the defensive line.

You’re a big scrummager, physical in the tight, and your breakdown work has to be unbelievable. Get better at what you’re good at.

“He really broke it down with me,” Scannell said years later. “And Eusebio really helped me. He still keeps in contact with me a lot.” That kind of clarity — knowing exactly what you are, and committing to it completely — is rarer than it sounds. A lot of careers never find it."