Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

budhabob · 25-03-2026 06:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124340352#Comment_124340352

At least it's voluntary in nature. Depending on stage of life it can be a fantastic opportunity.

They need to invest in certain areas to grow revenue through improved performances however. Hopefully they arent scrimping on Prendergast replacement.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 09:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124340350#Comment_124340350

Indeed, they need money quite desperately it seems. Season ticket sales in freefall the last few years is likely a contributing factor. People would rather spend the money on away games and make a mini-holiday out of it. This has the effect of money literally flowing from the Munster coffers to the opposition ones.

I see from Facebook the #flanaganout is mentioned more than once so it's clear to see who is getting the blame for this

CONSI · 26-03-2026 10:23AM

Yeah difficult times ahead I fear. hard to keep justifying the season ticket cost with the level of performance and the move of a european game to Cork this year really annoyed people, myself and my wife gave ours up this year, just werent getting to as many games and couldnt keep justifying the outlay. The new structure to the european games lends itself to away trips, used to be 3 home games, now only 2, so if you get a favourable draw and a team that you want to go to then its very appealing to travel away. Whether people like it or agree or not, the home of munster rugby is Thomond park. Keeping two stadiums on the go is costly also. I also think the general cost of going to matches is hitting people…people now have to decide between going to a Munster game (when Munster are not playing well) and going to an Ireland game…before people might have been able to do both, but with tickets now for Ireland over €100 the provincial games maybe take a hit, they are still €45/50 for a stand ticket…I've looked at maybe going to a Munster game this year, taking myself, wife, 2 kids…looking at close to €150…thats a sizeable outlay to watch a middling team at the moment, not to mention the drinks, food etc etc you might get…

Brief_Lives · 26-03-2026 10:26AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124341437#Comment_124341437

well, over the years, the coaches have been blamed, the players have been blamed, I guess it's his turn.

I reckon just ask McMillan what he needs to turn things around, and give it to him.. simple as that.

I imagine his own coaching retinue would be a good starting point.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 11:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124341528#Comment_124341528

Not to mention the consistent blaming of the IRFU/Andy Farrell. Should we start blaming the fans next for not turning up to Thomond and selling out every home game?

Not a bad shout on the way forward though, McMillan has a proven track record of how to make a team successful with the Maori All Blacks and the Chiefs. I'd also be asking for the Richie Murphy to him a few pointers as a consultant. Ulster were in similar dire straits a few years ago, his advice could be crucial

leakyboots · 26-03-2026 11:16AM

Just back youth. Plenty of talent there. Both Edogbos, Ryan, O'Connell, Wood, KOL, centres. Might be a tough 18 months but the longer term benefit would be huge. Ulster did it, Connacht are in the process of doing it.

I have absolutely no idea why John Ryan, a wonderful servant and all as he has been, is getting game time at 37. There must be a prop, ANY prop, younger than him who is worthy of gametime.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 11:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124341660#Comment_124341660

A cull of the older, less capable, players is definitely something that needs to happen, I don't think anybody disagrees there. It's going to be a very tough 18 months in any case. Our chances of beating Bulls next weekend are slim the way we are playing and that means potentially dropping out of the top 8. We were very fortunate to scrape into this seasons champions cup and the way things are looking we are going to be fortunate to repeat that process this year.

A year at challenge cup could do us the world of good from a team rebuilding point of view as well though

Brief_Lives · 26-03-2026 01:45PM

Good to see Ahern back in his better position

budhabob · 26-03-2026 01:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342054#Comment_124342054

Some interesting calls. SOB is obviously rated without getting too many opportunities - Daly had his worst performance last week so deserves to be dropped. BOC also getting a massive vote of confidence.

Limerick-Kid · 26-03-2026 02:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124341733#Comment_124341733

I hear that possibly 10 senior players will be cut from senior squad at end of season.

Munster will need to look to the players coming through which is a big ask

Cookiemunster · 26-03-2026 02:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342123#Comment_124342123

It's very easy to see 10 players leave Scannell and Kleyn are already announced. Ala'alatoa and Bartley are only on short term deals. Ryan and Salanoa are almost definitely retiring. Paterson, Coughlan, Butler, Abrahams, Smith and Kilgallen are all out of contract.

CONSI · 26-03-2026 03:01PM

A lot of I dont want to call them sick notes there that need to be moved on, injuries happen and some have long term impacts so I dont want to deminish them but couldnt think of another term…our wingers situation has been terrrible, kilgallen, smith…Kilgallen has played 13 games since he signed in 2024 / Smith has 6 appearances…

realhorrorshow · 26-03-2026 03:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124341733#Comment_124341733

Edited due to being completely inaccurate.

Podge_irl · 26-03-2026 03:22PM

Munster also have a European game!

CatFromHue · 26-03-2026 03:22PM

Funnily enough if they beat Exeter, which is no easy thing as Racing got an injury time try to beat them in Racing which if hadn't been scored Exeter would have topped their pool, they could get a home QF. It's Treviso v Cardiff they'll face and if Cardiff win Munster will be the higher ranked team so would get the home QF.

Three home QFs in the last 10 years is slim pickings I guess especially as 2 of them came in 16/17 and 17/18. When you compare it to the 5 of the previous 10 it doesn't look that bad though.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 04:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342378#Comment_124342378

I'll do you one better

If Munster go ahead and beat Cardiff or Benetton in the game you referene, also no easy thing the way we are playing at the moment, our next opposition could potentially be La Rochelle in Thomond

La Rochelle would have to beat Newcastle Red Bulls, and the winner of Ulster/Ospreys

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342356#Comment_124342356

Munster play Exeter the week they come back. We finish off the URC season away to Benetton, home to Ulster, away to Connacht and home to Lions. I'd only be confident of us winning one of those games, apologies to any Lions supporters on this thread.

realhorrorshow · 26-03-2026 04:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342571#Comment_124342571

Ah God not sure how I missed that, have edited my original comment. That's a tough run in but still think you can win 3/5.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 04:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342582#Comment_124342582

Are we assuming so that Saturday will be a loss? If so, and assuming lions beat dragons, we are officially out of the top 8 and 3 wins might not even be enough to get us back into the top 8

realhorrorshow · 26-03-2026 04:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342635#Comment_124342635

Three wins alone would be 51 points, which may be borderline for top 8. Add two bonus points to that though and I'd be shocked if 53 wasn't enough.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 05:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342652#Comment_124342652

Who would our 3 wins be against do you think? I can see us potentially sneaking one against Benetton and Lions in Thomond would be a good-without-being-great chance. Ulster and Connacht are flying high at the minute though

CatFromHue · 26-03-2026 05:02PM

Yeah that's possible but La Rochelle would have to go to Ulster in the QF and that could go either way. If Ulster win then Munster go to Ulster.

Just on the finances I did a quick comparison of season tickets sold and the restructuring of the URC and Europe has made a big difference.

In 14/15 there were 11 regular season home Pro12 games which gave a total attendance of 144,600, avg 13,200 per game. In 24/25 there were 9 regular season home URC games which gave a total of 126,500, avg 14,000 per game.

In 14/15 there were 3 regular season Euro games which brought in 69000, avg 23,000.

In 24/25 there were 2 regular season Euro games which brought in 39,000, avg 19,500.

So the reduction in regular season games has hit hard as Munster have gone from 213,600 to 165,500. That's a drop of 22.5% which is a big drop. You can't to much about the Pro12 becoming the URC but I don't see the point of the 2nd round of the Heineken Cup. It doesn't make sense for competitive reasons and it doesn't make sense where it's placed in the season. You can argue it works against sales for the QF as there's only a week between the games. Getting rid of it and going back to 5 pools of 4 works better for everyone as every team gets a guaranteed 3 home games. Politically it might be tricky as it'd be 6 French, 6 English, and 8 URC so getting rid of 2 French and 2 English. 7 URC and a playoff between a French and English club could work too.

If Munster had 3 regular season games last season they'd have gotten around 58,500 and a total of 185,000. So a reduction of 13.4% from 10 years ago. That's a much more manageable number in relation to whether you get extra knock out home games or not.

realhorrorshow · 26-03-2026 05:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342666#Comment_124342666

I think Benetton, Ulster, and Lions, with an LBP against Connacht and a TBP vs Lions. But it's tough to call.

Red Silurian · 26-03-2026 05:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342667#Comment_124342667

Finances have gone down because of fewer games played, certainly. But also the cost of hosting those games has similarly decreased. Going back to 3 pool games and 3 knockout games in Europe is what most fans are also calling for as well to be fair

You raise the question of how we now essentially having 6 free regular season weekends that we didn't have before. We could make an argument for a new competition perhaps to use up those weekends and try and get more ticketholders through the turnstiles. Assuming 3 home fixtures - if we get the numbers to sell out thomond 3 more times would be a fairly sweet money maker

CatFromHue · 26-03-2026 07:06PM

I don't think there's any appetite from the fans for a new competition and having a few free season's is good for player welfare/squad management.

Once upon a time there was the Celtic Cup which ran in 03/04 and 04/05 but I don't think anyone misses it.

Jump_In_Jack · 26-03-2026 10:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342788#Comment_124342788

@CatFromHue
What about including in the comparison the friendly matches against touring sides?

Would we have as many if the weekends were already taken up by a third Euro match? Probably not I’d say.

On average is there one more of these every season? Probably takes a huge chunk off the difference.

Also, playing a match in Cork seems to boost numbers but could lose a bit of revenue through rental fees, so just numbers of attendances isn’t very accurate.

Profit from home matches would be better that attendance numbers, but are there any figures available in the annual accounts to illustrate this or will it be end of the season before these figures come out?

Perhaps there’s a year of a lag between income and accounting, maybe we are doing better more recently?

Lost Ormond · 26-03-2026 11:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124342667#Comment_124342667

French wont/dont want to go back to pools of 4 and 6 group games. they much prefer 4 rounds in groups. english having lost a few teams may want the extras but dont think it will go to a vote. the big drop is more with europe and able to charge more for those games as well.

CatFromHue · 27-03-2026 12:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124343520#Comment_124343520

I think even the Munster branch acknowledged publicly how important the touring game was financially but the problem is it's not guaranteed each season. I've a feeling, and that's all it is, is that Munster were much more aggressive in trying to secure them recently precisely because of the finances.

I don't know about the in depth finances but we've gone from having 11 Pro12 and 3 Euro home games guaranteed to 9 URC and 2 Euro home games and that's going to have an effect on all teams. I think that's why there's QFs in the URC. From a financial pov and an incentive to win in the league I can see why it's there but from a competitive (only 2/16 games have been won by the away team and both of them were Irish teams) or fans pov not so much. That's why they don't tend to be very well attended.

CatFromHue · 27-03-2026 12:26AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124343862#Comment_124343862

Yeah that'll be a problem. The only hope is that the change came around by accident because of Covid and not by design. I'd say initially the English were happy with the change as they dropped relegation so ended up with 13 teams in the 21/22 league which is a lot. Now they're down to 10 I can't see them as happy with it. I know they've plans to grow the league to have more teams but I'm not sure when that's meant to happen or how realistic it is either.

Widdensushi · 27-03-2026 07:35AM

How much is this trip costing,, there must be fifty odd travelling all in?

CONSI · 27-03-2026 09:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124344555#Comment_124344555

You'd have to think the SA trips with 50 or so travelling are costing in the region of €200-250k..Your probably talking 100k on just flights, then 13/14 nights accomodation/food/buses…my young fella did a SA tour with the school and that was €3750 for about 2 weeks, and they were bunking in a few to a room..its a big outlay for the teams each season.

Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

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