Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

phog · 17-02-2012 11:02PM

O'Leary's tackle on Benoit Baby

TOL's conversion in MP

Amazotheamazing · 17-02-2012 11:25PM

Judging by how long he was out after the pre-RWC games he was never fit to be playing in that series in the first place. I don't blame a guy for pushing himself through injury to play for Ireland, but I do blame Kidney for picking him.

I genuinely hope France goes well for him, he has it in him to be a super player (again). He's had an awful run of injuries since the pre-Lions injury.

CiaranMT · 17-02-2012 11:53PM

There's Cathal Sheridan in the Academy too. He was in the squad for the Treviso game around this time last year as well I think?

Benny Cake · 18-02-2012 08:09AM

That tackle above by TOL on Baby is one of my all time favourite Thomond Park moments, that was some game...

irishbucsfan · 18-02-2012 08:50AM

I think the fact OLeary was picked for Ireland when he shouldnt have been makes people rate him a lot lower than he should be.

He has shown this season that he offers a lot off the bench and he has outplayed the disappointing Murray in H Cup games.

Don't think OLeary will be good enough to start for Munster ahead of Murray in future though so this is a good move for him.

Leaves Munster pressed though. Stringer is a shadow of his former self with Sarries and Williams is completely subpar. Is Sheridan highly rated?

Amazotheamazing · 18-02-2012 10:07AM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think the fact OLeary was picked for Ireland when he shouldnt have been makes people rate him a lot lower than he should be.

He has shown this season that he offers a lot off the bench and he has outplayed the disappointing Murray in H Cup games.

Don't think OLeary will be good enough to start for Munster ahead of Murray in future though so this is a good move for him.

Leaves Munster pressed though. Stringer is a shadow of his former self with Sarries and Williams is completely subpar. Is Sheridan highly rated?

Ah here, got MOTM in his third HEC start, he's been very good for Munster this season.

phog · 18-02-2012 10:16AM

I think Michael Bradley offered a contract to Sheridan so he must be a reasonable prospect.

Now that it's confirmed that Tomás is leaving then Sheridan needs to get some gametime. We've wasted a lot of development time earlier in the season in giving 4 S/Hs gametime and now 2 of those are not available to us. Time to see how Williams and Sheridan will do with a run of games.

irishbucsfan · 18-02-2012 10:17AM

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think the fact OLeary was picked for Ireland when he shouldnt have been makes people rate him a lot lower than he should be.

He has shown this season that he offers a lot off the bench and he has outplayed the disappointing Murray in H Cup games.

Don't think OLeary will be good enough to start for Munster ahead of Murray in future though so this is a good move for him.

Leaves Munster pressed though. Stringer is a shadow of his former self with Sarries and Williams is completely subpar. Is Sheridan highly rated?

Ah here, got MOTM in his third HEC start, he's been very good for Munster this season.

OK

boynesider · 18-02-2012 11:07AM

Murray has been very good for Munster and was probably Ireland's best back against Wales. What the hell have you been watching?

Tox56 · 18-02-2012 11:13AM

boynesider wrote: »

Murray has been very good for Munster and was probably Ireland's best back against Wales. What the hell have you been watching?

He might well have been, but that reflects on how poor the Irish backs were as opposed to how good Murray was. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't great either.

boynesider · 18-02-2012 11:22AM

I know he wasn't brilliant but I don't know how someone can say he's disappointing this year. Maybe if you're expecting him to be the next Gareth Edwards he's disappointing but to me he still looks like the best all-round talent at 9 I've seen for Ireland.

Tefral · 18-02-2012 11:26AM

Thomas's agent on twitter just said its not fully completed and "could also stay in Munster" look him up. @woodster11

bamboozle · 18-02-2012 11:28AM

ormond lad wrote: »

thats not trev hogan beside lacey

trev was still in college in DCU at that stage, playing with Blackrock in the AIL.

PhatPiggins · 18-02-2012 11:30AM

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Ah here, got MOTM in his third HEC start, he's been very good for Munster this season.

I'm a big Murray fan but he's been very hit and miss for Munster this season. Bar that game you mention, O'Leary has come on for him in every game and things on the pitch have improved with TOL's intro :eek:

In particular O'Leary was getting to rucks and passing the ball out much faster then Murray which improved our back play no end.

GerM · 18-02-2012 11:37AM

boynesider wrote: »

Murray has been very good for Munster and was probably Ireland's best back against Wales. What the hell have you been watching?

He's been watching Andrew Trimble or even Kearney in that case.

irishbucsfan · 18-02-2012 11:39AM

He has been disappointing this season because a player of his talent (ie great passer, great physicality) could be much better. He just hasn't been very good. He has had a few good games, but in the majority his flaws have been too evident. I really hope he's getting the coaching necessary to help him become the class act he could be. Someone needs to go through VT with him and work on his approach. Like Doak/Pienaar did with Marshall.

I'm sure with experience he'll become a better 9, and I'd definitely keep starting him for Ireland now that we've started the tournament with him. He is certainly the most rounded Irish 9, and its a position of real weakness for Ireland. I think he's going to be a brilliant player for Ireland and Munster, but approach play is the difference between a decent 9 and a great 9.

The point was that TOL improved phase speed hugely when he came on for Munster this year, and he was notoriously slow at that the last couple of years. Hard to know if that's because of an improvement on his part or just favourable comparison against Murrays biggest fault. Probably a mixture of both.

ed7890 · 18-02-2012 12:40PM

PhatPiggins wrote: »

I'm a big Murray fan but he's been very hit and miss for Munster this season. Bar that game you mention, O'Leary has come on for him in every game and things on the pitch have improved with TOL's intro :eek:

In particular O'Leary was getting to rucks and passing the ball out much faster then Murray which improved our back play no end.

That's not true. How about the Castres game away, Murray had a crackin game. O'Leary came on and at one stage passed the ball to no-one, completley behind the backline.

Or how about the Castres game at home. Murray had a good game again, popping the pass to Murphy for his try, O'Leary came on, ran into space, got isolated and got turned over.

Murray has been very good for Munster, he's been doing loads of work to get the backline going. O'Leary has been better than he was last year, but he's not improving things everytime he comes on.

Tefral · 18-02-2012 12:47PM

Micheal woods his agent has confirmed he will make his decision till next week that he has been offered contracts at home and abroad
https://twitter.com/22dropout/status/170839876491689984

PhatPiggins · 18-02-2012 12:53PM

ed7890 wrote: »

That's not true. How about the Castres game away, Murray had a crackin game. O'Leary came on and at one stage passed the ball to no-one, completley behind the backline.

Or how about the Castres game at home. Murray had a good game again, popping the pass to Murphy for his try, O'Leary came on, ran into space, got isolated and got turned over.

Murray has been very good for Munster, he's been doing loads of work to get the backline going. O'Leary has been better than he was last year, but he's not improving things everytime he comes on.

Murray was dire in the home game against Castres but its not a Murray vs TOL debate. Its this notion that Murray is playing really well, when he's not.

You can keep pushing your head deeper into the sand all you like but any reasonable observer would admit that Murray is not playing to his full potential. If you think Muarray is playing as well as he was last season we'll have to agree to disagree.

ed7890 · 18-02-2012 12:58PM

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Murray was dire in the home game against Castres but its not a Murray vs TOL debate. Its this notion that Murray is playing really well, when he's not.

You can keep pushing your head deeper into the sand all you like but any reasonable observer would admit that Murray is not playing to his full potential. If you think Muarray is playing as well as he was last season we'll have to agree to disagree.

So was O'Leary an improvement in the Castres away game?

PhatPiggins · 18-02-2012 01:02PM

ed7890 wrote: »

So was O'Leary an improvement in the Castres away game?

OK I'll admit that saying things improved every time TOL came onto the pitch was OTT but are you honestly going to tell me Murray is playing really well?

ed7890 · 18-02-2012 01:12PM

PhatPiggins wrote: »

OK I'll admit that saying things improved every time TOL came onto the pitch was OTT but are you honestly going to tell me Murray is playing really well?

Yes, I think he's playing very good. He might have been perfect, but who is. You make it sound like he's been a negative or weakness to the team, whereas he's been a huge positive. Look at all the tries that Munster have gotten in the Heineken cup this year, he's had a part in loads of them. Look at Zebo's first try in the Saints game, Murray takes the ball, runs across the line, picks out the guy he wants and starts the move going. Look at O'Mahony's try against Castres.

PhatPiggins · 18-02-2012 01:15PM

ed7890 wrote: »

Yes, I think he's playing very good. He might have been perfect, but who is. You make it sound like he's been a negative or weakness to the team, whereas he's been a huge positive. Look at all the tries that Munster have gotten in the Heineken cup this year, he's had a part in loads of them. Look at Zebo's first try in the Saints game, Murray takes the ball, runs across the line, picks out the guy he wants and starts the move going. Look at O'Mahony's try against Castres.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

ed7890 · 18-02-2012 01:24PM

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Thank you, you too.

phog · 18-02-2012 01:35PM

cronin_j wrote: »

Micheal woods his agent has confirmed he will make his decision till next week that he has been offered contracts at home and abroad
https://twitter.com/22dropout/status/170839876491689984

Niall Woods

Big Nelly · 18-02-2012 03:32PM

Hi Guys

Just watching the game, havent been following this thread because there is so many post like the O'Leary v Murray stuff etc. Anyway was wondering who have they signed? I know ther eis one guy from Northampton but who else? Thanks

Fireball07 · 18-02-2012 03:36PM

Big Nelly wrote: »

Hi Guys

Just watching the game, havent been following this thread because there is so many post like the O'Leary v Murray stuff etc. Anyway was wondering who have they signed? I know ther eis one guy from Northampton but who else? Thanks

Downey, Laulala and a Fijian guy, Tokula. Tokula is a short-term signing till the end of the season, the others come next year.

CIARAN_BOYLE · 18-02-2012 03:41PM

Big Nelly wrote: »

Hi Guys

Just watching the game, havent been following this thread because there is so many post like the O'Leary v Murray stuff etc. Anyway was wondering who have they signed? I know ther eis one guy from Northampton but who else? Thanks

Downey from Northampton, an Leinster, Connacht Munster and Ireland A player.

Twice capped all black Casey Laulua is coming from Cardiff as well.

Munster have also signed an ex NZ 7s player Save Tokula till the end of the season on a short term deal. He is a center as well

danthefan · 18-02-2012 03:55PM

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Ah here, got MOTM in his third HEC start, he's been very good for Munster this season.

Has he been great though?

profitius · 18-02-2012 05:09PM

Murray is in a different class to TOL. He needs to speed up getting the ball from the ruck sometimes but hopefully a new backs coach will sort that out next season.

Munster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

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