The Province Formerly Known As Munster 2018-19

[offshorerules]

If Duncan Williams starts at the weekend and Munster lose I wonder how much abuse he'll get from the "best fans in the world" from TPFKAM? Will there be more booing? I suppose it's an away game so it'll be hard to tell. All very predictable at this stage.

[offshorerules]

"Munster"

Man: Would you sleep with me for $100, 000?
Woman: No!
Man: Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000 then?
Woman: I would, I suppose.
Man: Would you sleep with me for $100?
Woman: What kind of girl do you think I am!
Man: We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price.

Your best player on Saturday wasn't from Leinster.

Ross Byrne?

[Laighin Break]

"Munster"

Man: Would you sleep with me for $100, 000?
Woman: No!
Man: Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000 then?
Woman: I would, I suppose.
Man: Would you sleep with me for $100?
Woman: What kind of girl do you think I am!
Man: We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price.

Your best player on Saturday wasn't from Leinster.

Ross Byrne?

Or maybe he means our (developed by Leinster) best player wasn't from Leinster (the Leinster team on the day). Beirne? Carbery? Conway?

[blockhead]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

[Peg Leg]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

COYBIB's looking for his money


Re: Sign another overseas player
Postby COYBIB » August 28th, 2018, 1:42 am

How long is Murray out for? 3 or 4 weeks? A fiver says this interim super-short term lad will be eating Christmas dinner at the Strand hotel and a tenner says he'll be driving up the Wild Atlantic Way in the spring.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

That's worrying but didn't Cronin get injured after they'd announced Mathewson? That looked a bad one, could be related to that too.

[tomthefan]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

That's worrying but didn't Cronin get injured after they'd announced Mathewson? That looked a bad one, could be related to that too.

Anything for me so long as it's not related to Murray's injury.

[suisse]

With attention moving towards Europe now, it'll be interesting to see if any former liginds are brave enough to accurately call 'where Munster are' (copyright OTB) and how their game is developing. Donal Lenihan made such a mistake last season, and he had his reputation eviscerated by the Foot Soldiers of the Red Army.

[BlueBlue]

Munster fans losing their sh*t over the ref, I think he had a poor enough game, but I don't think it was in any way one sided, but I get their frustration, there were some pretty unlucky calls that they could have gotten away with another day, the Earls "try" for example, he got the decision right but for the wrong reason, the ball came off the Munster player in the tackle, he gave it as intentional which it wasn't, but as Earls was ahead of the player it came off, he's offside and it's a penalty.

The other decision for the penalty try and yellow card, I simply have no idea where there is even a hint of ambiguity there, it's a stone wall yellow card and penalty try, he tackled the player before the ball, hindered him from collecting it, the letter of the law is to remove that player from play and is it likely a try would have been scored (not CERTAN!), the answer is 100% Earls prevented a probable try, yellow card and penalty try.

But all that aside, I'm surprised to see such heart taken from the game by Munster players and staff, talking about their best performance etc... I mean they were fully loaded against a team resting some of its best players, we kept them at arms length with relative ease and pulled away again whenever they closed the gap. I don't think Leinster got even close to getting out of second gear, we coasted really and it wasn't an overly complicated game plan, just the basics executed well, other than a maul, Munster really have few weapons. O'Mahony in the scrum is borderline hilarious.

In reference to your last paragraph. Its more a reflection of where Munster are, which is so low in terms of playing ability that they are willing to sacrifice their last bit of pride to distract themselves from the reality. I'd say their Fans thought with Van Grann in place, plus Bernie and Joey that they had bought the last few pieces of a winning puzzle. Problem is, Joey is not the finished article, how could he be at 22. Bernie is great but in a team like the Scarlets that are very different to Munster, it will take a while for his talents to be adjusted to fit Munster and I think Bernie will be left to figure this out himself due to their culture being poor and a lack of coaching talent. Van Grann got a understandable honeymoon last year. This year Munster are 6 games in and have not once picked off a credible title contender and what's more they have lost 2 from 2 against 2 of the 4 title contenders in across the League. Add in a winless and desperate Cardiff, you could say that the team belief, if its ever been there since 2009 is gone. Van Grann is increasingly looking like the fall guy that honest Razzy needed to fill the void he quickly left behind.

[dropkick]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

That's worrying but didn't Cronin get injured after they'd announced Mathewson? That looked a bad one, could be related to that too.

Not sure whether Cronin got injured before or after. One thing's for sure, Mathewson would be a good signing. At the end of the season I think there's going to be some trimming of the squad so with that in mind Nucifora could agree to let him stay.


Williams' and Hart's contracts are up at the end of this season. If Mathewson is signed then I'd like to see them not renewed. I don't think Van Graham is a fan of either.


Bleyendaal, Keatley and Hanrahan's contracts are also up. 2 of those will be leaving. The fragile Bleyendaal + one of the other 2, most likely Keatley (imo due to age although Hanrahan has been a big disappointment). Bill Johnston is highly rated and should feature sometime this season.


I can also see Taute going because we've enough centers and Arno Botha also. Botha looks a good player but Gavin Coombes is coming through as is Sean O'Connor and JOD should be back plus Jack O'Sullivan is in the academy.


Of the back 3, there's a queue waiting so at least one player will leave. Ronan O'Mahony and someone else.


So out going imo will be: Hart, Williams, Bleyendaal, Keatley, Taute, Botha and Ronan O'Mahony.


In and promoted from academy: Sean O'Connor, Coombes, Shane Daly and possibly Stafford.


Other fringe player contracts up include Loughman, Sherry, Dave O'Callaghan, JOD, Stephen Fitzgerald, Calvin Nash.

[dropkick]

Munster fans losing their sh*t over the ref, I think he had a poor enough game, but I don't think it was in any way one sided, but I get their frustration, there were some pretty unlucky calls that they could have gotten away with another day, the Earls "try" for example, he got the decision right but for the wrong reason, the ball came off the Munster player in the tackle, he gave it as intentional which it wasn't, but as Earls was ahead of the player it came off, he's offside and it's a penalty.

The other decision for the penalty try and yellow card, I simply have no idea where there is even a hint of ambiguity there, it's a stone wall yellow card and penalty try, he tackled the player before the ball, hindered him from collecting it, the letter of the law is to remove that player from play and is it likely a try would have been scored (not CERTAN!), the answer is 100% Earls prevented a probable try, yellow card and penalty try.

But all that aside, I'm surprised to see such heart taken from the game by Munster players and staff, talking about their best performance etc... I mean they were fully loaded against a team resting some of its best players, we kept them at arms length with relative ease and pulled away again whenever they closed the gap. I don't think Leinster got even close to getting out of second gear, we coasted really and it wasn't an overly complicated game plan, just the basics executed well, other than a maul, Munster really have few weapons. O'Mahony in the scrum is borderline hilarious.

In reference to your last paragraph. Its more a reflection of where Munster are, which is so low in terms of playing ability that they are willing to sacrifice their last bit of pride to distract themselves from the reality. I'd say their Fans thought with Van Grann in place, plus Bernie and Joey that they had bought the last few pieces of a winning puzzle. Problem is, Joey is not the finished article, how could he be at 22. Bernie is great but in a team like the Scarlets that are very different to Munster, it will take a while for his talents to be adjusted to fit Munster and I think Bernie will be left to figure this out himself due to their culture being poor and a lack of coaching talent. Van Grann got a understandable honeymoon last year. This year Munster are 6 games in and have not once picked off a credible title contender and what's more they have lost 2 from 2 against 2 of the 4 title contenders in across the League. Add in a winless and desperate Cardiff, you could say that the team belief, if its ever been there since 2009 is gone. Van Grann is increasingly looking like the fall guy that honest Razzy needed to fill the void he quickly left behind.

Early days yet. I remember fans calling for Schmidt to be sacked after a few matches. Same with Pivac when Scarlets lost 3 on the trot.

[paddyor]

Since when is Geroge Hook a fan?

[dropkick]

Since when is Geroge Hook a fan?

It wasn't just George Hook. I remember it well.

[leinsterforever]

Goggin is an interesting option. He probably has a better passing game than Arnold, coming from the 7s. I think it should be him at 13 partnering Scannell against Exeter

[dropkick]

Goggin is an interesting option. He probably has a better passing game than Arnold, coming from the 7s. I think it should be him at 13 partnering Scannell against Exeter

Yeah he was superb against Ulster too and is definitely ahead of Arnold. Arnold hasn't done much wrong but Goggin's all round game is very good. He ticks most boxes and while Arnold is a super athlete he has some weaknesses to his game.

[Oldschool]

"Munster"

Man: Would you sleep with me for $100, 000?
Woman: No!
Man: Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000 then?
Woman: I would, I suppose.
Man: Would you sleep with me for $100?
Woman: What kind of girl do you think I am!
Man: We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price.

Your best player on Saturday wasn't from Leinster.

An old and not a bad joke TBH.
But who our best player was is a matter of opinion.
Much more importantly is that rugby is a team sport.
So no one player matters as much as the team.
Unless that player's name was Brian O'Driscoll of course

[Oldschool]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

Neck injury or concussion.

[Oldschool]

Van Gran looking to extend Alby Mathewson contract beyond the 4 months, will talk to the IRFU soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.

COYBIB's looking for his money


Re: Sign another overseas player
Postby COYBIB » August 28th, 2018, 1:42 am

How long is Murray out for? 3 or 4 weeks? A fiver says this interim super-short term lad will be eating Christmas dinner at the Strand hotel and a tenner says he'll be driving up the Wild Atlantic Way in the spring.

It's a fair bet though that he didn't get any takers unless they were from Munster.

[Oldschool]

Since when is Geroge Hook a fan?

It wasn't just George Hook. I remember it well.

It was almost 100% George Hook.
Actually correction, it was 100% George Hook.

[sunshiner1]

by dropkick

Williams' and Hart's contracts are up at the end of this season. If Mathewson is signed then I'd like to see them not renewed. I don't think Van Graham is a fan of either.


Bleyendaal, Keatley and Hanrahan's contracts are also up. 2 of those will be leaving. The fragile Bleyendaal + one of the other 2, most likely Keatley (imo due to age although Hanrahan has been a big disappointment). Bill Johnston is highly rated and should feature sometime this season.


I can also see Taute going because we've enough centers and Arno Botha also. Botha looks a good player but Gavin Coombes is coming through as is Sean O'Connor and JOD should be back plus Jack O'Sullivan is in the academy.


Of the back 3, there's a queue waiting so at least one player will leave. Ronan O'Mahony and someone else.


So out going imo will be: Hart, Williams, Bleyendaal, Keatley, Taute, Botha and Ronan O'Mahony.


In and promoted from academy: Sean O'Connor, Coombes, Shane Daly and possibly Stafford.


Other fringe player contracts up include Loughman, Sherry, Dave O'Callaghan, JOD, Stephen Fitzgerald, Calvin Nash

For me I think Keatley will leave. He's coming to the end of his career so he might as well go to France and make some serious coin. He's nowhere close to the International squad and he's not appreciated at all by the Munster support. I'd also be showing Sherry the door, waaay to injury prone and maybe Taute if Munster could find someone of a higher calibre.