The Province Formerly Known As Munster 2018-19

[tomthefan]

Wish I could have chosen a commentator other than, Ryle (can you believe it?) nuuuuuugent

[wixfjord]

Yep. Awful game, about the same standard as the Ulster game, skills wise. But they're through, thats 5 Pro14 teams through now. Not much to say about the game but you couldn't see Exeter racking up any points at all. Munster, did they actually visit the Exeter 22?
Harsh call by Joe to pull Murray off with 15 to go.

Didn't think Murray was having a good game.
The game plan seemed to be not to pass to Joey, not Murray's fault but hard to play that way for both HBs.
Munster won't beat Edinburgh unless Edinburgh suffer a lot of injuries in the 6N.
Obviously I hope I'm wrong.
Jenno suggested that Murray wasn't fit (ie injured) which might explain a few things.

As far as I can remember, I don't think Edinburgh have beaten Munster more than once in 5 years?

Munster won't lose to Edinburgh in a Euro knock out game unless they suffer a lot of injuries in the 6N I'd say.

They're too good up front.

It's Sarries that I'd be fearful of. Can match Munster's pack but will be able to open them up too.

[blockhead]

Yep. Awful game, about the same standard as the Ulster game, skills wise. But they're through, thats 5 Pro14 teams through now. Not much to say about the game but you couldn't see Exeter racking up any points at all. Munster, did they actually visit the Exeter 22?
Harsh call by Joe to pull Murray off with 15 to go.

Didn't think Murray was having a good game.
The game plan seemed to be not to pass to Joey, not Murray's fault but hard to play that way for both HBs.
Munster won't beat Edinburgh unless Edinburgh suffer a lot of injuries in the 6N.
Obviously I hope I'm wrong.
Jenno suggested that Murray wasn't fit (ie injured) which might explain a few things.

When was the last time Edinburgh beat Munster?

As far as I can remember, I don't think Edinburgh have beaten Munster more than once in 5 years?

Munster won't lose to Edinburgh in a Euro knock out game unless they suffer a lot of injuries in the 6N I'd say.

They're too good up front.

It's Sarries that I'd be fearful of. Can match Munster's pack but will be able to open them up too.

Forget about Edinburgh of the last 5 years. This is a different beast. They coped well with a Monster Montpellier pack last night, won away in Toulon and beat Glasgow back to back over christmas.

[Blueberry]

Exeter's lineout cost them the game..enthralling stuff but low in quality. If I were a Munster fan I would be concerned about any side that can match them physically. They showed next to nothings outside of the front 8 tonight. Don't think any of the big guns will be too worried about Munster and Edinburgh will reckon they have a strong chance at home.

If Munster get past Edinburgh it is hard to see them getting close to a Saracens team especially if Itoje and Vunipola come through the the six Nations unbroken.

Murray is a worry for Ireland, does not look fit, hopefully it sorts itself out especially with Luke out.

[wixfjord]

Forget about Edinburgh of the last 5 years. This is a different beast. They coped well with a Monster Montpellier pack last night, won away in Toulon and beat Glasgow back to back over christmas.

They're better, but they're not good enough to beat Munster in what will essentially be a neutral venue.

[brenno]

Wish I could have chosen a commentator other than, Ryle (can you believe it?) nuuuuuugent

On Jesus, not to mention Keith Wood, thought Austin Healey is a one-eyed idiot but Woody takes the first prize on this one

[Oldschool]

Wish I could have chosen a commentator other than, Ryle (can you believe it?) nuuuuuugent

On Jesus, not to mention Keith Wood, thought Austin Healey is a one-eyed idiot but Woody takes the first prize on this one

Virginia Media 1 was grand.
Don't know who Channel 4 had.
Where was rent a tree commenting?

[tomthefan]

Wish I could have chosen a commentator other than, Ryle (can you believe it?) nuuuuuugent

On Jesus, not to mention Keith Wood, thought Austin Healey is a one-eyed idiot but Woody takes the first prize on this one

I wish there was an option to mute the commentary and just keep the ref Mike and crowd sound.

[yellabelly1961]

lovely to hear Tadhg Beirnes Dublin accent all the same..

[Angelsea Angst]

Tadhg Beirne makes a very big difference to the Munster team just as he did to Scarlets. What a pity we let him go from the Leinster Academy.

[Angelsea Angst]

Wish I could have chosen a commentator other than, Ryle (can you believe it?) nuuuuuugent

On Jesus, not to mention Keith Wood, thought Austin Healey is a one-eyed idiot but Woody takes the first prize on this one

I wish there was an option to mute the commentary and just keep the ref Mike and crowd sound.

When Woody comments on Leinster games he gives a very boring and disinterested commentary. In contrast when he comments on Munster games he is highly animated and biased. I am surprised that BT sport accepts such a biased commentary.

[artaneboy]

Munster’s real capacity lies at a level between their performance against Gloucester and Exeter. They’re not as good as their display in Kingsholm- but better than yesterday.

They will more than likely beat Edinburgh if they play in the QF. Muscle memory (and some class) on Munster’s part; inexperience on the Scots side.


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[hugonaut]

Enthralling game. Both sides really gave a huge effort, and there was very little in it. If Exeter had not had to win by a defined margin, we might have seen a different result ... but they've got nobody to blame for that but themselves. They were subpar in their home fixture against Munster in Sandy Park and absolutely terrible against Gloucester in the same venue.

It wasn't a high quality game in terms of attacking rugby. People will dress that up in whatever way they want, but it was mistake-ridden. There were lots of handling errors in benign weather conditions. Some of them were due to defensive linespeed, others due to the force of collisions, but there were a lot left over too.

Carbery is getting a lot of praise for an outhalf who didn't get any ball all night. Murray took control out of his hands, kicked an awful lot and Munster could get nothing going in the backline all game. They were toothless. Give Carbery the ball and time and he can look very sharp, but starve him of the ball [and his own team starved him of the ball!] and close him down quickly and he can look pretty ordinary, as he did.

Tadhg Beirn on the other hand possibly didn't get enough credit, despite his Man of the Match award. His work at the defensive breakdown kept Exeter from building offensive momentum or allowing them to overload on side of the pitch. If he was in over the ball, Exeter were scrambling to get two [sometimes even three] extra men into that breakdown. That really affected their shape, because their outhalf Simmonds is too inexperienced to really direct his team; they play to the shapes that they're coached.

This was a very Schmidt-2014 type performance with lots of contestables and lots of workrate. Schmidt's attacking ploys were sharp however, and van Graan's are blunt. Niall Scannell has as many bad games as he does good ones at this level, and this was one of the bad ones. Haley was toothless in comparison to his opposite number, Chris Farrell one dimensional after an early show of force.

Still, they got what they needed out of the game, with a very good performance from their tight five in both scrum and lineout. Can't win anything without strong foundations, and they've got good foundations.

[tomthefan]

Niall Scannell has as many bad games as he does good ones at this level, and this was one of the bad ones.

I didn't notice him doing wrong except for the penalty he gave away that led to the 5m lineout and the Exeter try.
On tv at least Garces' calls to him to leave the ball were loud and clear, I was screaming at the tv for him to release before Garces blew the whistle.

[Oldschool]

Munster’s real capacity lies at a level between their performance against Gloucester and Exeter. They’re not as good as their display in Kingsholm- but better than yesterday.

They will more than likely beat Edinburgh if they play in the QF. Muscle memory (and some class) on Munster’s part; inexperience on the Scots side.


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You're probably right but Munster didn't handle the mental pressure side of the game very well yesterday.
Don't know if that was a "not being underdogs" thing or the pressure of needing a win or at least a 4-1 or 5-2 loss.
There will be similar pressures come QF time.
The upside is that at least they should be aware of this now.

[Oldschool]

Niall Scannell has as many bad games as he does good ones at this level, and this was one of the bad ones.

I didn't notice him doing wrong except for the penalty he gave away that led to the 5m lineout and the Exeter try.
On tv at least Garces' calls to him to leave the ball were loud and clear, I was screaming at the tv for him to release before Garces blew the whistle.

Well if you were screaming then he should have known better. It wasn't one of his best but he wasn't the only one.
I said it earlier Munster (or Murray) didn't give the ball to Carberry.
That seemed to be a deliberate tactic decided upon by the coaches.
If that's the case then Munster are going nowhere.
That's not having a go. Munster need to realise that Munsterball will get them into the QFs, but after that?????.
As Roy Keane put it, match aggression with aggression and class will take over.
Carberry is potential class, isolate him and you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Munster won't beat Edinburgh playing Munsterball, it didn't work for Montpellier.

[janeymac08]

Enthralling game. Both sides really gave a huge effort, and there was very little in it. If Exeter had not had to win by a defined margin, we might have seen a different result ... but they've got nobody to blame for that but themselves. They were subpar in their home fixture against Munster in Sandy Park and absolutely terrible against Gloucester in the same venue.

It wasn't a high quality game in terms of attacking rugby. People will dress that up in whatever way they want, but it was mistake-ridden. There were lots of handling errors in benign weather conditions. Some of them were due to defensive linespeed, others due to the force of collisions, but there were a lot left over too.

Carbery is getting a lot of praise for an outhalf who didn't get any ball all night. Murray took control out of his hands, kicked an awful lot and Munster could get nothing going in the backline all game. They were toothless. Give Carbery the ball and time and he can look very sharp, but starve him of the ball [and his own team starved him of the ball!] and close him down quickly and he can look pretty ordinary, as he did.

Tadhg Beirn on the other hand possibly didn't get enough credit, despite his Man of the Match award. His work at the defensive breakdown kept Exeter from building offensive momentum or allowing them to overload on side of the pitch. If he was in over the ball, Exeter were scrambling to get two [sometimes even three] extra men into that breakdown. That really affected their shape, because their outhalf Simmonds is too inexperienced to really direct his team; they play to the shapes that they're coached.

This was a very Schmidt-2014 type performance with lots of contestables and lots of workrate. Schmidt's attacking ploys were sharp however, and van Graan's are blunt. Niall Scannell has as many bad games as he does good ones at this level, and this was one of the bad ones. Haley was toothless in comparison to his opposite number, Chris Farrell one dimensional after an early show of force.

Still, they got what they needed out of the game, with a very good performance from their tight five in both scrum and lineout. Can't win anything without strong foundations, and they've got good foundations.

Exeter has by far the best defence in the English Premiership having conceeded 22 tries so far. Saracens are next best with 27. They have also scored the most (50 to Saracens 44). They also scored 4 tries against Saracens just before Christmas, winning 31-13 (Saracens scored 1 try). They went over to Castres and scored 6 tries. Exeter are a good side and Munster did well against them. They messed up badly against Gloucester and Munster messed up badly against Castres away.

Carbery deserves a lot of praise - he has just turned 23 and in his first season in a new club playing in a position that up to now he hasn't really played much in. He had a shocker of a day with the boot against Castres and he has come back really strong since then with the boot. He needs to be given a bit more time and experience.

The match v. Exeter really reminds me of the Leinster v. Harlequins bloodgate game when Leinster turned a corner. I think Munster are at a similar stage now on their journey. I just wouldn't write them off.

[wixfjord]

The match v. Exeter really reminds me of the Leinster v. Harlequins bloodgate game when Leinster turned a corner. I think Munster are at a similar stage now on their journey. I just wouldn't write them off.

If that is to be a good comparison, it will require Munster to really improve their attacking edge over the next few months. If you remember what happened Leinster after the Quins game, the forward graft and doggedness was married with real incision in Croker (the Fitz & D'Arcy tries).

Munster can probably beat Embra without that, but won't beat Sarries, Racing or Leinster without it.

Felix Jones is one of the most important men in that set up for the next few months imo.

In Carberry and Scannell Munster have the playmakers to cut teams open, and the forwards will give them some platform, it's whether the willingness and structure is there to do enought with it.

[paddyor]

Exeter has by far the best defence in the English Premiership having conceeded 22 tries so far. Saracens are next best with 27. They have also scored the most (50 to Saracens 44). They also scored 4 tries against Saracens just before Christmas, winning 31-13 (Saracens scored 1 try). They went over to Castres and scored 6 tries. Exeter are a good side and Munster did well against them. They messed up badly against Gloucester and Munster messed up badly against Castres away.

Carbery deserves a lot of praise - he has just turned 23 and in his first season in a new club playing in a position that up to now he hasn't really played much in. He had a shocker of a day with the boot against Castres and he has come back really strong since then with the boot. He needs to be given a bit more time and experience.

The match v. Exeter really reminds me of the Leinster v. Harlequins bloodgate game when Leinster turned a corner. I think Munster are at a similar stage now on their journey. I just wouldn't write them off.

No they did not score 6 tries over in Castres. They lost 29-25 playing against 14 men for 45 mins.

[tomthefan]

In Carberry and Scannell Munster have the playmakers to cut teams open ...

It's not Carberry, nor Carbury, or even Cadbury, it's Carbery. C A R B E R Y. Commit that to memory now.