The Province Formerly Known As Munster 2018-19

[blockhead]

Of Munster 1st team squad on their official web-site they have 47 players listed. Of the 47, a whopping 20 are not from Munster.

Rumour has it that POM was born in the Coombe.

[tomthefan]

8 out of 15 starters not from Munster, another 4 non-munster on the bench. Its a team but its not a Provincial team, funny but also quite sad to see how the boastful have fallen.

blublu likes his team to be purebred, same way he likes his dogs.

[suisse]

Oh man, that "Munster" team

To the brave and the faithful, nothing is local.

A Munster fan or national journalist has no right ever to complain about French clubs again. Can you imagine if this was the Leinster situation? They'd rip us to shreds.

I don't expect OTB or any other show to discuss this. As Donal Lenihan discovered, offering a negative opinion on Munster will see your reputation destroyed. Better to have Joe Molloy reading out positive quotes or Woody harping on about the old days.

[tomthefan]

Suisse and blueblue, can ye not do better than this? It's desperate.

[johng]

Breaking news. Someone has broken into the Munster trophy room and stolen everything.

Gardai are looking for a man carrying a bright red carpet.

That more like it?

[tomthefan]

Much better john, which isn't saying much to be fair

[Oldschool]

Munster going well against the hairsprays.
G
Joe gets a try on his debut(that's starting).

[Blueberry]

Good to see Joey O'MacCarvery tearing it up for the Leinster B's in RDS south v the hairsprays tonite, will be a true ligind by season end...

On a serious note....

Not quite sure how the average thomond park die hard can look themselves in the mirror at the moment without a little pang of regret is beyond me.....really not comfortable with it myself and feeling the whole thing is a touch of a sham.

[tomthefan]

Let me see if I can help you with that.
Remember when man utd signed Wayne Rooney
From Everton? That's how it feels.
You remember signing Henshaw surely?
And Mike Ross? And Sean Cronin? And Eoin Reddan?
It's only since you've had a good crop of players coming through at home that you've gone for this racial purity angle and even with that you're not above having a couple of niqs.

[Oldschool]

Let me see if I can help you with that.
Remember when man utd signed Wayne Rooney
From Everton? That's how it feels.
You remember signing Henshaw surely?
And Mike Ross? And Sean Cronin? And Eoin Reddan?
It's only since you've had a good crop of players coming through at home that you've gone for this racial purity angle and even with that you're not above having a couple of niqs.

Ross was capped for Ireland while playing in the English Premier League and before signing for Leinster. Leinster were forced to sign him because Munster didn't need him(maybe he didn't want to go there). Ditto Reddan.
Ergo neither were Munster players so you wouldn't know what it feels like.
Cronin probably wasn't needed by Munster but he didn't come to us as first choice, he had to establish himself.
Munster dregs were dumped on Leinster regularly in the guise of we're helping Leinster out (Greeks bearing gifts comes to mind)

[tomthefan]

Well, Snap!, in the case of our Leinster imports, Beirne was playing in Wales, Keatley was playing in Connacht and Conway was someone you probably didn't want.
Only Carbery did you want to keep. You should maybe ask your Connacht friends for advice on coping with that.

(We'd quite like to have kept Donnacha Ryan btw but the IRFU weren't bothered enough about our desires in that case.)

[Blueberry]

Look if you are happy with the current Munster setup fine.....as a Leinster and Ireland fan I am not, trying to compare the odd former Munster player who has played for Leinster and our handful of significant NIQ's in recent years to the current Munster squad to me looks daft, denial in fact. I have consistently said Irish rugby needs a strong Munster with mainly Munster players supplemented by NIQ's. Anyway good luck.....

[Logorrhea]

(We'd quite like to have kept Donnacha Ryan btw but the IRFU weren't bothered enough about our desires in that case.)

Neither was he actually.

Joke of a club.

[Oldschoolsocks]

(We'd quite like to have kept Donnacha Ryan btw but the IRFU weren't bothered enough about our desires in that case.)

Neither was he actually.

Joke of a club.

PMRM

[ronk]

Let me see if I can help you with that.
Remember when man utd signed Wayne Rooney
From Everton? That's how it feels.
You remember signing Henshaw surely?
And Mike Ross? And Sean Cronin? And Eoin Reddan?
It's only since you've had a good crop of players coming through at home that you've gone for this racial purity angle and even with that you're not above having a couple of niqs.

We’ve had good crops coming for over 10 years with a brief MOC interruption.

Munster had one generation almost 20 years ago due to a one-off professionalism disruption and have regressed in the last few years. They started producing players and then gave up once Nucifora pivoted from stocking Connacht.

Ross, Reddan and Cronin were talented players who fell through the cracks of bad development. That happened to us too with Beirne, which is why a big deal wasn’t made about him going to Munster.

[blockhead]

(We'd quite like to have kept Donnacha Ryan btw but the IRFU weren't bothered enough about our desires in that case.)

Neither was he actually.

Joke of a club.

PMRM

?
Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Media

[blockhead]

John Ryan picked up a knee injury last night, could be out for a bit.
Furlong is a farmer isn't he?
Is Porter more Beamish than Guinness?

[tomthefan]

Munster had one generation almost 20 years ago due to a one-off professionalism disruption.

Of the space time continuum no doubt

[Oldschoolsocks]

(We'd quite like to have kept Donnacha Ryan btw but the IRFU weren't bothered enough about our desires in that case.)

Neither was he actually.

Joke of a club.

PMRM

?
Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Media

a real rugby bloke would get it

[dropkick]

. I have consistently said Irish rugby needs a strong Munster with mainly Munster players supplemented by NIQ's. Anyway good luck.....

If you look at the Munster squad, it looks healthy with players 26 years old or under and there are few over 30s in the squad these days. A few years back you had an ageing squad of over 30s with a major shortage of youth coming through because the academy was producing almost nothing.


Now the academy is producing but the successful generation have gone with only Billy Holland remaining.


So all the signings from outside Munster are plugging the gaps because the academy underperformed 8 to 13 years ago. The current academy is starting to produce a steady stream of talent - although it can and should always be improving.


That's basically it. Anyone complaining about Munster signing so many non Munster men should send a letter back to 2007. I was saying it years ago but my views didn't go down too well on Munsterfans. At the time Munster were resting on their laurels.


Ulster are in a similar situation. They'd a lot of retirements in recent years and basically have to build a new squad of players up again. They've finally some players coming through their academy but because it wasn't performing for so many years, they need to plug the gaps with outsiders.