Munster Rugby - Semi Conscious, the Series Finale??? - 2020/21

[ronk]

Hard to tell if he's developing as opposed to just managing without internationals.

Healy has been picked since his match winning kick. So it could be he's won the jersey as opposed to being developed.

[hugonaut]

14 starters came through the academy. JVG has gone from being very conservative on selections to being very brave this season. Must have got a bang on the head (from Nucifora).


Josh Wycherley to make his debut. I'll be watching his progress with interest from an ireland point of view too. We need the likes of him and Milne to progress. Long way to go of course.


Coombes at 8 is another one. He can lay down a marker in that position. Hodnett gets another chance.


Good to see Healy retained ahead of JJ. They need to give him as many minutes as possible to help him progress. With teams kicking more these days, his long kicks are a serious territory gainer. Casey starting will help him too.


Goggin makes a welcome return. Not much between him and Farrell imo. I would like to see him team up with de Allende.

Looking forward to seeing how this selection performs. Interesting to see Coombes selected at No8 ahead of Jack O'Sullivan - Coombes has loads of physical strength and is a big, bullying player, but does he have the handling, fitness and game awareness to play No8 well? I had him pegged for a blindside.

It'd be a midget pack without him in it though. That is, with no exaggeration, the shortest second row I have ever seen a professional team field: Wycherley at 193cm [6'4"] and Holland at 191cm [6"3]. It would have been a short second row combination forty years ago.

[dropkick]

14 starters came through the academy. JVG has gone from being very conservative on selections to being very brave this season. Must have got a bang on the head (from Nucifora).


Josh Wycherley to make his debut. I'll be watching his progress with interest from an ireland point of view too. We need the likes of him and Milne to progress. Long way to go of course.


Coombes at 8 is another one. He can lay down a marker in that position. Hodnett gets another chance.


Good to see Healy retained ahead of JJ. They need to give him as many minutes as possible to help him progress. With teams kicking more these days, his long kicks are a serious territory gainer. Casey starting will help him too.


Goggin makes a welcome return. Not much between him and Farrell imo. I would like to see him team up with de Allende.

Looking forward to seeing how this selection performs. Interesting to see Coombes selected at No8 ahead of Jack O'Sullivan - Coombes has loads of physical strength and is a big, bullying player, but does he have the handling, fitness and game awareness to play No8 well? I had him pegged for a blindside.

It'd be a midget pack without him in it though. That is, with no exaggeration, the shortest second row I have ever seen a professional team field: Wycherley at 193cm [6'4"] and Holland at 191cm [6"3]. It would have been a short second row combination forty years ago.

Coombes has the handling and awareness. He even puts the odd kick in behind the defence. It might take him a few games to get used to playing 8 though. Fitness could be the reason why he rarely starts or maybe they're taking their time with him. He turns 23 in December, same with Wycherley.


The second row is small alright. It's a bit odd having a second row and 10 the same height. KOB will be under pressure with his darts although Coombes and JOD are also options.

[fourthirtythree]

Exciting selection. Josh was excellent in the u20 matches I saw him in and Ireland have suddenly gone threadbare at LH.

Looking forward to this with my Irish goggles on.

[deco]

After living off a stolen English lineout ball for years, I wonder will Peter O'Mahoney get a few more years in an Ireland shirt because he passed the ball against Italy on Saturday.

[mildlyinterested]

After living off a stolen English lineout ball for years, I wonder will Peter O'Mahoney get a few more years in an Ireland shirt because he passed the ball against Italy on Saturday.

[fourthirtythree]

I thought the play leading up to Johnny going over was the pick on Saturday. Great steal, passing , couple of offloads, then a monster carry from Stander, excellent from the ruck by Murray, great footwork by Doris, excellent again by Murray and in for Sexton. Quality play all around, three spot on interventions from Murray, great ball presentation and interplay forwards and backs.

[munster#1]

Very enjoyable victory tonight.
Not a flawless performance by any stretch of the imagination, but it was great to see so many of the fringe players perform so well.

Coombes was brilliant, and it was not one bit evident that he is so inexperienced at this level.
The half backs, in particular Casey were excellent.

I am excited to see how Hodnett develops. He looks like he could be a real gem.

[Ruckedtobits]

Impressive display by Coombes who looked comfortable at this level. Hodnett also looked good with real pace and good hands. Hooker is also a good ball player but Dan Goggins looks like he is a front-row understudy and mid-field defence was very porous.

Difficulty getting space for grubber kicks which were usually played too late and were blocked which can be dangerous and hard to recover.

First real signs of Larkham coaching effect with some of the handling.

[mildlyinterested]

great to see Coombes given a chance at 8.. why Arno Botha was playing ahead of him...

same with Hodnett, bar injury/rest there should be no situation where Cloete or TOD are playing ahead of him.

[munster#1]

great to see Coombes given a chance at 8.. why Arno Botha was playing ahead of him...

same with Hodnett, bar injury/rest there should be no situation where Cloete or TOD are playing ahead of him.

In all fairness, Botha was a very good player for Munster.

Coombes is still only 22 and has made 18 appearances, which is not a bad figure for a forward of his age.
What has probably went against Coombes is that his true position has not yet been established.

At 6’6” he has seen himself shift between lock and back row, which is great to develop as a bench option, but slows development in general, as you don’t get the opportunity to learn one position week in week out.
On last nights evidence I would love to see him used at 8 over the next few weeks to see if he can build on that performance.

Additionally, a special mention has to go to JOD, he has been very good over the last few weeks.
Injury has really hampered his development, but if he can stay fit, and keep playing at this level, the an Ireland call up can’t be too far away.

[mildlyinterested]

Coombes isn't 6'6.

it doesn't matter that botha was good for munster, he was blocking young talented munster backrowers from playing. thankfully he is gone.

[munster#1]

Coombes isn't 6'6.

it doesn't matter that botha was good for munster, he was blocking young talented munster backrowers from playing. thankfully he is gone.

Well that is the height that he is officially listed as, you may be into conspiracy theories, but as I have not stood beside him with a measuring tape, I will go with the height provided by Munster and the IRFU.
This is of course irrelevant, as it doesn’t change the fact that he has being shifted between lock and backrow.

On the blocking of players, the same could be said for any NIQ with any team, this could also be stretched to any squad player not deemed good enough to be ever considered first choice, but I’m sure you understand why the 4 franchises or any other club sign such players?

[OTT]

Enjoyed that game, both teams played some great stuff. Thought JOD, KOB and Coombes as others have said were all very good. A BP win for Munster and they did it with a a couple of kids at half back and a few more young guys sprinkled through the team and on the bench. Fair play.

[Blueberry]

Much better from our red cousins, key period coming up for them now over the next couple of seasons. Back youth and home grown talent or keep filling gaps etc with saffers and Leinster borrowings....it is going to take a couple of season of them unwinding the current mess to fix the problem and we will see how serious they are about it. However one lesson I hope is being learnt, that young players won't get better if they are warming the academy benches while watching Carbery and a hat full of saffers.

Nucifora can help here by restricting what Munster do in the next couple of seasons forcing their hand to back local youth. They need to wind back their playing roster in terms of overseas and other imports.

While the entire thing seems to obvious to me that I seriously wonder about what the f**k goes on in IRFU towers. Leinster's production line has papered over the bad management of Munster resources by Munster themselves with IRFU assistance.

If Munster can bring through even 35% of the talent Leinster bring through it can only bode well for Leinster and Irish rugby too as it will allow Leinster to make their decision entirely on which players to release and give Ireland a bigger pool of players.

Fingers crossed they are seeing the light.......

[backrower8]

If Munster can bring through even 35% of the talent Leinster bring through it can only bode well for Leinster and Irish rugby too as it will allow Leinster to make their decision entirely on which players to release and give Ireland a bigger pool of players.

Fingers crossed they are seeing the light.......

Same can be said of Ulster.

I think that Casey has been very overhyped to date. A good pass without doubt. The rest is yet to be proven. Not impressed with how loud he is or his arm waving. Nick McCarthy should have got more than 8 minutes. He would be better-off back in Leinster as third choice #9 at a better structured team than being left to rot behind the over-hyped Casey. He would get more minutes at the very least.

[Blueberry]

If Munster can bring through even 35% of the talent Leinster bring through it can only bode well for Leinster and Irish rugby too as it will allow Leinster to make their decision entirely on which players to release and give Ireland a bigger pool of players.

Fingers crossed they are seeing the light.......

Same can be said of Ulster.

I think that Casey has been very overhyped to date. A good pass without doubt. The rest is yet to be proven. Not impressed with how loud he is or his arm waving. Nick McCarthy should have got more than 8 minutes. He would be better-off back in Leinster as third choice #9 at a better structured team than being left to rot behind the over-hyped Casey. He would get more minutes at the very least.

Don't disagree re Ulster, very similar problem alright.

[hugonaut]

Much better from our red cousins, key period coming up for them now over the next couple of seasons. Back youth and home grown talent or keep filling gaps etc with saffers and Leinster borrowings....it is going to take a couple of season of them unwinding the current mess to fix the problem and we will see how serious they are about it. However one lesson I hope is being learnt, that young players won't get better if they are warming the academy benches while watching Carbery and a hat full of saffers.

Nucifora can help here by restricting what Munster do in the next couple of seasons forcing their hand to back local youth. They need to wind back their playing roster in terms of overseas and other imports.

While the entire thing seems to obvious to me that I seriously wonder about what the f**k goes on in IRFU towers. Leinster's production line has papered over the bad management of Munster resources by Munster themselves with IRFU assistance.

If Munster can bring through even 35% of the talent Leinster bring through it can only bode well for Leinster and Irish rugby too as it will allow Leinster to make their decision entirely on which players to release and give Ireland a bigger pool of players.

Fingers crossed they are seeing the light.......

I thought it was a really enjoyable match. Some good performances from individuals on both sides, but Munster were certainly deserving winners.

This was the first game where I could see significant evidence of Larkham's coaching fingerprints, and it made for a much more dangerous [and more entertaining] Munster attack. They still had some great mauls and some hardy pick-and-goes, but their passing standards and spatial awareness have improved an awful lot.

The selection was interesting in its own right and panned out very well – I was focussing on Coombes and Hodnett, and I thought that both had very good games. Nash was sharp too and you'd be going a long way out of your way to find a Munster player who played poorly on the night. I thought Coombes deserved MOTM, but O'Donoghue certainly held up his end. Kevin O'Beirne was playing like a fat Pirlo; his distribution in midfield was really noteworthy.

Hopefully Tom Ahern and Jack Crowley get a selection push before Christmas; I can't think of any two more talented prospects that Munster have sent to the Irish U20s in the last decade.

[mildlyinterested]

I'd like to see Jake Flannery at 15 too.

Dunno where JOS has been.

[fourthirtythree]

Really enjoyed that! Must have been a great pleasure for Munster fans. Lots of offloads, lots of forwards getting the hands on the ball. Really enjoyed Coombes, O'Beirne (best hands on the pitch!), Hornet, and Healy.

Get on the young local players hype train.