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

[Ruckedtobits]

No TBP could be big come last round.

Yep! would think if they lose to Clermont next week it's going to be tough.

Their display didn't deserve a bonus point and if they persist with JJ, there'll be very few in any game.

[munster#1]

Well again, a win is a win, and I’ll take that all day every day.

The conditions meant that a tbp was always going to be difficult, and the stop start nature of the game made it even harder.

On the positive note, the Munster pack stood up very well. Bar the first scrum where it was clear that Marler was boring in, the Munster scrum did well, and put the Quinn’s scrum under pressure.

The lineout was good, but could have been better with regards to the defensive lineout.
Breakdown was very good, and a different ref would have given Munster a better return for their effort.

What stands out most to me is Munster look calm. This is something that we haven’t seen for a while. They took everything that was thrown at them, and looked completely unfazed.

Again the young lads looked great. Healy and Casey were immense when they came on, and look every bit a HC standard partnership.
Coombes was very good again, and Josh Wycherley put in a great display in his first outing.

Munster are not the finished article, and are probably unlikely to win the HC this year, but there is clear improvement.

[MylesNaGapoleen]

thought munster were very poor against a weak quinns side.
I would sway towards starting healy instead of JJ next week. the latter looked low on confidence and when he missed that gimme before half time.....I was thinking, jayziz, a long night ahead for munster
munster will improve and we would all like to see the irish clubs doing well but connacht looked much more of a contender tonight...even though they lost to racing.

[dropkick]

I thought JJ was JJ. He made his usual mistakes but wasn't as bad as some comments I've seen. Healy should have started though as he is the form player and more suited to this level. JJ struggles kicking the ball from hand.


The game was scrappy but conditions were awful. Stander was quiet but himself and POM have had a heavy workload in the past few weeks. I thought one or both of POM and Stander should have been on the bench. Coombes with another well taken try from limited opportunity.


I thought the subs were good. Josh Wycherley looks better by the week. Big workrate, looks aggressive and very solid in the scrum. Firmly ahead of Loughman in my opinion now.


Beirne deserved motm. Showed off all his skill.

[munster#1]

I thought JJ was JJ. He made his usual mistakes but wasn't as bad as some comments I've seen. Healy should have started though as he is the form player and more suited to this level. JJ struggles kicking the ball from hand.


The game was scrappy but conditions were awful. Stander was quiet but himself and POM have had a heavy workload in the past few weeks. I thought one or both of POM and Stander should have been on the bench. Coombes with another well taken try from limited opportunity. .



I thought the subs were good. Josh Wycherley looks better by the week. Big workrate, looks aggressive and very solid in the scrum. Firmly ahead of Loughman in my opinion now.


Beirne deserved motm. Showed off all his skill.

It would be great to see Healy start, but I have a feeling that he may be out for a few weeks.
He looked in a lot of pain following the 2 late hits, and after the game he was unable to move his left arm

[dropkick]

I thought JJ was JJ. He made his usual mistakes but wasn't as bad as some comments I've seen. Healy should have started though as he is the form player and more suited to this level. JJ struggles kicking the ball from hand.


The game was scrappy but conditions were awful. Stander was quiet but himself and POM have had a heavy workload in the past few weeks. I thought one or both of POM and Stander should have been on the bench. Coombes with another well taken try from limited opportunity. .



I thought the subs were good. Josh Wycherley looks better by the week. Big workrate, looks aggressive and very solid in the scrum. Firmly ahead of Loughman in my opinion now.


Beirne deserved motm. Showed off all his skill.

It would be great to see Healy start, but I have a feeling that he may be out for a few weeks.
He looked in a lot of pain following the 2 late hits, and after the game he was unable to move his left arm

Would be a sickener for him to miss out because of those late hits. Dombrandt in particular went out to do some damage and Marler couldn't resist getting another hit in on sore ribs.

[OTT]

I actually thought Munster were pretty decent. I think they should have started the two young lads at half back because (A) it was the perfect match to do it and it would have rewarded their form (B) it was a chance to give Murray a break ahead of next week where I would 100% think he will be needed to start and (C) Healy imo should be the man in possession anyway because I think he has already proven in his limited number of games that he is already a better 10 than JJ (at 28 I don’t think we can still talk about Hanrahan’s potential as if it’s ever going to materialise, the bigger the game the flakier he appears), he is a better kicker (in game and from the tee), he is a better defender and he looks like he moves the backline at least as consistently as Hanrahan at this early stage. It would have given him a chance to play in a full team for an hour or whatever ahead of the big match next week that he has to start if Munster are to have a chance imo (high praise and pressure but I think he looks like he thrives on it).

Anyway, I think Munster have a chance this weekend Clermont were very good against Bristol but the match was like a game of 7’s. Munster are a lot more stingy this season where their defence has stood up very well so far. One of the games of the weekend to look forward to.

[hugonaut]

I actually thought Munster were pretty decent. I think they should have started the two young lads at half back because (A) it was the perfect match to do it and it would have rewarded their form (B) it was a chance to give Murray a break ahead of next week where I would 100% think he will be needed to start and (C) Healy imo should be the man in possession anyway because I think he has already proven in his limited number of games that he is already a better 10 than JJ (at 28 I don’t think we can still talk about Hanrahan’s potential as if it’s ever going to materialise, the bigger the game the flakier he appears), he is a better kicker (in game and from the tee), he is a better defender and he looks like he moves the backline at least as consistently as Hanrahan at this early stage. It would have given him a chance to play in a full team for an hour or whatever ahead of the big match next week that he has to start if Munster are to have a chance imo (high praise and pressure but I think he looks like he thrives on it).

Anyway, I think Munster have a chance this weekend Clermont were very good against Bristol but the match was like a game of 7’s. Munster are a lot more stingy this season where their defence has stood up very well so far. One of the games of the weekend to look forward to.

They played some good rugby in the first half while at the same time they looking a little blunt. I was surprised that they weren't able to use their possession to establish better position more often – their lineout maul is always potent, and it seemed like it would have been an appropriate tactic, given the weather conditions.

Kevin O'Byrne struggled in this one, having looked very impressive week-in, week-out in the league. The pace of the defense was much faster than it had been in previous matches and he wasn't able to play the midfield distributor as he has been doing recently.

I was impressed with the second row pairing. Obviously Beirne had a stand-out game, but I thought Kleyn had one of the better all-round performances of his Munster career. He has been a terrible handler for most of career, but he had a nice grab and a couple of well-weighted passes. It's always good to see a player improve on a weakness mid-career.

Conway's missed tackle for the Harlequins try was dreadful. After doing well immediately after the restart, he has looked a long way from form over the last month or so. Munster might be better served by bringing in Darren Sweetnam instead of him; Sweetnam has lovely balance and always looks like he has time and options when he has the ball.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Agreed on Kleyn, he did play well. I've seen Murray criticised a lot but I thought he played well too. He's picking out some lovely passes when he has two or three options and is also looking to break again. Still not at his best but I think the signs are encouraging. Casey was superb when he came on though and deserves lot of game time.

I said recently that Munster looked to be moving in the right direction but that the real test would be in big games when JVG either trusted Larkham and the players or he reverted to type. I was thinking of the knockout stages though, didn't think he'd tighten up at home to Quins! Conditions were difficult but I don't think that's an excuse and you could see the difference Healy made when he came on. JJ had a mare in terms of errors and I thought he played a bit like Ross Byrne had done for Ireland except he actually had a platform to do much better.

[munster#1]

Agreed on Kleyn, he did play well. I've seen Murray criticised a lot but I thought he played well too. He's picking out some lovely passes when he has two or three options and is also looking to break again. Still not at his best but I think the signs are encouraging. Casey was superb when he came on though and deserves lot of game time.

I said recently that Munster looked to be moving in the right direction but that the real test would be in big games when JVG either trusted Larkham and the players or he reverted to type. I was thinking of the knockout stages though, didn't think he'd tighten up at home to Quins! Conditions were difficult but I don't think that's an excuse and you could see the difference Healy made when he came on. JJ had a mare in terms of errors and I thought he played a bit like Ross Byrne had done for Ireland except he actually had a platform to do much better.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying.
You can definitely see why Leo was so eager to sign Casey, as he looks to be a top prospect.

I haven’t seen Murray criticised, but if he has been, it is very much in warranted.
I thought he played very well. As you said, his decision making was very good, and given how poor the conditions were, and how difficult Quins made life at the breakdown, it would be mad to say he was poor.

On the style of play, Quins made it difficult. They put Munster under good pressure, add to that the conditions and the very stop start nature of the game, it made it difficult to build any real momentum.
Munster are far from ready to take on the likes of Saracens, but are going in the right direction.

[brenno]

The42.ie suggesting that Glasgow now more likely to go after Ben Healy after losing Adam Hastings to Gloucester next year. More money and being fast tracked into the Scotland squad the carrots being dangled.

[brenno]

Ar risk of criticising he who must never be criticised, though Stander was poor v Quins, never seemed to get into the game, made the usual charges into the opposition to nil effect and overall was completely overshadowed by Coombes

[munster#1]

The42.ie suggesting that Glasgow now more likely to go after Ben Healy after losing Adam Hastings to Gloucester next year. More money and being fast tracked into the Scotland squad the carrots being dangled.

I can’t see Healy moving to be honest, but that is just based on gut feeling.
At his age and stage of development, I think it might be too early to declare for another country.

It is now up to the IRFU to get the chequebook out, but I do worry about the ripple effect.

[munster#1]

Ar risk of criticising he who must never be criticised, though Stander was poor v Quins, never seemed to get into the game, made the usual charges into the opposition to nil effect and overall was completely overshadowed by Coombes

Nobody should be above criticism.

Stander had a quiet game by his standards, but I don’t think he was necessarily poor, but he may have been feeling the after effects of a heavy workload over the last few weeks.

As you say, Coombes was yet again very good.

[fourthirtythree]

CJ has had three quiet games in a row, and it wasn't because he was playing six. So have a few Irish players.hes normally a big match player so you could forgive a couple of those.

I missed the last part of the.match, so I didn't see him play at the werkend but unlike most here I'm fully on board the Healy hype train. Would have started him. Also on board for Coombes but he was started. Josh Wycherley too (less so his big brother, not sure he can be an Irish lock and there are better prospects coming up behind). Not sure about Casey, probably not fair as I just think if he was in Connacht he'd be just another talented young scrum half who might be excellent at a young age and never get much by way of a sniff at a cap.

A lot of Irish players were in decent form at the beginning of the year and lost it for the restart, many are getting back. Conway isn't for whatever reason. Cian had lost his place to Kilcoyne and I don't think he's got any form for a good while now. Normally Leinster are set to peak late in the season (the restart did NOT suit us) but I wonder might we be further along now than we would normally be at round one of the ERC. With the caveat that the Irish players look burnt rather than undercooked.

[dropkick]

Healy misses the Clermont game with a shoulder injury. Disgraceful stuff from Quins.

[Dave Cahill]

Hosea 8:7

[MylesNaGapoleen]

Healy misses the Clermont game with a shoulder injury. Disgraceful stuff from Quins.

have to say, the hits he got in the quinns game were clearly illegal but they weren't the worst late hits I've seen. johnny has taken much bigger hits in his day.
that said, healy is a talent and I hope he recovers soon. I see cipriani has left his club...off to munster maybe?

[Oldschoolsocks]

Healy misses the Clermont game with a shoulder injury. Disgraceful stuff from Quins.

have to say, the hits he got in the quinns game were clearly illegal but they weren't the worst late hits I've seen. johnny has taken much bigger hits in his day.
that said, healy is a talent and I hope he recovers soon. I see cipriani has left his club...off to munster maybe?

2 year medical joker?

[hugonaut]

Healy misses the Clermont game with a shoulder injury. Disgraceful stuff from Quins.

have to say, the hits he got in the quinns game were clearly illegal but they weren't the worst late hits I've seen. johnny has taken much bigger hits in his day.
that said, healy is a talent and I hope he recovers soon. I see cipriani has left his club...off to munster maybe?

The Dombrandt one was very, very hard. It looked to me as if he tucked his left [leading] elbow in to make it a shoulder charge. He briefly put his right hand on Healy, but you couldn't argue in good faith that he made an attempt to wrap his arms in the tackle. Plus it was late.

The Marler one was absolutely run of the mill. Definitely a penalty, but that's it, in most circumstances. In pro rugby terms, it's not a hard hit.

I think the ref got both calls right.

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 3756553221