Munster Rugby 2012-13

Its hard to think that Harlequins won't make mince meat of Munster up front. They are having a bit of a wobble but they were a bit unlucky with a knock on decision going against them which prevented a try which would have put them out of sight away to Gloucester last Friday.

Zebo being back would really help Munster and give them a bit of unpredictability in the backline, I'd imagine they'll be living off scraps though.

You have to think that O'Shea will have a game plan that will shut down the threat of Zebo to a large extent, I know there is the element of unpredictability but if the ball isn't getting as far as him there won't be much he can do.

Nagle- one year extension
Dineen has signed on for a further two.
Scrum-half Cathal Sheridan moves from a Development to a full one year contract
Barry O'Mahony extends his Development Contract for another season.

Sean Scanlon moves after agreeing terms with Rotherham Titans.

developement contracts for season 2013/14.
Academy players Cian Bohane (centre/wing),
Duncan Casey (hooker),
James Cronin (prop),
Ronan O'Mahony (wing)
Niall Scannell (hooker)

Whiff of Cordite's summary of Munster going into the H Cup game well worth reading!

Munster’s Mission (Virtually) Impossible

April 30th, 2011. Amlin Challenge Cup, semi-final, Munster vs Harlequins, Thomond Park.

Munster had just come through a joyous quarter final in Brive and had juggernaut-esque smoke coming off them. The woeful efforts away to London Irish, the Ospreys and Toulon earlier in the season were forgotten, and the hubris of 2009 was present in the pre-game description of Quins as “a middling side from an average league”.

In the event, Quins battered Munster in the first half, and were unfortunate to go in only 7 points ahead. They withstood the expected onslaught to prevail 20-12. The lineups that day were:

Munster: Jones; Howlett, Mafi, Warwick, Earls; O’Gara, Murray; du Preez, Varley, Buckley; O’Callaghan, O’Driscoll; Leamy, Wallace, Coughlan. Subs: Sherry, Horan, Hayes, O’Connell, Ryan, Stringer, Tuitupou, Murphy

Harlequins: Brown; Camacho, Lowe, Ooooooooooh Turner-Hall, Monye; Evans, Care; Marler, Gray, Johnston; Kohn, Robson; Fa’asavalu, Robshaw, Easter. Subs: Cairns, Jones, Lambert, Vallejos, Skinner, Moore, Clegg, Chisholm.

The Munster line-up, and particularly the bench, was ligind-tastic, and Munster had only one defeat in European rugby in Thomond Park at that stage, to an Iain Humphreys’-led Leicester side in 2007, when the Liginds were already-qualified. That renowned Munster-hater/non-homer (delete as appropriate) Romaine Poite in charge in the middle.

The final scoreline was genuinely surprising – no-one thought Quins had the poise at that stage in their development to sack fortress Thomond, despite Munster having started something of a rebuild three months earlier. That they did with ease raised quite a few eyebrows on both sides of the Irish Sea, and was an early harbinger of the fortunes of both sides in the interim.

Since then, Quins have gone on to lift the Amlin Cup (in most fortuitous style, robbing Stade Francais blind in the Cardiff City Stadium), then followed that up with a Premiership win – they started like a train during the World Cup, wobbled a bit, then finished very strongly to beat Leciester in a riveting final. In Europe last year, they bottled it in Galway to leave a not-so-rampant Toulouse to lose limply to Embra in the quarters.This season, they cruised through a weak pool (Biarritz, Connacht, Zebre) to qualify as number one seeds for the quarters.

As for Munster, they lifted that years’ Magners League with a win over a shagged-out Leinster in Thomond Park. The emotional public farewell to Paul Derbyshire that day will not be forgotten by anyone who missed it. The following year, they won all six games in a powdery pool, but were disposed of in their citadel by an Ulster side that tackled everything that moved and took their scores, but were by no means a superpower. It was like Ireland’s defeat in Murrayfield this year, with the scoring sequences reversed.

That they got thrashed by the Ospreys in the Pro12 semi-final merely completed the unhappy end to the unhappy Tony McGahan era. Munster fans were glad to see him go, and this year was hoped to be something of a new dawn. Sadly, Munster look, if anything, even more muddled then they did 12 months ago – the desire to play a more expansive game, with forwards carrying and offloading, clashes with an ideology married to muck and bullets, grinding forward play and trench warfare. The players have got more and more confused as time has gone on this season, and their lamentable effort in their 50-burger against Glasgow the other night was hapless at best.

If one looks at the Munster side today, it’s one that is two years into the transition started after the Toulon defeat, but it doesn’t look much better, not yet anyway. The arrival of BJ Botha and the graduation of Donnacha Ryan to the first team means the tight five is probably stronger now, but the Paul O’Connell shaped-hole at the centre of the pack still needs a (fully fit) Paul O’Connell shaped-solution. The back-row is the area of the biggest change, and specifically the flanks. Peter O’Mahony is a fine and talented player, but as a Heineken Cup-level blindside, even a Denis Leamy in the twilight of his too-short career is still a better option, and David Wallace over Tommy O’Donnell/Niall Ronan is a no-brainer. The lack of brawn in the current Munster edition is probably best-illustrated by the change on the flanks – at least if Leamy and Wallace felt like resorting to rumbling, they had the beef and skills to do it, but O’Mahony and O’Donnell, at this end of their careers, rarely dominate games.

In the halves, Conor Murray has matured from Academy graduate to a fine player, and is now undisputed Ireland starter. He still seems to play a little too much to instruction, carrying a lot last year, and box-kicking too much in this years Six Nations. In time, he will grow the experience and confidence to run a game as he sees it. If Ronan O’Gara regains the 10 shirt, it will be to the groans of many Munster fans – Father Time has finally caught up with him, and, as with Ireland, he is playing himself out of the team rapidly. So Murray/Keatley – promising, but down a level on Murray/O’Gara from 2 years ago.

Further out, Munster are fairly similar – Downey/Laulala is a solid centre partnership with a hint of creativity, rather like Warwick/Mafi was, but with the invention outside instead of in. The back three is almost the same, but given Earls is getting over injuries and has zero form, plus Howlett getting on a bit, they are dying out for Simon Zebo to return.

So Munster are a clear level down on the team that lost two years ago, and still very much a work in progress. What of Harlequins? The team that lined out at Saracens last weekend had 11 of the starters, and the exact same spine of Brown, Turner-Hall, Evans, Care, Easter, Robshaw, Robson, Johnston and Marler. Two years on, the team is familiar with silverware and is now confident and experienced.

If the graphs of the two sides were level at the last meeting (which is generous to the Irish side), they have diverged dramatically since. It will take a massive reversal of form and class for Munster to prevail, and it might even be their best European result of all time. Quins have lost three games on the bounce, but only against Saracens were they at full-strength, and there is no disgrace in that. Munster’s recent form is particularly alarming, with recent thrashings handed out by Treviso and, most recently, Galsgow. Up until now, most of the focus has been on Munster’s inability to meet the demands of Penney’s wide-wide attacking game, suddenly they look on the point of giving up, with marshmallow tackling and atrocious linespeed highly conspicuous.

If it weren’t for the suspicion that Munster simply won’t roll over and die, this game has all the appearances of a turkey-shoot – but surely Munster will actually tackle in this match, and will be awoken from their tailspin by the threat of humiliation. If not, it’s truly time to take out the rosary beads.

Nagle- one year extension (dumb. He should leave and go somewhere he can get 15-20 games a season.)

Dineen has signed on for a further two. (fair play for getting another contract out of Munster)

Scrum-half Cathal Sheridan moves from a Development to a full one year contract (Well deserved)

Barry O'Mahony extends his Development Contract for another season. (can't believe they only gave him another development and not a full one)

They have 3 opensides contracted already and pom who can also play there. Hes highly regarded by munster supporters as a natural furraging and athletic 7 but he is an out and out 7 when squad players need to be more flexible. Afaik his size negates against him also similar to faloon when at ulster.

I see your point but I'd rather have an out and out 7 rather palying there than a bunch of 61/2's like POM and TOD. Dougall after a great start hasn't kicked on and you'd wonder how much time is left on Ronan's clock.

Dougall has had couple of injuries. Id actually like to see pom at 7 and tod at 6.

Its not going to happen on sunday anyway. Team is keats, zebo, downey, lll, jones, rog, murray, cawlin, tod, pom, ryan, poc, bj, sherry and killer. Subs- varley, wian, archer, doc, butler, sheridan, jj and murphy.

Dougie injured himself in training aparently.

keats, zebo, downey, lll, jones, rog, murray,

The moment u start trusting a source it lets u down.
Hurley on wing for dougie. Jones at fb and keats on bench. I think i prefered theother team.

I guess with the loss of Toyota they might not be in a position to know how much cash they'll have next year for contracts.

Afaik he missed 2 seasons in total tru injury though.

A guy I work with from Limerick was just saying to me that Munster have laid off a whole load of back room staff because they're skint. I think he said 50, but that can't be right?

RonanL wrote: A guy I work with from Limerick was just saying to me that Munster have laid off a whole load of back room staff because they're skint. I think he said 50, but that can't be right?