munster#1 wrote: ↑September 9th, 2020, 11:46 pm
alanair wrote: ↑September 9th, 2020, 11:05 pm
munster#1 wrote: ↑September 8th, 2020, 3:55 pm
Jerry Flannery was interviewed recently on leaving Munster, and he went into the reasoning behind Munster struggling to win a HC.
I think they made 3 semi finals in his time as coach, and he is quoted as saying that a team needs 8 or 9 starting internationals to win a HC, and Munster has 4.
By that metric, you would have to review the players leaving and consider what is coming behind them.
Disclaimer: not saying that this metric is 100% accurate, and I have not researched to see if it is actually the case with past winners.
Mmm... and there was I thinking the subject was ‘Replacing LEINSTER’S older generation over next 12 to 24 months’
Maybe I was wrong
I suspect that you missed the point on this one?
Not surprised.
The rule, if you want to call it that, applies to all teams.
In this case I think it is an apt point.
No matter who Leinster lose over the next 12-24 months, as long as they still have a core group of starting internationals, then they should still be capable of winning HC’s.
If they lose lots of internationals and replace them with squad players, or players outside the international group then they may struggle.
I have heard this 9 starting international players mantra from various ex-Munster players now, and I am not fully convinced by it.
Having a high proportion of
starting internationals can be disruptive to a squad and continuity over a season.
Obviously, the more top standard players you have, the better. But, ideally, there would be some world class players, who are not distracted by international rugby. Toulon took that model to the extreme; but Munster missed a trick by giving Snyman and De Allende international carte blanche.
For Leinster, when we made our breakthrough, I think you could argue that it was - in part - facilitated by us having a core of international standard players who were being overlooked for the national team (depending on which season, Heaslip, Healy, Jennings, Cullen, Fitzgerald), as well as international quality foreigners who didn't play much international rugby (depending on which season, Le Roux, Contepomi, Rocky, Nacewa, Whittaker, Wright).
For our current squad, and the impact of replacing the older generation, loosehead and wing/full back are the main places where we look to have possible gaps. Maybe Byrne and Dooley will more consistently step up to the potential they have shown in the past, but that is the main spot where I think we may need to recruit to fill a gap.