Munster Thread 2011-2012

[Oldschool]

Anyway guys what's your read on where the Scarlets games can/will be won or lost. And Bonus point gained or conceded.
1. Unforced errors.
2. Discipline - Who's the ref?
3. Scrum
4. Lineout
5. Breakdown.
6. Forwards
7. Half Backs
8. Backs
9. Bench
9. Last but not least - Injuries

[ceemec]

Anyway guys what's your read on where the Scarlets games can/will be won or lost. And Bonus point gained or conceded.
1. Unforced errors.
2. Discipline - Who's the ref?
3. Scrum
4. Lineout
5. Breakdown.
6. Forwards
7. Half Backs
8. Backs
9. Bench
9. Last but not least - Injuries

Worst case scenario for Munster is losing with a BP.

1. Unforced errors. Both sides are capable of producing these but Scarlets are far better at capitalising. Therefore I expect the ball will very rarely move beyond 10 for Munster with the pack and the set piece running the show thereby eliminating their error count.
2. Poite is the ref. As we all know, he rewards the scrum moving forward. Munster will be moving forward. Munster will earn penalties at the scrum. Regarding the breakdown, Munster have plenty of experience with Poite. They've been reffed by him 3 times in the HEC in the last 2 years. Scarlets haven't had him for several years so almost none of their players will have experienced him.
3. Munster will have the ascendancy. Scarlets "coped" with Northampton's cheating by cheating themselves and trying every awkward bind in the book to barely survive. Botha will beat them fair and square and they'll struggle.
4. If Varley can perform, serious advantage to Munster. There's a massive disparity in the quality of the respective jumpers. Scarlets line out is a shambles. They lost 5 on their own throw against Northampton. POC should have a field day.
5. Close but whoever plays Poite better will profit. Scarlets have a mediocre back row. Munster have an above average one. Keep their heads and they'll be fine. They also have better depth in the back row and I think their centres are going to be used to clear out as much as in the midfield.
6. No comparison. Munster.
7. Even but it will depend on if Scarlets can get decent ball and what Munster decide to do with their ball.
8. Scarlets but they'll be nullified if they don't have the ball. They're not good enough to beat a side with 20% of possession. Munster won't be bringing their back three into it much at all I would think.
9. Munster obviously far more affected. I think Scarlets will be full strength but the important thing is where the injuries are. Packs win games. Munster have, minus Wallace, their most aggressive and physical pack available.

Munster to either squeak a win or, if they play stupid tactics, lose with a BP. They'll win and deny Scarlets a BP in Thomond putting them even. I can see them getting taking the necessary points from the last two games to top the pool.

[hugonaut]

Darragh Hurley out for another three months with a disc injury.

[source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_u ... 036956.stm ]

This lad should seriously consider retiring from professional rugby. He just limps from injury to injury, the poor b*stard.

[janeymac08]

RE Cronin and his "attitude towards Leinster", I can guarentee you if given the choice of staying put or moving to Munster he wouldn't budge, for a number of reasons...

He wasn't given a choice to move back to Munster.

[Dave Cahill]

RE Cronin and his "attitude towards Leinster", I can guarentee you if given the choice of staying put or moving to Munster he wouldn't budge, for a number of reasons...

He wasn't given a choice to move back to Munster.

yes he was.

[janeymac08]

Jason Harris-Wright. 23, (slightly) younger than Sherry, didn't want to be 3rd choice so he went off to Bristol.

Got two less starts than Sherry last season, one less sub appearance. Considering he was on the way out and we didn't have hookers on international duty, he wasn't far off.

It is so, so easy to hype.

Harris-Wright is 2 months younger than Sherry. Sherry is 3 years younger than Cronin. Despite having only one fit hooker for most of last year (Strauss), Harris-Wright got to play 3 games.Interesting that H-W has only started one game for Bristol this season!

Comparison of what? Sherry was called up to be 3rd choice hooker in case Best wasn't fit for a game he ended up playing the full 80 minutes of. It was just a way of making the Welsh think that Best was definitely out.

You mean DK called up a third Munster hooker and flew him across the world to try and fool the Welsh into thinking that Best was injured

I'm not trying to hype JHW (though I think he has enough potential that he's worth keeping an eye on) but I was drawing attention to the similarity of their records as a way to hopefully moderate some of the excessive hyping going on around Sherry. He's a talented player and I'm sure he'll get a chance when he returns because he is highly rated. He even has time to make the 6N squad, but that's more due to the standard required to claim that jersey at the moment. In terms of size and athleticism, Sherry strikes me as the kind of guy who'll take a few years to mature and really hit form. More dynamic hookers like Cronin and Strauss can make an impact younger.

With one start for Bristol this season in the English Championship, I wouldn't be hyping JHW either.

Sherry is 3 years younger than Cronin. The fact that Sherry got a 2 year contract for Munster (and Cronin wasn't brought back even though he wanted to come) suggests that he is rated. He was starting all the Munster games up to when he went to NZ.

Last season, he was playing B+I Cup and for Garryowen in the early part of the season - on some occasions he was playing B+I Cup Friday and AIL Saturday (himself & Murray). He was kept busy. By the end of the season he was alternating with Varley for the starting spot in the Magners.

PS - Keith Wood seems to rate Sherry above the rest of them (and they are all from Limerick)!

[janeymac08]

RE Cronin and his "attitude towards Leinster", I can guarentee you if given the choice of staying put or moving to Munster he wouldn't budge, for a number of reasons...

He wasn't given a choice to move back to Munster.

yes he was.

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

[Leinster Zulu]

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

Top, top reasoning there pal

[Dave Cahill]

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

He had two offers, one from each of Leinster and Munster - and chose the one that was offered to him by the team that showed they really wanted him. Munsters attempt was based almost entirely on the premise that he'd never sign for anyone else once they showed some belated interest. They were wrong

[janeymac08]

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

He had two offers, one from each of Leinster and Munster - and chose the one that was offered to him by the team that showed they really wanted him. Munsters attempt was based almost entirely on the premise that he'd never sign for anyone else once they showed some belated interest. They were wrong

Thats just another way of saying they were not bothered. Probably told by the IRFU that Munster have enough hookers on their books (Flannery, Varley, Fogs, Sherry, Henry).

Not too many Ireland qualified hookers knocking about. Considering that Straus started 29 games last season, it looks like HW with 3 starts wasn't up to it. And it seems he really isn't up to the English Championship either. Hardly surprising that Leinster made Cronin feel very wanted!

[suisse]

He wasn't given a choice to move back to Munster.

yes he was.

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

His 'mate' is either a spoofer or knows f%~k all about the signing situation.

Leinster and Munster offered Cronin exactly the same terms, but he choose Leinster.

Hardly surprising that Leinster made Cronin feel very wanted!

Such an embarrassing response.

[hugonaut]

Not too many Ireland qualified hookers knocking about. Considering that Straus started 29 games last season, it looks like HW with 3 starts wasn't up to it. And it seems he really isn't up to the English Championship either. Hardly surprising that Leinster made Cronin feel very wanted!

Haha! Is 29 the magic number, then? Because 'considering that Varley started 26 games last season, it looks like Mike Sherry with 5 starts wasn't up to it'!

[munster#1]

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

He had two offers, one from each of Leinster and Munster - and chose the one that was offered to him by the team that showed they really wanted him. Munsters attempt was based almost entirely on the premise that he'd never sign for anyone else once they showed some belated interest. They were wrong

Have you any proof of this or are you just making it up? I work with a close family member of cronin's and we have a few mutual friends, and the word is that he was not given an offer.
I'm not sure if munster didn't want him, or the irfu wouldn't allow them to make an offer, but there was no contract on the table

[Dave Cahill]

Not according to one of his mates on Munsterfans who was bitching that Munster wouldn't give him a contract before there was any talk of him going to Leinster.

He had two offers, one from each of Leinster and Munster - and chose the one that was offered to him by the team that showed they really wanted him. Munsters attempt was based almost entirely on the premise that he'd never sign for anyone else once they showed some belated interest. They were wrong

Have you any proof of this or are you just making it up? I work with a close family member of cronin's and we have a few mutual friends, and the word is that he was not given an offer.
I'm not sure if munster didn't want him, or the irfu would allow them to make an offer, but there was no contract on the table

He was made an offer by Munster. The IRFU specifically told him the choice was entirely his. He chose to move to Leinster. Your acquaintances are either misinformed or are misinforming you

[munster#1]

dave where are you getting this info from? Sure if a contract was offered, then there would be written proof?
For now i will believe the people close to cronin rather than an ulster man on the internet. I am open to correction.

[janeymac08]

Not too many Ireland qualified hookers knocking about. Considering that Straus started 29 games last season, it looks like HW with 3 starts wasn't up to it. And it seems he really isn't up to the English Championship either. Hardly surprising that Leinster made Cronin feel very wanted!

Haha! Is 29 the magic number, then? Because 'considering that Varley started 26 games last season, it looks like Mike Sherry with 5 starts wasn't up to it'!

No, 29 is not the magic number. Getting more than 2 min. cameos sub appearances when the game is well won or well lost would be though.

Playing time:
Straus: 2115 mins. Harris-Wright 366. J. Fogs 103.
Varley 1770. Sherry 534. D. Fogs 351. Flannery: 53 mins.

[TerenureJim]

So what you're saying is that Flannery at 53 mins is really not able for it at this level and should retire. Clearly if we base all decisions on amount of game time it's the only choice to be made.

[janeymac08]

He had two offers, one from each of Leinster and Munster - and chose the one that was offered to him by the team that showed they really wanted him. Munsters attempt was based almost entirely on the premise that he'd never sign for anyone else once they showed some belated interest. They were wrong

Have you any proof of this or are you just making it up? I work with a close family member of cronin's and we have a few mutual friends, and the word is that he was not given an offer.
I'm not sure if munster didn't want him, or the irfu would allow them to make an offer, but there was no contract on the table

He was made an offer by Munster. The IRFU specifically told him the choice was entirely his. He chose to move to Leinster. Your acquaintances are either misinformed or are misinforming you

All that could indicate is that Cronin did not fancy his chances of being first choice at Munster.

[Dave Cahill]

dave where are you getting this info from? Sure if a contract was offered, then there would be written proof?
For now i will believe the people close to cronin rather than an ulster man on the internet. I am open to correction.

yes, because I have the written proof and am quite willing to share it on the internet.

Actually, these people close to cronin...seeing as you are all about the proof, you will of course have no problem naming them, and of course your own name, and that should settle it.


But, if you'd like, ask them did Sean receive anything interesting in the post in October 2009 and again in September 2010.

I know its hard to come to terms with, but professional players look at setup of the clubs they are considering signing with, and in the current environment theres simply no contest between Munster and Leinster.

[janeymac08]

So what you're saying is that Flannery at 53 mins is really not able for it at this level and should retire. Clearly if we base all decisions on amount of game time it's the only choice to be made.

If Flannery was fit and not injured and only got 53 mins of gametime and he didn't have 30+ international caps and 2 Heineken Cup medals, yes I''d reckon he wouldn't have much of a future as a rugby pro.