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

[FLIP]

Red card sufficient penalty for POM.

Mad decision

[munster#1]

Healy needs to move province to get game time

That may well come to pass.
Hopefully Carberry comes back in the near future, then we’ll have Jake and Jack coming through over the next 12-24 months, along with JJ still in situ.
This means that it is very likely at least 1 talented outhalf will be leaving for more game time, just like Johnston last season.

[The Doc]

What sort of witchcraft is this???


Munster: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Alex McHenry, Rory Scannell, Matt Gallagher; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Rhys Marshall, John Ryan; Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne; Jack O’Donoghue, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander (C).

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, James Cronin, Roman Salanoa, Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Dan Goggin.

[munster#1]

Not what I would have went with, but great to see youth given its chance.

Healy and Casey may well be the first choice half back pairing in the near future, so it will be interesting to see what they do.
Unusual to see a team starting with inexperienced 9, 10 and 12.

Salanoa and Crowley in line to make their first appearances.

I wonder if the positive cases of Covid impacted on this team selection?

[Sugary tae]

Delighted to see the team sheet.

Win or lose we need to blood these guys.

[OTT]

Delighted to see the team sheet.

Win or lose we need to blood these guys.

Any insight into McHenry for us not in the know? What type of player he is etc.

Crowley off the bench worth the watch in itself.

[Sugary tae]

Delighted to see the team sheet.

Win or lose we need to blood these guys.

Any insight into McHenry for us not in the know? What type of player he is etc.

Crowley off the bench worth the watch in itself.

Ah old fashioned skilful centre rather than a bosh merchant. Good hands, positionally clever good break. Would question his bulk but he’s young I suppose.

[fourthirtythree]

Not what I would have went with, but great to see youth given its chance.

Healy and Casey may well be the first choice half back pairing in the near future, so it will be interesting to see what they do.
Unusual to see a team starting with inexperienced 9, 10 and 12.

Salanoa and Crowley in line to make their first appearances.

I wonder if the positive cases of Covid impacted on this team selection?

Scannell is Munsters most experienced centre.


Glad to see Haley, who I seriously rate, Casey, and Healy getting a run. Best of luck to them. They seem to be at pains to suggest it was the wider team that had issues. I guess we'll find out at Ireland squad because this is a bit lighter than you'd expect.

[munster#1]

Not what I would have went with, but great to see youth given its chance.

Healy and Casey may well be the first choice half back pairing in the near future, so it will be interesting to see what they do.
Unusual to see a team starting with inexperienced 9, 10 and 12.

Salanoa and Crowley in line to make their first appearances.

I wonder if the positive cases of Covid impacted on this team selection?

Scannell is Munsters most experienced centre.


Glad to see Haley, who I seriously rate, Casey, and Healy getting a run. Best of luck to them. They seem to be at pains to suggest it was the wider team that had issues. I guess we'll find out at Ireland squad because this is a bit lighter than you'd expect.

You are correct. I only glanced at the team, and for some reason I read that McHenry was being used at 12

[dropkick]

McHenry is another who has some 7s experience. Looks to have good hands, quick feet and fairly fast.


It will be a tough game to win but I'm looking forward to seeing all the new lads. Great to see Crowley on the bench along with Hodnett.

[Ruckedtobits]

Is that the "dawn of the new era"?

[Twist]

Salanoa looking like exactly the kind of explosive power athlete we could do with. That bit of chicanery will stick in the craw for a long time

[munster#1]

Not exactly a classic, and plenty of errors were made, but I am delighted with that win.

To win like that 2 weeks in a row is the kind of thing that Munster have been missing for a while now.
That never say die attitude will stand to them over the course of the season.

To win against the team that topped the conference last season, with a largely 2nd choice team is remarkable.
To do it with 2 kids at half back is amazing.

I really don’t want to get ahead of myself, but the resemblance to the early days with stringer and ROG shone bright.
Of the 40 something players who took to the field, Healy and Casey were the stand out players. You would not believe that they were so inexperienced at this level, or that they were so young.

I really hope that Casey’s time with the Irish team does not impact on his availability for Munster, as he is needed in red.

Not sure that this is Munster’s season, but the future looks a lot brighter after the last 2 weeks.

[dropkick]

Salanoa looking like exactly the kind of explosive power athlete we could do with. That bit of chicanery will stick in the craw for a long time

He got lucky in the scrum near the end though. That's his bread and butter. To be fair, Edinburgh had a bigger pack and were on top before he came on.


He does look a good carrier though. When munster were near the Edinburgh line near the end, a try looked enevitable. Hodnett, Coombes, Salanoa, Cronin and Stander were all making ground with carries. Not seen that much carrying power from Munster for a while. It was like watching Exeter.


Great win to going out and it will do the confidence no harm. Only watched the second half so far and it was another kick fest.

[mildlyinterested]

Salanoa looking like exactly the kind of explosive power athlete we could do with. That bit of chicanery will stick in the craw for a long time

was very lucky to not give away a pen in the final scrum.

[munster#1]

Salanoa looking like exactly the kind of explosive power athlete we could do with. That bit of chicanery will stick in the craw for a long time

was very lucky to not give away a pen in the final scrum.

He definitely demonstrated that he is a good distance from being considered a finish product.
Rowntree has his work cut out to try and get Salanoa up to an acceptable level on the scrum.

Going off of last night and the recent A game, I doubt that Ryan and Archer are in danger of losing their jerseys to Salanoa this season.

Hopefully we get to see Knox over the next few weeks.

[wixfjord]

Very, very impressed with Craig Casey last night. Completely outshone his opposite number Groom who, while not a test player, has a load of experience at the highest level.

I know it's a home Pro14 game against Embra, but honestly I think he's pretty close to being better than Murray now.

Him and Harry Byrne could be Ireland's 9/10 for the next decade.

Healy was good too, has a massive boot on him and he's a big physical lad.
Doesn't have the speed, agility or subtlety to his game yet but definitely a talent.

McHenry had an utter mare at 13.

Munster back three were very quiet bar one break from Conway.

JOD looked good but gave away a few handy pens too.

As said above, Salanoa was veeerrryyy lucky not go give away a pen at the end! In fairness he was up against Schoeman who is capable of giving anyone a good beasting.

[mildlyinterested]

Munster blessed they had Owens there at the end tbf

[munster#1]

Very, very impressed with Craig Casey last night. Completely outshone his opposite number Groom who, while not a test player, has a load of experience at the highest level.

I know it's a home Pro14 game against Embra, but honestly I think he's pretty close to being better than Murray now.

Him and Harry Byrne could be Ireland's 9/10 for the next decade.

Healy was good too, has a massive boot on him and he's a big physical lad.
Doesn't have the speed, agility or subtlety to his game yet but definitely a talent.

McHenry had an utter mare at 13.

Munster back three were very quiet bar one break from Conway.

JOD looked good but gave away a few handy pens too.

As said above, Salanoa was veeerrryyy lucky not go give away a pen at the end! In fairness he was up against Schoeman who is capable of giving anyone a good beasting.

If Casey can back up last night’s performance with a run of games at a similar level, then we will probably see him in green by seasons end.

Ireland are lacking quality at options 9. The only reason that the gap between Murray and the chasing pack has closed is because Murray’s levels have dropped, not because the rest have improved.
Casey could be the player that will finally challenge Murray for the 9 shirt.

With regards to an option at 10, it is hard to see which one of the prospects will prove to be best.
Carberry is still young and if he gets back to his best, he will have 10 years left in him.

Will be good to see the likes of Harry Byrne, Healy and Crowley getting plenty of game time, and if I were Farrell I would be pushing the provinces to ensure this happens, as Sexton looks very close to the end.

Great problem for Ireland to have, that there are a good number of prospects knocking around.

[munster#1]

Ooops