Munster Rugby 2021/2022 - Search for the Holy Grail

[munster#1]

Munster will be chasing a BP victory tomorrow night due to the gap that has opened up at the top of the table.

Munster have selected a team that should be well capable of putting in a great display.
I am again delighted to see Josh getting another start, which if I’m not mistaken is his 4th in a row.

I am hoping for a big display from our back row, which is a very exciting combination, and will most likely be a complete headache for the opposition.

Just to annoy the anti Zebo posters, I really hope Zebo can run in a couple of tries.

Munster: Matt Gallagher; Shane Daly, Damian de Allende, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Scott Buckley, Jeremy Loughman, Keynan Knox, Jason Jenkins, Jack O’Sullivan, Neil Cronin, Jake Flannery, Chris Farrell.

[JB1973]

That centre pairing is a handful (is Farrell dropped or are they your first choice pair these days), I like that casey at 9 and Coombes seems to score in most games he plays

Looks like Munster have picked a team to run should be a good watch

[munster#1]

That centre pairing is a handful (is Farrell dropped or are they your first choice pair these days), I like that casey at 9 and Coombes seems to score in most games he plays

Looks like Munster have picked a team to run should be a good watch

I’d imagine that It is just rotation in the centre.
Scannell is a very talented option to have, he allows you to play a higher tempo game and he has a great boot.

It is a mobile looking team, so they could do a lot of damage on the 4g pitch.

At the risk of jinxing him, keep an eye on Fineen, he has been playing very well lately, his work rate has improved massively.

[dropkick]

https://www.the42.ie/ian-costello-rugby ... 9-Mar2022/

Ian Costello on Limerick rugby and what's being done to address the lack of players.

[wixfjord]

JVG's rotation of the TH starting jersey between Archer/Ryan must be an inside joke at this stage! Every week!

Great to see Wycherly getting so many shots though, wonder could he usurp Loughman/Kilcoyne for Europe?

[munster#1]

JVG's rotation of the TH starting jersey between Archer/Ryan must be an inside joke at this stage! Every week!

Great to see Wycherly getting so many shots though, wonder could he usurp Loughman/Kilcoyne for Europe?

The value of a solid scrum was shown through the 6 nations.
When you are blooding a LH and a hooker, then it is a good idea to have a solid TH to try to steady the ship.

Munster are fielding a relatively young pack with 5 of the 8 being 24 or under, which is great to see, and they have went with 2 young front rowers on the bench too.

[wixfjord]

JVG's rotation of the TH starting jersey between Archer/Ryan must be an inside joke at this stage! Every week!

Great to see Wycherly getting so many shots though, wonder could he usurp Loughman/Kilcoyne for Europe?

The value of a solid scrum was shown through the 6 nations.
When you are blooding a LH and a hooker, then it is a good idea to have a solid TH to try to steady the ship.

Munster are fielding a relatively young pack with 5 of the 8 being 24 or under, which is great to see, and they have went with 2 young front rowers on the bench too.

Aye that's all great and that, but this isn't just about one game.

JVG's refusal to start Knox or Salanoa and continuing selection of Archer/Ryan when the latter is leaving and Munster's front row clearly is a weakness is nothing short of bizarre.

Knox will be on the bench behind Archer for Europe next season and has started 2 games (250 mins total) this year.

[munster#1]

JVG's rotation of the TH starting jersey between Archer/Ryan must be an inside joke at this stage! Every week!

Great to see Wycherly getting so many shots though, wonder could he usurp Loughman/Kilcoyne for Europe?

The value of a solid scrum was shown through the 6 nations.
When you are blooding a LH and a hooker, then it is a good idea to have a solid TH to try to steady the ship.

Munster are fielding a relatively young pack with 5 of the 8 being 24 or under, which is great to see, and they have went with 2 young front rowers on the bench too.

Aye that's all great and that, but this isn't just about one game.

JVG's refusal to start Knox or Salanoa and continuing selection of Archer/Ryan when the latter is leaving and Munster's front row clearly is a weakness is nothing short of bizarre.

Knox will be on the bench behind Archer for Europe next season and has started 2 games (250 mins total) this year.

I agree wholeheartedly that the young THs need game time, but they have been massively unfortunate with regards to injury.
Salanoa for example has barely went a few weeks without suffering an injury, and Knox has only been marginally better.

Munster have given youth a good chance in nearly every position, so it’s clear that there are issues at TH outside of just saying that JVG is useless, not that you said that.

[wixfjord]

Salanoa fine, he has been riddled with injuries.

Knox hasn't and has been on the bench 5 times as well as his customary 2 starts. 250 minutes isn't enough and JVG is creating a headache for whoever comes in next year.

It's not just this year either, he just didn't seem to want to start the two young THs last season too.

[ronk]

JVG's rotation of the TH starting jersey between Archer/Ryan must be an inside joke at this stage! Every week!

Great to see Wycherly getting so many shots though, wonder could he usurp Loughman/Kilcoyne for Europe?

Knox got in this time.

[munster#1]

Salanoa fine, he has been riddled with injuries.

Knox hasn't and has been on the bench 5 times as well as his customary 2 starts. 250 minutes isn't enough and JVG is creating a headache for whoever comes in next year.

It's not just this year either, he just didn't seem to want to start the two young THs last season too.

Fairly sure that Knox missed a good portion of last season due to injury.

At 22 he has clocked up a good number of appearances , probably more than most 22 year old tight heads?

I do think it is worth asking why neglect TH but spread gametime in nearly every other position?

For me, I seriously doubt it is out of spite or due to an unwillingness to select youth.
This is highlighted when you see Barron and Josh selected to start in the front row.

These guys, when fit, are scrummaging every week in training, and may well be getting their asses handed to them by the Munster LHs.

[wixfjord]

Salanoa fine, he has been riddled with injuries.

Knox hasn't and has been on the bench 5 times as well as his customary 2 starts. 250 minutes isn't enough and JVG is creating a headache for whoever comes in next year.

It's not just this year either, he just didn't seem to want to start the two young THs last season too.

I do think it is worth asking why neglect TH but spread gametime in nearly every other position?

Exactly.

[munster#1]

Salanoa fine, he has been riddled with injuries.

Knox hasn't and has been on the bench 5 times as well as his customary 2 starts. 250 minutes isn't enough and JVG is creating a headache for whoever comes in next year.

It's not just this year either, he just didn't seem to want to start the two young THs last season too.

I do think it is worth asking why neglect TH but spread gametime in nearly every other position?

Exactly.

And why would you think that Knox has been limited to 22 games?

[ormond lad]

We’ve seen the same poster state that Haig would be DOR in one post and forwards coach in another, the same poster has said that it will be Costello as defence coach and in another it was McNamara.
They’ve also listed McNamara as Backs coach in a post and I think Prendergast in another.

It looks like they are trying to sound like they have the inside track but it’s fairly obvious that they don’t.

If I was a betting man I would bet on Rowntree as head coach and that McNamara will play some part and possibly Costello too.
I also wouldn’t rule out Kidney taking the DOR role, but that is purely just me guessing.

Bingo. The 'stopped clock' approach.

Mildly loves taking rumours from other forums and passing them off as his own, or taking rumours from this forum and passing them off on other forums.

No harm in hearing rumours. It gets a discussion going and everyone knows they're just rumours so what harm? Many rumours turn out to be right.

Of course no harm in hearing rumours but if you hear something yourself its very different to repeating here what was posted somewhere else...

[munster#1]

Bingo. The 'stopped clock' approach.

Mildly loves taking rumours from other forums and passing them off as his own, or taking rumours from this forum and passing them off on other forums.

No harm in hearing rumours. It gets a discussion going and everyone knows they're just rumours so what harm? Many rumours turn out to be right.

Of course no harm in hearing rumours but if you hear something yourself its very different to repeating here what was posted somewhere else...

Everyone loves a good rumour, it is when someone gets or reads something and then tries to pass it off as fact is when it becomes silly.

Simply stating that you are copy and pasting something from another source would be much better.

[FLIP]

I'd rather have midlys posts than his low value/troll naysayers.

[limecat]

Can we maybe try to keep the thread for rugby discussion?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

A really nice cameo from Jenkins tonight. The scrum looked solid when Munster changed the front row but really motored with him there. Some impressive support play for a guy his size after a Gallagher break and then a nice offload as well.

Hard to know how much the scrum issues can be attributed to Coombes but the move to the second row certainly didn’t affect his carrying or poaching. That could be a really nice option for Ireland in future.

[hugonaut]

A really nice cameo from Jenkins tonight. The scrum looked solid when Munster changed the front row but really motored with him there. Some impressive support play for a guy his size after a Gallagher break and then a nice offload as well.

Hard to know how much the scrum issues can be attributed to Coombes but the move to the second row certainly didn’t affect his carrying or poaching. That could be a really nice option for Ireland in future.

Would have been great if he had been on the pitch for more minutes, but that quarter-hour or so was quite encouraging. He has hardly played any rugby this season, so like any player in a similar circumstance, that's more than likely not the best he can do.

Coombes in the row is interesting to see. It's obviously something that is coming down from Andy Farrell. He's a strong dude – he just gets gainline after gainline. I wonder how he fits into the international squad – carrying seems like his point of difference, so is it the right thing to put him in a position where he gets to carry the ball most often, or do you take the approach that he's a big, physical player and carrying is just one of the things that you're asking him to do?

Jack O'Donoghue could be an outside bet for the NZ tour. He's playing a lot of rugby this season, and playing well. He's 1000+ mins on the season already, has scored eight tries, is in his physical prime for a backrow at 28 years old and captains Munster a lot ... he reminds me of Chris Henry 2012-14 period, a guy who has been around the block and is playing at the top of his game.

Against that, Chris Henry had a big point of difference to his game at that stage in that he was an absolute pest at the breakdown, and he was always in the No7 jersey. O'Donoghue is still moving across the backrow, as he has done his entire career, and is more of a jack of all trades than Henry.

I enjoyed the game – it was a good match for 45-50 minutes or so and then Munster did well to pull away and tack on the additional tries.

[munster#1]

Great to get a BP win.

I feel that the scoreboard doesn’t reflect how well Treviso played, however, as is all too common for Italian teams, they ran out of puff in the last 20 mins.

Josh had a day to forget unfortunately, but I hope it is an outing that he will take a good lesson from.
It was noticeable how the scrum settled once Loughman came on, and how it became a weapon once JJ came on.
With JJ coming on for Kendellan the weight in the pack increased considerably.

Watching Coombes is an absolute delight. He has some engine on him.
His ability to go into contact from almost a standing still position and still drive players back is unparalleled in Irish rugby.

JOD is in a very rich vein of form, he seems to be able to play at the same level for 80 mins. He is a very good ball carrier, and is a complete nuisance at the breakdown despot not having the turnover numbers of others.

Healy has become a very good player, and is quickly moving from the position of an inexperienced 22 year old to a trusted option.

Munster, despite the hammering they got earlier in the season for being a limited team, are now the top try scorers in the league, well until later today at least, but it does show that they are playing good rugby.