Grahamunster - Graham Rowntree's Munster 2022/2023

[Oldschoolsocks]

Great achievement Munster. I am genuinely glad they won. Up Ireland!

Ditto

[riocard911]

Brilliant by Munster. If you'd told me, after the drubbing by Glasgow in Thomond, that this is how their season would finish, I would NEVER have believed it.

Delighted for PO'M, Murray and Earls.

And also for Graham Rowntree, who of the three amigos from the England RWC2015 coaching ticket had won nothing till now with an Irish team.

P.s. And who came up with the turn-over at the death? Tadhg Beirne! The guy is unbelievable.

[OneLungDavy]

Can't understand Mike Haleys lack of Ireland inclusion, he's such a quality fullback.

[TerenureJim]

Delighted for Munster and all the travelling fans except for the one lad for some reason waving a LaRochelle flag about the place after the win. Idiot.

[The Doc]

Know how you feel Stormers... Know how you feel

Sent from my LE2123 using Tapatalk

[ronk]

Brilliant by Munster. If you'd told me, after the drubbing by Glasgow in Thomond, that this is how their season would finish, I would NEVER have believed it.

Delighted for PO'M, Murray and Earls.

And also for Graham Rowntree, who of the three amigos from the England RWC2015 coaching ticket had won nothing till now with an Irish team.

P.s. And who came up with the turn-over at the death? Tadhg Beirne! The guy is unbelievable.

Yeah. Really came together for them in the end.

[fourthirtythree]

Delighted for the old lags getting a trophy at last. Great for Ireland.

While they were the better team that was a tricky match. DHL were walking sideways round the ruck and spoiling ball most of the game with sir’s blessing, that made it very difficult to turn pressure into scores.

I was really hoping for superhero performances from Crowley and Nash for Ireland’s sake but really good will have to do.

[Twist]

That’s it now. Drop all the Leinster players from the WC squad. It’s all about Hodnett, Kendellan, Kleyn etc.

In fairness, some of them have finished the season so well. Crowley of course, Hodnett, Haley, Nash, Kleyn and Archer have been really really good.

Would be unwise to dismiss that kind of form because of the colour of their jersey.

I didn’t!

[Experimental]

Delighted for our Munster brothers, fitting for OMahony and Earls, well deserved. This Munster season makes me believe magic is real!

[Ruckedtobits]

Well, on the basis of this and other recent competitive games between Irish Provinces and SA franchises, the aura of superiority has deserted the South Africans.

At home in front of 50,000 + fans, Stormers were poor, their stadium surface was appalling and their tactics almost invisible.

Munster deserved to win. Their wide tactics around the outside coupled with a very effective maul (where has that come from in the past two months) were more than sufficient to overcome the sterile Champions and the individual skills of Murray, O'Mahony, Beirne, Nash, Daly, Hodnett and Crowley were on display enough to give them opportunities to win this game throughout the 80 minutes.

When the winning try and convert came, it was on the back of a multi-phase handling attack in which every Munster player seemed to understand the intent and provide the necessary execution. It was fitting that Hodnett was the scorer as his contributions had been important all evening, particularly from when O'Mahony left for his HIA and did not return.

Munster's tactics were spot on and their discipline in sticking to the script were everything their coaching staff would have wanted. They are not yet a great team. But they are a winning team and everyone in Leinster understands the difference and knows which they'd prefer to support.

This victory will be good for Irish rugby. It will be good for a number of young Munster players in terms of their Irish Squad prospects. It will also be good for the Irish coaching set-up as Farrell and Rowntree have shared lots of past experiences and will know just how much damage this display and victory will have done to the SA physce.

Well done Munster.

[Twist]

Well, on the basis of this and other recent competitive games between Irish Provinces and SA franchises, the aura of superiority has deserted the South Africans.

At home in front of 50,000 + fans, Stormers were poor, their stadium surface was appalling and their tactics almost invisible.

Munster deserved to win. Their wide tactics around the outside coupled with a very effective maul (where has that come from in the past two months) were more than sufficient to overcome the sterile Champions and the individual skills of Murray, O'Mahony, Beirne, Nash, Daly, Hodnett and Crowley were on display enough to give them opportunities to win this game throughout the 80 minutes.

When the winning try and convert came, it was on the back of a multi-phase handling attack in which every Munster player seemed to understand the intent and provide the necessary execution. It was fitting that Hodnett was the scorer as his contributions had been important all evening, particularly from when O'Mahony left for his HIA and did not return.

Munster's tactics were spot on and their discipline in sticking to the script were everything their coaching staff would have wanted. They are not yet a great team. But they are a winning team and everyone in Leinster understands the difference and knows which they'd prefer to support.

This victory will be good for Irish rugby. It will be good for a number of young Munster players in terms of their Irish Squad prospects. It will also be good for the Irish coaching set-up as Farrell and Rowntree have shared lots of past experiences and will know just how much damage this display and victory will have done to the SA physce.

Well done Munster.

Agreed. It’s not a test match but beating a SA team in SA in a cup final is a big deal

[Theleinsterlad]

Great win and fantastic match in front of a packed out stadium that for the URCs reputation can only be a very good thing. Thought the final had everything and was cheering the tv when Munster scored at the end. Well done Munster and great momentum going into the summer with the World Cup on the horizon

[leargas]

Fair play to Munster. It takes away some of the sour taste from last weekend.

[Experimental]

A word aswell for John Dobson. It has been great to see him grow as a coach over the last two seasons and embrace European rugby. What he has done for the Stormers is truly remarkable. Very well spoken, and very possibly a future Bok Head Coach. I think if youd told SA fans before the URC started that the Stormers would be in the two finals no one would have believed you.

[munster#1]

Saying I’m delighted doesn’t go far enough for how I feel right now.
Munster’s season was like a movie script with the appointment of a new coaching ticket who hadn’t worked together in the past, with not one of them having head coach experience.

The easy thing for that ticket to do would be to stick with the old game plan and gradually introduce their own style of play, but instead they ripped up the playbook and started from scratch.
Following the start that Munster had, they were questioned and ridiculed from all corners.

The unplanned Ireland A tour hit Munster really hard.
Munster have gone through a massive overhaul of their squad, and do not have significant depth just yet. That tour took the core group of players away from Munster at a time when they were trying to implement their game plan.

But, following the Much debated game against SA, Munster turned a corner. The kids, devoid of their international team mates gave SA A a good beating while playing a great brand of rugby.
From there Munster managed to slowly work their way up the table, taking a reasonable number of bonus points along the way, and ended the regular season with in the playoffs, qualified for the HC and building the best defence in the league.

Munster had 6 hard games on the road, each of which they were the underdogs, and won all bar 1.

The rollercoaster season is what makes this victory all the more special, the team appear galvanised, they look like they are a solid group who would gladly go into battle with eachother.

To lose POM as early as they did, and what was a very pivotal point of the game was never going to be easy. He is a warrior and a leader. But Munster showed that they have leadership across the team. Beirne really stood up in this aspect, as did RG and Hodnett imo.
Crowley looks like a future leader. He is an extremely vocal 10, and leads by example, despite his youth and relative inexperience.

This team is at the beginning of their journey. They have a very young squad, which is built around a strong core of homegrown talent who are learning game after game.

I suspect given the conservative nature of the Irish selection that not many of the players who played so well over the last few weeks will have forced their way into realistic selection contention.
This, while it will be a personal blow for the Munster players, the flip side of that is that most of the squad will be available for a full preseason. This can only be good for Munster.

[riocard911]

Saying I’m delighted doesn’t go far enough for how I feel right now.
Munster’s season was like a movie script with the appointment of a new coaching ticket who hadn’t worked together in the past, with not one of them having head coach experience.

The easy thing for that ticket to do would be to stick with the old game plan and gradually introduce their own style of play, but instead they ripped up the playbook and started from scratch.
Following the start that Munster had, they were questioned and ridiculed from all corners.

The unplanned Ireland A tour hit Munster really hard.
Munster have gone through a massive overhaul of their squad, and do not have significant depth just yet. That tour took the core group of players away from Munster at a time when they were trying to implement their game plan.

But, following the Much debated game against SA, Munster turned a corner. The kids, devoid of their international team mates gave SA A a good beating while playing a great brand of rugby.
From there Munster managed to slowly work their way up the table, taking a reasonable number of bonus points along the way, and ended the regular season with in the playoffs, qualified for the HC and building the best defence in the league.

Munster had 6 hard games on the road, each of which they were the underdogs, and won all bar 1.

The rollercoaster season is what makes this victory all the more special, the team appear galvanised, they look like they are a solid group who would gladly go into battle with eachother.

To lose POM as early as they did, and what was a very pivotal point of the game was never going to be easy. He is a warrior and a leader. But Munster showed that they have leadership across the team. Beirne really stood up in this aspect, as did RG and Hodnett imo.
Crowley looks like a future leader. He is an extremely vocal 10, and leads by example, despite his youth and relative inexperience.

This team is at the beginning of their journey. They have a very young squad, which is built around a strong core of homegrown talent who are learning game after game.

I suspect given the conservative nature of the Irish selection that not many of the players who played so well over the last few weeks will have forced their way into realistic selection contention.
This, while it will be a personal blow for the Munster players, the flip side of that is that most of the squad will be available for a full preseason. This can only be good for Munster.

Congratulations!!!

[ronk]

I wouldn't say that Irish rugby selects conservatively anymore. Most of Munsters best players have already been called up and some were promoted faster than they made an impact in the Munster team.

Some players are just in competitive positions and 4 provinces qualified for the Heineken Cup, it's not so easy to break in.

I think Hodnett with make a step up, but there might not be too many other visible moves up the depth chart. I think players like Kleyn and Archer has closed some distance but probably haven't done enough to move into RWC squad territory.

[jezzer]

Wouldnt be known for supporting anything much to do with Munster, but I found myself watching the gane and feeling surprisingly pleased for them all at the end.

Stormers were muck, as was the pitch. But Munster were genuinely good, in control for nearly all of it. Snyman makes a massive difference. They can then play Beirne at 6 and suddenly its a v good pack. Kudos to Loughman for a meteoric rise this year too.

For me, the big jump in quality of play is most seen in the centre. Antoine has brought a breath of Frisch air to the 13 spot and Fekitoa - having decided tonplay all of a sudden - has been sensational the last couple of games.

Lots of young quality elsewhere - love me some Nash - but the centre partnership has let them expand their game hugely.

It'd be natural to want to compare how Munster fronted up vs how Leinster did last week, but the truth is LAR's performance was leagues better than the Cape boys, in all aspects. So let's stick with looking at each game on its merits and giving Munster some credit for a pretty incredible run-in.

Loughman must be pushing Healy now
Barron pushing Herring
Kleyn pushing Treadwell/Joe
Hodnett pushing Timoney/Connors
Crowley pushing Ross
Frisch pushing Frawley
Nash pushing Larmour
Haley pushing JOB
Daly pushing Stockdale

[Ruckedtobits]

Wouldnt be known for supporting anything much to do with Munster, but I found myself watching the gane and feeling surprisingly pleased for them all at the end.

Stormers were muck, as was the pitch. But Munster were genuinely good, in control for nearly all of it. Snyman makes a massive difference. They can then play Beirne at 6 and suddenly its a v good pack. Kudos to Loughman for a meteoric rise this year too.

For me, the big jump in quality of play is most seen in the centre. Antoine has brought a breath of Frisch air to the 13 spot and Fekitoa - having decided tonplay all of a sudden - has been sensational the last couple of games.

Lots of young quality elsewhere - love me some Nash - but the centre partnership has let them expand their game hugely.

It'd be natural to want to compare how Munster fronted up vs how Leinster did last week, but the truth is LAR's performance was leagues better than the Cape boys, in all aspects. So let's stick with looking at each game on its merits and giving Munster some credit for a pretty incredible run-in.

Loughman must be pushing Healy now
Barron pushing Herring
Kleyn pushing Treadwell/Joe
Hodnett pushing Timoney/Connors
Crowley pushing Ross
Frisch pushing Frawley
Nash pushing Larmour
Haley pushing JOB
Daly pushing Stockdale

I'd exempt Haley from that list. Good as he is going forward on many occasions, his bad games are terrible.

[ronk]

The Stormers did wild low chance chips and crossfield kicks, very unlike a typical final.

I think they weren't prepared for how cagey and tactical NH finals usually are, and were punished for it.