Munster, celtic league, heineken cup, general and tag rugby thread 🐐

[The_Puke]

Well we are only two and a half weeks away from the quarter final showdown with gloucester…i personally think it could be a very tough game, gloucester have been a bit patchy of late but with the likes of balshaw vanikolo(thought both were average at best the 6 natios) patterson narroway to name a few away on 6 nations duty they will improve…thankfully we have two games to prepare for this and apart from david wallace(heard unconfirmed reports he is out from a reliable source) we seem to have reasonably good bill of health…leamy despite coming off early on saturday is alright…

Kidney has a few tough choices to make especially at 11,14 and 15…the front 5 picks itself with o connell coming in for mick…quinlan will probably replace wallace…with tipoki and mafi in the centre…i personally think that he will keep payne at full back as it is away from home and he is solid as a pervebial rock with howlett on the right wing which leaves it a straight shoot out between dowling and carney…although he could put howlett to full with dowling and carney on the wings…

my selection
payne, howlett, tipoki, mafi, dowling, rodge, strings, axel, quinny, leamy, o connell, o callaghan, horan, flannery, hayes
subs: sheahan, mushie, mick, coughlan/ronan, o leary, warwick, carney

P.S fair play to castletroy yesterday winning the senior cup, huge achievment…

[Rocko]

I take it Mushie is Buckley is he?

That’s certainly the team I’d go for. In previous years you might be tempted to leave Payne out so you have more strike runners but with the two centres playing their aggressive running style there’s really no need to have a full back who bursts into the line every time. I’d have Dowling ahead of Carney every time these days.

Also despite being a regular full international there’s always a way to get at Balshaw and that’s to give him awkward kicks. He’s still a decent broken field runner (he always was) but if you move him about a bit he panics and loses confidence. When Vanikolo is back there too then it makes it doubly obvious that ROG and Payne should be targeting them with bouncing, skidding, awkward kicks.

If Wallace is indeed out then Quinlan is of course the obvious replacement and a cracking replacement he is too. He’ll be really up for it having missed out on the 6N and I could see a big performance from him.

No chance of Donncha Ryan on the bench to cover back row?

[theLockes]

Tipoki’s wife was in the same room as Mrs. Lockes having a sprog back in the summer. Lovely girl. The man himself was in for a visit, nice guy, had a quick chat with him. Think it was they’re 4th kid.

[The_Puke]

[quote=“therock67”]I take it Mushie is Buckley is he?

That’s certainly the team I’d go for. In previous years you might be tempted to leave Payne out so you have more strike runners but with the two centres playing their aggressive running style there’s really no need to have a full back who bursts into the line every time. I’d have Dowling ahead of Carney every time these days.

Also despite being a regular full international there’s always a way to get at Balshaw and that’s to give him awkward kicks. He’s still a decent broken field runner (he always was) but if you move him about a bit he panics and loses confidence. When Vanikolo is back there too then it makes it doubly obvious that ROG and Payne should be targeting them with bouncing, skidding, awkward kicks.

If Wallace is indeed out then Quinlan is of course the obvious replacement and a cracking replacement he is too. He’ll be really up for it having missed out on the 6N and I could see a big performance from him.

No chance of Donncha Ryan on the bench to cover back row?[/quote]

to be honest i would have ryan on the bench but dont think kidney would pick him on the bench ahead of o driscoll as he is more dynamic and is the perfect impac sub for the second row…dont think he would use him as a like for like cover as he was caught out last year by doin this with mick o driscoll and in fairness to kidney he very seldom makes the same mistake twice…i must say i rate coughlan very highly he was injured at the start of the year but has a lot of potential and will get more game time next year with foley out of the equation…

[farmerinthecity]

Munster rugby thread.

Can we talk about Leinster, Connacht or Ulster in here?

[The_Puke]

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Munster rugby thread.

Can we talk about Leinster, Connacht or Ulster in here?[/quote]

sure why dont you set up a thead for them

[farmerinthecity]

Sorry Puke but I have an inherent dislike for the majority of Munster rugby fans. It is so bad that everytime someone posts something about Munster I feel I have to bring it up. I recognise that there are a few genuine supporters out there who were brought up with rubgy but I just find the majority deeply obnoxious individuals who are jumping on the bandwagon. I am not necessarily calling you either way becuase I don’t know but Munster rugby fans are one of my many grievances…

[The_Puke]

@farmerinthecity

Sorry Puke but I have an inherent dislike for the majority of Munster rugby fans. It is so bad that everytime someone posts something about Munster I feel I have to bring it up. I recognise that there are a few genuine supporters out there who were brought up with rubgy but I just find the majority deeply obnoxious individuals who are jumping on the bandwagon. I am not necessarily calling you either way becuase I don’t know but Munster rugby fans are one of my many grievances…

i know what you mean…my eldest brother is one of them…he wouldnt cross the road to watch a munster or shannon match but since he started goin out with his bird a few years ago he has become their biggest fan…even though i would say he would struggle to name the starting team…i have found through my experiences most of the bandwagoners are the well to do yuppies who are there to be seen…i fairness most of the supporters(at least 75%) would be fans who would have a good grasp of the game…but sure with any team thats going well you are always going to have your fair share of glory gloryboys…

[farmerinthecity]

I have mentioned this before but a neighbour of mine in Leitrim, who is a renowned gobshite, is married to a burd from Limerick. He is a Munster rugby fan all of a sudden and wears Munster jersies in the local at home from time to time. This guy would never have seen a rugby ball when he was growing up, would never have played rugby yet all of a sudden because it is popular he proclaims himself as a Munster rugby fan and probbaly doesn’t even know the rules.

The country is full of fookos like that. I am not an expert on rugby and I don’t pretend to be but you can be sure that not every person in Munster has access to a rugby club and if they do most have only accessed it in the last ten years.

I had a discussion with a good mate a few months ago who is from Waterford. He said his Dad was a membr of the Munster supporters club for the last 20 years. There were fook all members 10 years ago but now there is a year waiting list for it apparently. What do you call that if not jumping on the bandwagon? Yet you hear the ‘Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God bullshit’.

Then you have the fookers in the pub. I am not from Munster and I couldn’t give a shite if they win or not. In fact I would like to see them lose just as just to piss-off the bandwagon jumpers who come out with their girlfriends and get fairly vocal and tell us to sshhh when O’Gara is taking a penalty 100 miles away. Fook right on off will ye…

Then of course you have people from Dublin who support Munster. What on earth is that about?

[Bandage]

I don’t like rugby all that much but I have an astute rugby brain and a consumate knowledge of the game all the same. If Leinster are playing Munster then I’m up for Leinster while not taking a defeat that much to heart. I watched the Magner’s League game on Setanta before Christmas and was happy enough that Leinster won but I know of 2 fellow Wexicans who hate Leinster and support Munster. Neither are bandwagoners or anything and both played with Wexford Wanderers right up while we were in secondary school and only quit when we were in college. I don’t get that myself.

[The_Puke]

i understand your point and i dont disagree but the same can be said for most sports…just look at the dubs in the football…what are the attendances in the league like…then come championship every gobshite is a fan…like i said earlier the better a team is doin the more glory glory boys your going have following it…to be honest i would rather be a munster have the fabase that they have now even with some of the spoofers that follow them than have only a couple of thousand hard core fans showing up for games…

[Juhniallio]

@The Puke

i understand your point and i dont disagree but the same can be said for most sports…just look at the dubs in the football…what are the attendances in the league like…then come championship every gobshite is a fan…like i said earlier the better a team is doin the more glory glory boys your going have following it…to be honest i would rather be a munster have the fabase that they have now even with some of the spoofers that follow them than have only a couple of thousand hard core fans showing up for games…

Nice anti Dub shite Puke. Name me a team that gets more followers in the league than the championship. Kerry fan’s are even proud that they ‘don’t travel til it’s september’.

[The_Puke]

@Juhniallio

Nice anti Dub shite Puke. Name me a team that gets more followers in the league than the championship. Kerry fan’s are even proud that they ‘don’t travel til it’s september’.

no team does…im just using the dubs as an example because they can easily fill croker for a championship match while there league attendances would be only a fraction of this…same for every county but they have the biggest fan base…

another reason for munsters growing fan base is that the game is far more high profile than it was 10 years ago…when munster used to only play a few interprovential matches each year…

[Rocko]

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]I have mentioned this before but a neighbour of mine in Leitrim, who is a renowned gobshite, is married to a burd from Limerick. He is a Munster rugby fan all of a sudden and wears Munster jersies in the local at home from time to time. This guy would never have seen a rugby ball when he was growing up, would never have played rugby yet all of a sudden because it is popular he proclaims himself as a Munster rugby fan and probbaly doesn’t even know the rules.

The country is full of fookos like that. I am not an expert on rugby and I don’t pretend to be but you can be sure that not every person in Munster has access to a rugby club and if they do most have only accessed it in the last ten years.

I had a discussion with a good mate a few months ago who is from Waterford. He said his Dad was a membr of the Munster supporters club for the last 20 years. There were fook all members 10 years ago but now there is a year waiting list for it apparently. What do you call that if not jumping on the bandwagon? Yet you hear the ‘Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God bullshit’.

Then you have the fookers in the pub. I am not from Munster and I couldn’t give a shite if they win or not. In fact I would like to see them lose just as just to piss-off the bandwagon jumpers who come out with their girlfriends and get fairly vocal and tell us to sshhh when O’Gara is taking a penalty 100 miles away. Fook right on off will ye…

Then of course you have people from Dublin who support Munster. What on earth is that about?[/quote]

In fairness there wasn’t much of a point to the Munster Supporters Club 10 years ago when all they were playing were interpros. At that time you should have supported your club, supporting the province would have been the equivalent to a Leinster GAA fan now. Fair enough head along to a Railway Cup game if you want but there’s no need to be in a supporters club.

I played the sport for quite a few years and to be honest I’d no time for Leinster since the very start. Much of that is down to the administration of the game which I posted about elsewhere. Leinster signed all these lads at the advent of professionalism and assigned them all to Blackrock or Mary’s or whoever and made zero effort to spread rugby to outlying areas on the northside of Dublin or in the rest of Leinster.

I played a couple of trial matches for Leinster at Under 18 and Under 20 Level and played some quasi-representative games but I’d have no affection for the province. Didn’t like the pricks I was playing with or against most weeks to be honest.

Don’t have any real basis for a preference for Munster but I just have far more time for them. Truth be told is that much of it owes to how easy it is to be unannoyed from afar. I think if I’d gone to college in UL or somewhere and had to put up with fake rugby fans all the time it would have killed me.

[The_Puke]

good result and a good performance last night…dougie seems to be getting into the run of things now, good to see him getting his first try he also got a savage turn over/steal at a ruck that was o driscoll-esque…some good performances from ronan and buckley especially and o leary and flannery both playing well despite playing very little rugby of late…the only two negatives to come out of it were the under performances of brian carney and kieron lewis…the double is still on…

[RaymondCrotty]

@The Puke

good result and a good performance last night…dougie seems to be getting into the run of things now, good to see him getting his first try he also got a savage turn over/steal at a ruck that was o driscoll-esque…some good performances from ronan and buckley especially and o leary and flannery both playing well despite playing very little rugby of late…the only two negatives to come out of it were the under performances of brian carney and kieron lewis…the double is still on…

thought munster were very impressive also. real hunger in their game. o’leary was excellent and varied his game well. should be the irish understudy to stringer imo. the scoreline was harsh on ulster though who showed some encouraging signs particularly in the first half. pity their lineout wasn’t functioning. o’connor looks a real prospect and ulster seem to have some young talent emerging which can only be good for irish rugby.

[The_Puke]

its official we are now the best team in europe…Munster top European rankings

Thursday, 27 March 2008 17:18
Munster are the best team in Europe, according to new ERC rankings published today.

Declan Kidney’s men are on 25 points, with Toulouse and Biarritz in second and third on 24 points. Leinster are ranked seventh, Ulster are 21st and Connacht at 33rd.

The draw for future Heineken Cup Pools will be based on the new merit based ranking structure, where points are awarded based on European performance.

Teams can earn between one and 11 points each season in the Heineken Cup, and up to five points in the European Challenge Cup, which will go towards their four season roll-over ERC European ranking.

Meanwhile, fitness concerns mean Munster have left a vacancy at centre in their side to face Connacht in the Magners League at the Sportsground on Friday night.

The game has been confirmed as a sell-out.

Munster (v Connacht): D Hurley; D Howlett, L Mafi, AN Other, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; T Buckley, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; A Quinlan, D Wallace, A Foley.

Replacements: F Sheahan, M Horan, P O’Connell, D Ryan/D Leamy, T O’Leary, R O’Gara, K Lewis/R Tipoki

surprised not to see payne involved…looks like he aint goin to be involved against gloucester

[Rocko]

The new rankings system makes sense. It certainly distributes the teams better, and they’re retaining the country protection (except for England and France) so there’ll still be the same geographic split.

Should create better balance in the pools, especially in the context of the two best runners up, but it will make for less interesting group stages. Still being more equitable should be the aim and that’s what this achieves.

Is Connacht v Munster on Setanta?

[dancarter]

live on setanta 2 rock, deferred on setanta ireland at 9.30 after the ulster ospreys game.

Munster played as well as they ever have in the magners league last week. Competition for places is ridiculous, I fear for connacht later

[The_Puke]

[quote=“The Puke”]
my selection
payne, howlett, tipoki, mafi, dowling, rodge, strings, axel, quinny, leamy, o connell, o callaghan, horan, flannery, hayes
subs: sheahan, mushie, mick, coughlan/ronan, o leary, warwick, carney
QUOTE]

in the light of the last two matches i can make a more informed opinion of what the team is likely to be:
15. dennis hurley
14. doug howlett
13. lafemi mafi
12. rua tipoki
11. ian dowling
10. ronan o gara
9. peter stringer
8. dennis leamy
7. david wallace
6. alan quinlan
5. paul o connell
4. donnacha o callaghan
3. john hayes
2. jerry flannery

1. marcus horan

subs:
16. frankie sheahan
17. tony buckley
18. mick o driscoll
19. anthony foley
20. tomas o leary
21. paul warwick
22. brian carney

i am not saying that is the team i would pick but i think it is the team kidney will probably pick…cant see payne playin as he hasnt had an outing since wasps i think…think foley on the bench is the right option as i quinlan is a certainty to start…i personally would like to see ryan on the bench ahead of o driscoll…

anyone else have an opinion on it