The bould Axel, Gallimh, Rigney, Quinlan, serious fuckin boyosâŚ
Being from the middle of Clare meant I didnât get much sight of club rugby in Limerick, I remember passing Thomand Park in the car as a young lad and asking about it, always peaked my interest, father would never bring me to a match, he now hounds me looking for tickets
good man tonyâŚthem be fighting wordsâŚ
from rte.ie
Munster coach Tony McGahan has sent a chilling warning to the reigning championsâ Heineken Cup rivals: âWeâre getting betterâ.
A second European crown in three seasons, secured with a nail-biting 16-13 triumph over Toulouse, has helped establish the Irish province among the favourites for this seasonâs title.
Toulouse and Stade Francais may be held in higher esteem by the bookmakers, but Munster cast an equally ominous shadow over the competition.
Unbeaten in the Magners League this season, their 18-0 triumph at Irish rivals Leinster on Sunday was a clear statement of intent to their Celtic rivals.
Munsterâs chances of successfully defending their crown have been improved by the lack of any outstanding team from England, with France seemingly set to provide their greatest rival once more.
McGahan, who replaced new Ireland coach Declan Kidney over the summer, believes his side are reaping the benefits of a strong pre-season.
He said: 'Without a doubt weâre getting better and we should be. Weâve put a lot of work into where weâve been going. In the last couple of years weâve tried to evolve the way we play and this year weâve gone towards having a number of ways we can approach games.
'Itâs been a great start and full credit to the players, they came back in the pre-season and applied themselves - as you would be, coming back from winning a championship.
âWeâve been very fortunate in having the international players available, we had a great trip to Boston and the whole thing has flowed from there.â
History suggests Munster do not cope well as champions with their success in 2006 followed by an inglorious quarter-final exit inflicted by Toulouse the following season
But McGahan is adamant the lessons of that experience have been learnt.
He continued: 'You pick up experience and youâre hard on yourself after a loss. That day, in the quarter-final, we didnât turn up to play when it mattered, so this year weâre taking the approach that weâre just going to do our best every week.
âWeâve built a very strong squad over the last couple of years and now we feel we have real sense of urgency and a sense of pace on our part.â
Munster open their defence against unfancied French outfit Montauban, who face a daunting trip to redeveloped Thomond Park a week on Friday.
Montauban coach Laurent Labit knows the size of the challenge facing his underdogs.
âItâs rather difficult talking about Munsterâs strong points - itâs more important to try to find a weakness,â said Labit.
âTheyâve got a fantastic set of forwards who are strong and very physical, particularly at the contact area, where theyâve become world experts at offloading the ball.â
anyone else spot the error in itâŚ
What a bullshit piece! Werent Munster beaten by Llannelli last year after 2006, not Toulouse? And how is this history suggesting they dont do well the following year when they still qualified for a 1/4 final out a of a tough group and lost away to a Llannelli side unbeaten in the tournament at that point and who had beaten Toulouse away in the group stages?
As Roy Keane would say, âpoorâ.
well done mbbâŚspotted the same thing myselfâŚpicked up a nice few injuries that season which cost us against a llanelli team on fireâŚthey absolutely destroyed toulose in toulose the same yearâŚ
munster team for historic game sunday
from rte.ie
Anthony Horgan and Alan Quinlan return to the Munster team for the first time this season, for Saturdayâs Magners League encounter with Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park.
However Tomas OâLeary is a late withdrawal with a leg injury. OâLeary was named in the squad earlier in the week and now his place in the starting XV goes to Peter Stringer with Mike Prendergast drafted onto the bench.
Horgan and Quinlan bring a wealth of experience to the side having won over 300 caps between them for Munster and also back in the starting XV is Barry Murphy who teams up with Rua Tipoki in midfield.
Up-front Frank Sheahan replaces Jerry Flannery and Quinlanâs selection means Donnacha Ryan gets a well earned rest, forcing a reshuffle there with Justin Melck switching to openside and David Wallace at number 8.
On the bench Denis Fogarty, after a hugely impressive showing in the A sideâs victory over Leinster last weekend, provides the cover for Sheahan while Mick OâDriscoll, Niall Ronan and Kieran Lewis are other newcomers to the replacements from last weekend.
Munster XV to play Glasgow Warriors in the Magners League at Thomond Park on Saturday 4 October:
K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, R Tipoki, A Horgan, R OâGara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes; P OâConnell capt, D OâCallaghan, A Quinlan, J Melck, D Wallace. Replacements: D Fogarty, T Buckley, M OâDriscoll, N Ronan, M Prendergast, P Warwick, K Lewis.
bored at home said i would watch a bit of christian cullen in his primeâŚwhat an operatorâŚone of the greats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cDMXSB1Mss
Class act, on and off the field. Just a pity we couldnât have seen him free of injury here for a few seasons.
Christ thatâs a ridiculously complicated move that last one. Reminds me of when I played with a couple of stellar kiwis and first night in training I ran straight into one of the fuckers because we were copying this Crusaders move that Mehrtens had come up with and it was unbelievably complicated. Not in terms of what you had to do because itâs just moving the ball, but all the distractions and running lines and fake wraparounds and shite. Ended up knocking myself out bumping into the out half.
On Cullen, always liked him, thought he did well against Wasps in the famous semi-final despite high profile fuck-ups but not my favourite player by any means. He was blessed with serious pace and while heâs a much sounder guy than Campese for example, in terms of skill level thereâs no comparison. Used to get frustrated playing rugby when someone with physical attributes like speed or height even would play the game while being utterly mal-coordinated. Cullen of course wasnât like that, but his talents werenât as cerebral or brilliant as someone like Campese or Sella or Blanco (though Campo and Blanco are utter pricks).
Felt bad for him though at Munster - he was a class act alright, just suffered from too much too soon.
[quote=âtherock67â]Christ thatâs a ridiculously complicated move that last one. Reminds me of when I played with a couple of stellar kiwis and first night in training I ran straight into one of the fuckers because we were copying this Crusaders move that Mehrtens had come up with and it was unbelievably complicated. Not in terms of what you had to do because itâs just moving the ball, but all the distractions and running lines and fake wraparounds and shite. Ended up knocking myself out bumping into the out half.
On Cullen, always liked him, thought he did well against Wasps in the famous semi-final despite high profile fuck-ups but not my favourite player by any means. He was blessed with serious pace and while heâs a much sounder guy than Campese for example, in terms of skill level thereâs no comparison. Used to get frustrated playing rugby when someone with physical attributes like speed or height even would play the game while being utterly mal-coordinated. Cullen of course wasnât like that, but his talents werenât as cerebral or brilliant as someone like Campese or Sella or Blanco (though Campo and Blanco are utter pricks).
Felt bad for him though at Munster - he was a class act alright, just suffered from too much too soon.[/quote]
Well you had to go there and mention those two tossers, great players, but total wankers.
Yeah annoying isnât it - thought of two great backs, put them down on the screen and then remembered what complete cocks they are.
chris latham is another lad that I always thought was a classy full backâŚhe scored an absolute peach of a try against wales a few years agoâŚlatham nearly ended up at munster before they signed cullen but he got recalled to the australia side and decided to stay putâŚ
Cullen was a superb player but it was unfortunate for him that his spell with Munster coincided with that prolonged 5 or 6 year spell where they refused to pass the ball to their wingers or full back. I imagine heâd steer well clear of Munster if he had his time again but hindsight is 20/20 vision as they say.
Yeah heâs a smashing player and got better as time went on. Had a real resurgence just after the time Munster tried to sign him.
If Iâd to pick between Latham and Cullen then youâd say Cullen was more spectacular but Latham was the type of player youâd aspire to be. He was fast but not incredibly quick but his lines of running and his awareness of space is/was first class (think heâs in England now)? Probably suffered a bit from being behind Burke for too long and good as Burke was he wasnât as penetrative as a guy like Latham.
yeah he is playing for worcesterâŚcoolness personified would be how i would sum up latham never looked under pressure in anything he didâŚ
Maybe more unfortunate that his time at Munster coincided with the only period in his career when he was plagued with injury.
he was leading try scorer in the celtic league the one season he kept relatively injury free 04/05. He scored 10 tries in 21 appearances that year, rudimentary maths will tell you that is a strike rate of 1 in two games.
in all munster appearances his strike rate is 1 in 3 games.
This compares to Girvan Dempsey 1 in 4 approx, and Girve played with a team who tried to spread it at all times, and at all costs.
dont let the facts get in the way of the sterotype
Kelly, Horgan & Mike Mullins are 3 of top 4 all time Munster try scorers, two wingers and an outside centre/full back.
As I have said earlier on this thread Bandage, stick to the soccerball 
[quote=âdancarterâ]Maybe more unfortunate that his time at Munster coincided with the only period in his career when he was plagued with injury.
he was leading try scorer in the celtic league the one season he kept relatively injury free 04/05. He scored 10 tries in 21 appearances that year, rudimentary maths will tell you that is a strike rate of 1 in two games.
in all munster appearances his strike rate is 1 in 3 games.
This compares to Girvan Dempsey 1 in 4 approx, and Girve played with a team who tried to spread it at all times, and at all costs.
dont let the facts get in the way of the sterotype
Kelly, Horgan & Mike Mullins are 3 of top 4 all time Munster try scorers, two wingers and an outside centre/full back.
As I have said earlier on this thread Bandage, stick to the soccerball ;)[/quote]
Poor poor effort at a wind up Dan. Mullins might have scored tries but he wouldnât tackle a toasted sandwich.
average enough match last night, good win in the endâŚthe tries were well takenâŚthomond was looking well and there was great craic in the shannon bar afterwardsâŚ
shame about the weatherâŚ
Connacht could be about to spring a major surprise here nowâŚ
Ian Keatley is having the game of his life tonight for Connacht. Brilliant last ditch tackle there to stop a certain try.
Jeremy Staunton ruined all his good work by having a nightmare for Wasps yesterday. Missed a load of easy kicks and would have one the game if he had even converted half of them.