[quote=āMacā]Double standards me hole. Iāve little interest in soccer bar a passing interest in Leeds and keeping an eye on the Irish soccer team. Away from that Iād happily watch any other sport ahead of soccer. My point is purely that it was in both Munsters and the All Blacks best interests to have the match end as it did last night. Maybe that might explain why Warwick played an awful grubber through at the death when he knew time was up? Munster get a moral victory and the All Blacks keep their pride.
Out of interest anyway lads, how many players who started or came on last night were from Munster? Bar the 3 Kiwis, Ronan, Warwick and Dowling were the rest all originally from Munster?[/quote]
yeah 8 of the starting team would be from munster along with 5 (could well have been 6) of the subsā¦
not at all- only britain france & ireland play rugby in europe & they only have won 2 HC -1 more than ulster- that isnt that impressive ,either is losing to a b team who were on the piss since saturday in a meanignless friendly
[quote=ānorth county corncrakeā]yes, a little too predictable for my liking
still the verbose munter fans such as pukey will be ringing up des cahill talking about the history there last night[/quote]
OK so it probably wasnāt fixed, but it was so predictable. And when Warwick actually kicked the ball over the line to literally hand the win the ABs I was thinking to myself what the fuck is going on here. And then there was the lineout just before the end when Munsterās pack strolled up, even though they had just been told by the ref that there was 1 min 40 left. Some really strange stuff happened if they were really going for the win.
Someone called it a marketing excercis, which is apt in fairness. And at half time we had Irelandās first āliveā ad. I thought it was on from 7.
Munster are and have been magnificent over the last 10 years.
Last night was a pantomime. End of. Bore no relation to 78, maybe only in the fact the ABās B team were on the lash since Sat.
[quote=āAppendageā]OK so it probably wasnāt fixed, but it was so predictable. And when Warwick actually kicked the ball over the line to literally hand the win the ABs I was thinking to myself what the fuck is going on here. And then there was the lineout just before the end when Munsterās pack strolled up, even though they had just been told by the ref that there was 1 min 40 left. Some really strange stuff happened if they were really going for the win.
Someone called it a marketing excercis, which is apt in fairness. And at half time we had Irelandās first āliveā ad. I thought it was on from 7.
Munster are and have been magnificent over the last 10 years.
Last night was a pantomime. End of. Bore no relation to 78, maybe only in the fact the ABās B team were on the lash since Sat.[/quote]
true - last night was a victory for NZ B team on the pitch, the corporate creation that is Munster rogbee off the pitch but most importantly it was a win for addidas
[quote=ānorth county corncrakeā]hillarious stuff from the herald today, it said munster lifted us out of the economic gloom last night:D:D
im far from a rogbee fan but as this site is about opinions Ill give mine
as far as i can see this was a meaningless friendly for a new zealand team that had a bigger friendly on saturday,id say the new zealand b team had little knowledge about munster so wernt that pushed while the munter team had 30 years of so called history to fire them up, when munster got a lead NZ cranked it up a gear & got a facile victory. i cant believe some muldoons are talking about a b team beating munter in a meaningless friendly in a minority sport as a sense of history. hook said there are only 9 rugby countries in the world & we are 8 out of those 9
leinster get bigger crowds than munter but at least they dont continually go on about how great they are which is one thing that I find off putting about munter - leinsterprobably have better fans as from the outside looking in munter fans just seem like self praising event junkies.The media are tripping over their own hyperbole in the rush to eulogize the Munster rugby team because it fills radio shows and sells papers & the lemming munter fans buy into the hype
to summarise a fired up team representing a recently energised corporate creating were beaten by a b team who were on the piss since saturday[/quote]
Rugby plays Test matches, they are not friendlies, itās the way they do it, end of story. You only get a chance to play the SH sides once a year usually(except world cup year) so they are big games.
And Leinster donāt go on about how great they are???
Well i spent 3 years ramming it down their throats after all their shit talk, whooops, sorry about that my Leinster friends, they talk more shit than every Gerry Ryan show put together.
The more people get wound up by Munsters success the more i appreciate it though, itās brilliant really.
I donāt think anyone is getting wound up about Munsterās success. Their are a fantastic outfit, but the out break of national masturbation over last nights charade is embarrassing. I think that is the point that that the ābegrudgersā are trying to make.
[quote=ādancarterā] I have no problem admitting that Munster rugby is a well oiled commercial machine.
Doesnt take from my enjoyment of the team.[/quote]
see this is why people outside of Munster rugby supporters cant get, just because they are a good team, we dont need to keep on hearing about tradition and all that guff. The corporate side of Munster is doing really well, portraying the team as āa team for the common man, unlike those nancy Leinster boysā when they are both of the same cut. hearing Hook last night go on about Thomand park and tradition and all that was cringing stuff.
fook all people gave a stuff about provincial rugby in the 80ās and early 90ās, and then suddenly we have a marketed tournament and a professional side and all of a sudden there are thousands of die hard supporters, all of whom were at the game in 78. how many were in Musgrave park in 89?
The munster team has been great IMO over the last few years, and to be honest, I really think they underachieved in this time too and didnt take full advantage of their positions. Ulster won one of hte first heineken cups, and I rember it in Lansdowne road as a mickey mouse set up and fook all people caring about it. but hten the marketing got into over drive and it was Munsters history and all that stuff.
As I said, Munster are a decent side, and have done us proud in the 'ken cup, but it doesnt mean they have to be looked upon fondly by those outside the province. The hype around them is akin to the Dubs, England soccer, etc. Be proud of them and what not if you follow them, but why do you expect others to think that a challenge game between 2 B sides is something to get overly worked up about. It was a good game, but it was like a lions team playing challenges mid week in NZ in 05 as Appendage points out. How much importance do people look at those games?
[quote=ācluaindiuicā] and the Munster NZ lads doing the hakaā¦
It just doesnāt work for me. It was all so hollow and choreographed.
.[/quote]
Some valid points, and I would rate both HEC victories, and beating Leinster in the semi as better than 1978.
Just on the point highlighted above. I think to say that it was choerographed is harsh and incorrect. The Maori take the haka very seriosuly and I dont think there is any way Tipoki, who captained the NZ Maori would have done it if he thought it was inappropriate. Apparently he got approval from his maori elders to perform it.
its unfair to the players to say the match was meaninglessā¦you didnāt have to be an expert on rugby to see both teams were putting their bodies on the lineā¦by the same token its obvious that Munster are far from a bunch of farmers who turn up to represent āda parishā like some would have you believe.
ā¦they are a very calculated and well marketed brand nameā¦its true that every winning team has a bandwagon like when limerick and waterford reached all-irelands but thats is hard to compare that to āthe Munster Familyā or āthe 16th manā garbageā¦its naive of people to dismiss a lot this corporate rather than culture criticism as begrudgery ā¦i can see why leinster fans complain as the ironic thing is a lot of stuff Munster fans once used to slag leinster about they have turned to themselvesā¦
[quote=āAppendageā] We in Ireland have a completely OTT view of the All Blacks and thier status within the game.
Go Munster.[/quote]
No we dont, the whole rugby world has the same opinion of the All Blacks. Im sure French fans count there vitorys over the AB as their greatest, ditto all the southern hemisphere rugby teams
What has it really got to do with where the players are from by the way. Are all Celtics players Scottish? Are all Shamrock rovers players from Miltown (or even Tallaght). No, but they are professional outfits, so they canāt rely purely on homegrown talent.
Just like Barcelona, Milan, Man U etc etc etc.
Bandage - Last night was a success. From a purely sporting point of view Munster got to see that underneath the āStarā players they have some quality young players who werenāt afraid of some serious opposition. James Coughlan, Tim Ryan, Niall Ronan, Barry Murphy, Donnacha Ryan Warick etc all played really well.
It was also a success for promoting Munster in the Rugby world, which is important for revenue. Revenue keeps the best players, the best p[layers compete for trophys every year, people like their team being competitive, people get a release from the rugby and the success. None of this is bad, like ye like to potray it.
Iām GAA first and foremost, and right here in my little part of the world i battle very hard (all the time) against rugby, to try and get my fellas more into hurling and football than rugby. Itās a struggle, but i donāt begrudge them one bit of it, Rugby has worked hard (and continues to do so) to get to the place itās in, in Ireland. They struggle as well, particulary from an volunteer point of view, so i have great respect for them. They are afterall providing a great social outlet to kids and young adults alike. More power to them.
surely thats a better barometer of how good they are than how they do in meaningless friendlies?
anyway as i said im not a rogbee fan but when the next bandwagon rolls into town & you & puke are declaring your undying love for whoever it may be & you & pukey are talking about what it means for irish sport please forgive my scepticsm