Our backs did well but they had zero platform to work with. Marmion and Poolman both went off with knocks which I hope are not serious because they were our two best players. We really need to recruit more/better/bigger forwards I've lost count of how many times we've being bullied at scrum or at line-out today it seemed to be the breakdown with no-one fronting up and piling in numbers. Very disillusioning.

23-03-2013: Munster 22-0 Conncht
26-12-2011: Munster 24-9 Connacht
06-05-2011: Munster 22-6 Connacht
26-12-2009: Munster 35-3 Connacht

That's not a catastrophie, just average

individualy most of our backs were ok + Faloon

The big step to cross is improving cohesion, one phase was a complete shame : Nobody at all at the ruck, the Munsterman was even hesitating 5 or 6 seconds to take the ball!! that was so incredible that our guy was without any protection on the attack, on the 22m line!

Creedence wrote:

sea_point wrote: Actually Murphy was one of the few players to come out of the game with any credit. Faloon did well too especially in the first half where he turned over some ball.

Serious questions about the planning, selection and the attitude,

Mul - again made absolutely no impact at eight he does not have the skill-set (pace/hands).
George - is not a second row for that level of game, auxiliary in desperate circumstances only.
Front Row - Wilko/JHW & White allowed themselves to be bullied for 55 minutes without any sign of a fight at all.

Way way way tooo passive, instead of absolutely smashing anything in Red for the first fifteen mins we sat back and gave them bloody carte blanche to fill their boots. At even 12-0 the game was over, and then with time up for the first half on the clock we give them a cheap extra three for good measure so we're three scores behind at half time...

Where was the leadership from the front tonight?

Badly missed McCarthy and Swifty for leadership. And not sure that the front rows problem wasn't largely due to what was behind them. I though Brett looked like he did a lot of work in the loose. JHW was poor all over.

Another thing regarding the leadership - this policy of kicking to the corners and not taking points is madness. We had three easily kickable penalties wasted. 22-9 and you're playing for a bonus point. Put them over and get a bit of momentum ffs. It is soul destroying looking at a 0 on the scoreboard.

100% agree, saw the same thing in other games. We needed some scores for the bit of pressure we had. Even 22-3 gets you up and running and gives you something to cling to. I'd agree regarding the defence far too passive early on especially, as for the 3rd try by Varley words fail me.

At least they showed enough resolve to deny Munster a bonus point which looked inevitable after 14 minutes. No problems with Rolland, there's always one or two things to contest but he's a good example of a ref who does his job with no fuss.

While the wins during the 6 nations improved the outlook slightly this game confirms how much work Pat Lam has in front of him.

This wasn't good enough. Treviso next week is a massive game in our season. We need to put our strongest team out from the start and be prepared to put our bodies on the line, if not I've just seen Treviso destroy Cardiff up front and they will do the same to us.

Creedence wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: 15-0 at ht. Game over already. Looks like another nil for Connacht in all honesty.

McSharry out and we are missing him. Mick Kearney should forfeit his weeks wages for his utter stupidity. As usual we have had opportunities which have gone astray for the lack of support runners. Scrum has gone fairly well but physically they are dominating, get McCarthy on now or else we might as well have left him at home.

That's 0 points from the three away interpro's this season. Really disappointing performance. Duffy, Murphy and Poolman were ok, that's about it. The forwards were pummelled. Faloon was the best of a bad lot and gave away how many penalties? Yet again Connacht come back after a break and are not up to speed. Game was won after 14 minutes.

That's 0 point scored in any inter-pro this season, which is nothing short of an absolute fupping disgrace...

A lot of the penalties against Faloon were interpretation, we were the team on the back-foot for 80+% of the game and refs do not give you benefit of the doubt. The penalty at halftime was JHW, Faloon was legal over the ball JHW was off his feet and didn't move...

sea_point wrote: Actually Murphy was one of the few players to come out of the game with any credit. Faloon did well too especially in the first half where he turned over some ball.

Serious questions about the planning, selection and the attitude,

Mul - again made absolutely no impact at eight he does not have the skill-set (pace/hands).
George - is not a second row for that level of game, auxiliary in desperate circumstances only.
Front Row - Wilko/JHW & White allowed themselves to be bullied for 55 minutes without any sign of a fight at all.

Way way way tooo passive, instead of absolutely smashing anything in Red for the first fifteen mins we sat back and gave them bloody carte blanche to fill their boots. At even 12-0 the game was over, and then with time up for the first half on the clock we give them a cheap extra three for good measure so we're three scores behind at half time...

Where was the leadership from the front tonight?

Badly missed McCarthy and Swifty for leadership. And not sure that the front rows problem wasn't largely due to what was behind them. I though Brett looked like he did a lot of work in the loose. JHW was poor all over.

Another thing regarding the leadership - this policy of kicking to the corners and not taking points is madness. We had three easily kickable penalties wasted. 22-9 and you're playing for a bonus point. Put them over and get a bit of momentum ffs. It is soul destroying looking at a 0 on the scoreboard.

Borders no.2 wrote: 15-0 at ht. Game over already. Looks like another nil for Connacht in all honesty.

McSharry out and we are missing him. Mick Kearney should forfeit his weeks wages for his utter stupidity. As usual we have had opportunities which have gone astray for the lack of support runners. Scrum has gone fairly well but physically they are dominating, get McCarthy on now or else we might as well have left him at home.

That's 0 points from the three away interpro's this season. Really disappointing performance. Duffy, Murphy and Poolman were ok, that's about it. The forwards were pummelled. Faloon was the best of a bad lot and gave away how many penalties? Yet again Connacht come back after a break and are not up to speed. Game was won after 14 minutes.

rossie wrote: mcshaz out and murphy in.

Actually Murphy was one of the few players to come out of the game with any credit. Faloon did well too especially in the first half where he turned over some ball.

Serious questions about the planning, selection and the attitude,

Mul - again made absolutely no impact at eight he does not have the skill-set (pace/hands).
George - is not a second row for that level of game, auxiliary in desperate circumstances only.
Front Row - Wilko/JHW & White allowed themselves to be bullied for 55 minutes without any sign of a fight at all.

Way way way tooo passive, instead of absolutely smashing anything in Red for the first fifteen mins we sat back and gave them bloody carte blanche to fill their boots. At even 12-0 the game was over, and then with time up for the first half on the clock we give them a cheap extra three for good measure (for JHW not rolling away) so we're three scores behind at half time...

Where was the leadership from the front tonight?

15-0 at ht. Game over already. Looks like another nil for Connacht in all honesty.

McSharry out and we are missing him. Mick Kearney should forfeit his weeks wages for his utter stupidity. As usual we have had opportunities which have gone astray for the lack of support runners. Scrum has gone fairly well but physically they are dominating, get McCarthy on now or else we might as well have left him at home.

mcshaz out and murphy in.

Muldoon at 8 is not ideal, can understand why they have brought George into the 2nd row but McKeown would be my choice at 8 after that. Either McCarthy is in or out, no point bringing him in with 15 minutes to go and we 20 points down. Apart from that the team and areas of the bench looks decent.

As most have said it's a decent side Connacht are putting out with some impact on the bench. Agree with OldSchool on George and Macca, but I'm actually surprised Macca is playing at all. Have Ireland thrown the player welfare policy out the window since it's done little of late helping with injuries? This game will be decided on what real influence ROG and the partnership of POC and DOC can exert. Think it's unrealistic to believe any of them could consistently have the impact they did 3-4 years ago, but an occasional reminder is always possible and Munster could use one from them in this game. A losing bonus point is certainly within reach and a poor performance from ROG could open the door for Connacht to get more.

Good Team
Backrow picked to complete at the breakdown with the current weather conditions a lot is going to be down to Rolland
Would like to see George @8 Macca starting and browne on the bench

connachtexile wrote:
As for Connacht why Muldoon at 8?!

Browne's the starting 6 now I'd say, so he might find himself playing all over the backrow next year.

We've the better backline by a country mile and some real impact players on the bench (Buckley Loughs Macca McKeon Fetu) but you'd fancy their starting pack over ours. At the very least we should be able to avoid the traditional blowout.

archer scrummaged and carried well against italy last week. dont be surprised if rog throws the shackles off and kicks connacht off the park. he tried v ospreys and was out by inches. its if they try to run the ball is where connacht might have joy.

I was pleasantly surprised about Archer but considering how I rated him before that it probably wasn't hard he seems to be improving though so fair play to him. ROG might have a great game to prove his doubters wrong for dropping him but I can't see it I don't think he has that X factor anymore.

As for Connacht why Muldoon at 8?! The last time he played there it wasn't a huge success. I know he needs game-time but bringing him back out of position is not the way to do it.

thats a decent team. wud prob prefer mckeon at 8 myself but its strong. scrum and lineout should be solid and backs pretty much full strength. weather will play its part but with 2 of the best kickers of a ball of the last 10-15 yrs on the pitch it should be an interesting battle. selection more than capable of a lbp. munsters approach will determine if there is more on offer.( assuming connacht turn up).