connachtexile wrote: seapoint wrote:

Lot of money at his age, but he needs to remember that the RFU incentivise the Clubs to primarily start English qualified players.....

Jumping too early could seriously hurt his career....

The flipside of that is Ian Nagle who turned down a move to Northampton and spent another two seasons in Munster rotting away before moving to England anyway with severely diminished stock. Foley has only played Hanrahan twice this season. If I was him I'd go for it nothing stopping him coming back in a few seasons.

I hear you, but there are other provinces too and moving to them keeps him in Joe Schmidt's shop window, so won't hinder his Ireland Squad chances in the future. Ulster will be in need of competition to young Jackson soon enough, another young 10 who is yet to convince fully.. Baby Humph at 33 next April, so isn't exactly a young pup any more. There a few Leinster lads up there already as well.

Never mind the Northampton offer (he isn't wasn't built for the slog of Premiership Rugby anyway), not moving to another Province was what did for Nagle's development...

he's a decent player but probably not good enough for Munster at 10 or big enough to play center. Is Gopperth twice as good as him, going on what I've seen then yes, I don't know what it is about Gopperth at Leinster but he makes some great line breaks but rarely seems to find or pass cleanly to a player on his shoulder. I think he'd be an asset at any club, can't say the same thing for JJ, Munster and the IRFU would be crazy to offer him anywhere near a 190k contract. I mean what is Henshaw on now, my guess is no more than 100k.

I'm sure ther is a bit of agent play acting.

However, clearly Foley doesn't see JJ the way Lam sees Carthy. The IT article stated that JJ is very much his own man, I haven't heard, but I wonder is he difficult to manage/coach. Is he positive in the dressing room? Everyone in Munster seems to rate him except perhaps two sets of a management. There must be more to it. He has never impressed me as a rugby player that much!

Btw, if JJ is being offered €190k and Jimmy G being offered €300k, then either Wasps are nuts (a reasonable suggestion) or JJ is undervalued, and not being recognised as a potential starting 10...doesn't make sense; which is the benchmark.? I think he is just looking for a bit extra from Munster. I'd call his bluff!

If he does go, I assume that that'll be the end of my Munster mates only half jokingly eyeing up our promising home grown backs (for a while)?

We have a 23 year old out half, who came up through our club system, and was on the same Ireland U-20 squad as Hanrahan. He's far from the finished article, but he's being mentored, trusted, and he's showing signs that he's learning from his mistakes.

It'll be interesting to see how both have developed in two or three years.

It's easy to forget that Carty has only been playing regularly for 3 months (after a year or two as understudy to the holder of the pro-12 points scoring record). I was as doubtful about him as anyone earlier this season, but after his initial brain fart against the Scarlets he showed great potential (if again making some daft decisions at times).

It's clear by now that Foley doesn't rate him, so why wait there when he could be third choice once Bleydendaal is fit? For that money Northampton obviously want him to start.

rossie wrote: GT reporting in times that JJ is contemplating 190k move to Northampton.

Lot of money at his age, but he needs to remember that the RFU incentivise the Clubs to primarily start English qualified players.....

Jumping too early could seriously hurt his career....

GT reporting in times that JJ is contemplating 190k move to Northampton.

clanman wrote: it's ironic that Connacht arguably have the strongest backline of the 4 provinces, McSharry and Henshaw would be 1st choices at the other provinces. I thought the forwards did just enough but the backs let them down.

When Munster have Denis Hurley at 12, they can't really expect to compete with the biggest clubs.
His stats for Saturday, 5 runs for 10 Metres and two defender beaten...on 65% possession overall for Munster are simply nowhere good enough at this level especially for a player with his experience. That he ever got an Ireland cap is entirely down to Kidney.....

Howard is only off the plane a wet week really and bedding in, so outside the lump Hurley and against a great all French centre partnership [in Fofana and Rougerie] he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt...

But you could have played anyone in the back three outside this duo on Saturday, and it wouldn't have made a difference. The half backs were themselves hindered by the packs inability to get to grips with the Clermont pack, but that doesn't excuse Murray's awful box kixking.

Not sure what Axel's vision for Munster back-play is, but get the feeling it's not far off the turgid nonsense that passed for back-play that won Deccie his first HEC in 2006...

it's ironic that Connacht arguably have the strongest backline of the 4 provinces, McSharry and Henshaw would be 1st choices at the other provinces. I thought the forwards did just enough but the backs let them down.

I'm not blaming penny. We didn't front up and they did. Penney ball didn't work because we don't have the culture or players to play that way. The reason we resorted to Penney ball is because our pack didn't seem to want to go at them. They went at leinster and saracens and found yards. On Saturday they made it easy for a very good and aggressive clermont defence. When they did go at them they found yards but their handling left them down at vital times. Munster rugby is all about the pack and aggression. We were found wanting in both departments on Saturday which is most worrying.

Agree with you to some extent Rossie, but Munster rugby people can't lay that one at the feet of Penney. Foley has been underwhelming to be frank this season. I know they've been unlucky with Bleydenhall, but their backs outside of Murray, Zebo, and to a lesser extent Jones have been non-threatening. They've recruited poorly: Smith and Howard are journeymen at best. He's going to have to play Hanrahan next week, and he's going to have to hope Copeland is fit to start too.

Yep. An absolutely terrible start which saw them scoring 2 very soft tries in first 15 min set the tone and some terrible ball handling ensured that we never got any momentum going in the game. Our kicking game let us down also and concentration levels were nowhere near where you would expect them to be. Inspite of all of the above the most disappointing part and most worrying is that our pack never fronted up until last 10 min. Instead we played what we used to call penny ball which played right into their hands. They had 35% possession and were comfortable which says everything about penny ball.

Munster behind the 8 ball in their pool now after defeat at home to Clermont. Away to Clermont next week followed by an away trip to Saracens, they'll have to win at least one of them to keep their hopes alive.

Only heard the last few minutes on the radio but by the sounds of it Clermont were deserving of their victory. Clermont let themselves down in the semi-final last year and really left the final behind them the year before. This is a big marker to put down but they've a lot of work to do yet just to get out of the group.

Saracens were pushed all the way by Sale today but held out.

Clermont have picked up 5 points in the away games against Saracens and Munster. With their formidable home record they'll fancy their chances.

Western Province centre Pat Howard is set to join Munster Rugby on a three-month contract.
The 22 year-old South African will join the province later in the month subject to passing the normal medical procedures.

GTTC wrote: I was highly impressed by munster tonight. I shall eat my hat as never saw that result coming.

Likewise, and they should have won it even more convincingly but for the missed kicks. They physically dominated Saracens at the collisions and breakdown like the Munster of old tonight, although it has to be said that Saracens did not look at their best.

I was highly impressed by munster tonight. I shall eat my hat as never saw that result coming.

Addedly happy was saracens lost. Can not warm to that club at all