Surprised to see people bigging up the Munster performance yesterday - they looked mediocre to me, considering the Racing team that was put out, and the fact they were down to 14 so early. I predict a comfortable victory for Quins in the quarter.

Great to see Munster through. They did what they had to do. Hope they manage to turn Harlequins over too and then across to France for small matter of playing Clermont probably...

Borders no.2 wrote: Fair play to Munster they got the job done which is all they could do from their side of things. From the moment of the sending off the result was inevitable. Murray's try opened the floodgates.

Munster played well but the quarter final performance will be their acid test. The group and the fixture schedule fell nicely for them this year but it fell nicely for Leinster last year. The draw can throw up anything.

No chance of HC success this year but they have the capability to bring Harlequins to the wire and possibly nick that one.

Indeed, they had a much weakened Racing Metro and a benevolent referee to help though. Highlighted by Murray avoiding a yellow, he should definitely have seen time in the bin for his petulant trip on the RM scrumhalf after he had cleverly tipped the ball out of Murray's hands after a ruck.

Wouldn't argue with the Red, straight in front of him (like the Murray incident) it could only have been a red. Think they'll need to find another gear though to go to the Stoop and beat Quins. Mind you they'll have the Amlin 1/4 Final lossat Thomond a couple of seasons back to build the hurt...

Still think Leinster are our best bet for HEC next season, if they can get past Wasps...

swift4prez wrote: honest question, i wonder if leinster failed to get out of the group stages of the heineken next year, how many people will they lose from the bandwagon?

Fewer than Munster lost this year is the gaps at Thomond in the Pro 12 are amything to go by. And I dare say they'll give the Amlin more respect than Munster did a few years ago.

Fair play to Munster they got the job done which is all they could do from their side of things. From the moment of the sending off the result was inevitable. Murray's try opened the floodgates.

Munster played well but the quarter final performance will be their acid test. The group and the fixture schedule fell nicely for them this year but it fell nicely for Leinster last year. The draw can throw up anything.

No chance of HC success this year but they have the capability to bring Harlequins to the wire and possibly nick that one.

Munster got a solid win today but I wonder if like the last game of the group last year they have flattered to deceive to some extent? Plus in both cases the opposition threw the game to some extent (much more this time than last, but even last year Northampton lost their heads).

Glad Keatley did well though de should have started all the group games, or the home ones at least.

great game today, lovely to watch, im giving munster more hope then before. CLEARLY keatley is the man at out half, pulled the strings. his kicking from the tee was a bit off, this the posts twice.
made few tackles, that could of been trys.
ill be disappointed if rog comes back in, his time is up.

on a side note, from faceook, twitter and few other places, i dont see any munster fans laughing at leinster, but there is a lot of shite spoken by leinster 'fans' about how munster didnt deserve go threw etc etc bullshit!

honest question, i wonder if leinster failed to get out of the group stages of the heineken next year, how many people will they lose from the bandwagon?

well keatley is readying his self as i type for his first start in the 10 jersey in the hec at thomond parl.

its the biggest game of his career to date and the atmosphere is going to be eletric. even for s sunday game it will ne electric and the pressure to deliver is going to be huge. hopefully he responds positively to it and doesnt worry about jj on bench.

heres hoping for another magic thomond moment!

oh rog got a 1 wk suspension for his child like kick on cox.

sea_point wrote: Two pronged really, Kidney woefully guilty of ignoring the academy and flogging his senior squad, and then investment in the redevelopment of Thomond which coincided with the core of the squad heading into retirement (Fla, Wally, Bull, Dowling, O'Driscoll, Leamy & Quinny) and not having the money to bring in quality replacements...

When was the last Marquee overseas signing by Munster (Jean De Villiers?). Don't think the signings since him has remotely the same cachet and they haven't been in a position to sign players of the quality of an Elsom (in his prime) or a Brad Thorn (at any stage). With respect to Botha he'd already been in country for three seasons so I don't consider him to be a marquee signing.

From an Ireland perspective longer term it does mean of course that young IQ players are seeing more game time, but it doesn't help Munster short term...

Good point about the redevelopment SP... hadn't even entered my head.

Diom wrote: Let's hope.

Still though I hate to see Irish provinces falling apart like the way Munster are doing this year. They have the investment to compete on multiple fronts. It looks like the result of not allowing younger leaders to emerge over the years. Still it is likely only temporary.

Two pronged really, Kidney woefully guilty of ignoring the academy and flogging his senior squad, and then investment in the redevelopment of Thomond which coincided with the core of the squad heading into retirement (Fla, Wally, Bull, Dowling, O'Driscoll, Leamy & Quinny) and not having the money to bring in quality replacements...

When was the last Marquee overseas signing by Munster (Jean De Villiers?). Don't think the signings since him has remotely the same cachet and they haven't been in a position to sign players of the quality of an Elsom (in his prime) or a Brad Thorn (at any stage). With respect to Botha he'd already been in country for three seasons so I don't consider him to be a marquee signing.

From an Ireland perspective longer term it does mean of course that young IQ players are seeing more game time, but it doesn't help Munster short term...

Let's hope.

Still though I hate to see Irish provinces falling apart like the way Munster are doing this year. They have the investment to compete on multiple fronts. It looks like the result of not allowing younger leaders to emerge over the years. Still it is likely only temporary.

watched the end after i seen a friend, munster man giving out on facebook. they were clueless.
well rte, bad choice about games tonight,

munster lost 2 from 2 in musgrave this season. end of march it will be 3 from 3 :evil:

that was utter sh**** tonight.

absolute crap and totally unacceptable.

mr penney its time you and your team started to earn your money. all that talk of attacking space is just bol**x if yor team dont man up and apply themselves to the game.

a bit like ee here rog has earned the respect of everyone with an interest in munster. the reality is that hes been a major influence on everything that has been achieved in the 14 yrs of his pro career. he will be sorely missed. his contract is up in the summer afaik and hes playing for an extension like everyone else.

i dont think he will get a central contract. munster will prob give him one year on decent terms. and look at it again then.

the problem is that keats doesnt have the control at 10 that munster desire. his decision making isnt there and imo will never be. hes more instinctive but that brings its own problems. i think he will end up at 12 and be a very good one. hes big, strong, creative and loves to run. he can tackle too. at 12 the kicking is largely taken away from him which imo is his achilles heel. not technically but deciding when to and where to put it.

no one knows if jj will be the answer but his game is better suited to what munster require from a 10. i dont think hes ready yet which imo is why penney goes back to rog in big games.

Id prefer to see Keatley at 10 and jj at 12 or vice versa. Id keep rog on bench as insurance policy for tight games. He is a points machine and that cant be ignored.

+1

I think its a bad case of player power hurting the team unfortunately.

Id pref er to see keatley at 10 and jj at 12 or vice versa. Id keep rog on bench as insurance policy for tight games. He is a points machine and that cant be ignored.