Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="snoopy snoopy dog dog" data-source="post: 375369" data-attributes="member: 13611">Don&#039;t want to hijack the Buckley to Sale thread.That I can believe.In some ways, Munster are very unfortunate. Once Simon Best was forced to retire, Hayes and Buckley were the only semi competent tightheads available to Ireland. As such the IRFU had to contract both of them. Having two Ireland contracted players at Munster meant the IRFU were never likely to sanction Munster bringing in a better tighthead who might take either of those players places. Meanwhile Leinster and Ulster who weren&#039;t restricted in such a way managed to bring in World Cup winning tightheads CJ van der Linde and BJ Botha to fix their scrums. Two years ago Munster weren&#039;t in a position to repatriate Mike Ross so Leinster stepped in and it has worked out brilliantly. Now that Buckley has moved on and Hayes is likely to retire, Munster should be free to sign whoever they want. I&#039;m ust a bit ****** off that it appears to be Leinster&#039;s best tighthead who is in their sights.What are Munster&#039;s other options (apart from Mike Ross)? Of the players on their books, Peter Borlase hasn&#039;t impressed so far but he needs time to settle in. He can&#039;t be properly judged until next season in my opinion. Even if he does improve, Munster need somebody to compete with him for the 3 jersey. Stephen Archer isn&#039;t up to much. Dave Ryan is a better loosehead than tighthead. I know nothing about their academy players Pa O&#039;Regan and Alan Cotter but both are approaching their mid-20s and haven&#039;t yet made a breakthrough. Any truth to the BJ Botha rumours from about a month ago?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="snoopy snoopy dog dog, post: 375369, member: 13611"] Don't want to hijack the Buckley to Sale thread. That I can believe. In some ways, Munster are very unfortunate. Once Simon Best was forced to retire, Hayes and Buckley were the only semi competent tightheads available to Ireland. As such the IRFU had to contract both of them. Having two Ireland contracted players at Munster meant the IRFU were never likely to sanction Munster bringing in a better tighthead who might take either of those players places. Meanwhile Leinster and Ulster who weren't restricted in such a way managed to bring in World Cup winning tightheads CJ van der Linde and BJ Botha to fix their scrums. Two years ago Munster weren't in a position to repatriate Mike Ross so Leinster stepped in and it has worked out brilliantly. Now that Buckley has moved on and Hayes is likely to retire, Munster should be free to sign whoever they want. I'm ust a bit ****** off that it appears to be Leinster's best tighthead who is in their sights. What are Munster's other options (apart from Mike Ross)? Of the players on their books, Peter Borlase hasn't impressed so far but he needs time to settle in. He can't be properly judged until next season in my opinion. Even if he does improve, Munster need somebody to compete with him for the 3 jersey. Stephen Archer isn't up to much. Dave Ryan is a better loosehead than tighthead. I know nothing about their academy players Pa O'Regan and Alan Cotter but both are approaching their mid-20s and haven't yet made a breakthrough. Any truth to the BJ Botha rumours from about a month ago? [/QUOTE]

Verification