European Champions Cup 2017/18: Pool 4

[munstermuffin]

Veainu broken jaw

Never wish an injury on any player but glad he is out next week so. An electric runner and he continued on after the clash. If Andrew Conway wasn't out and ref blew it up there may have been a try

 

[Which Tyler]

Just watched this, and...

 

[mosfeldt]

Great display. I have a good feeling about Van Graan. Next week will be his toughest challenge yet, will be very eager to see how it all works out away from home. Though the real challenges lie with the likes of Leinster, Clermont, Sarries, etc. Munster were distinctly second class in some of these fixtures last year. That said, given the injuries I was very impressed. POM, Cloete and CJ is a serious back-row.

I think Munster almost have the talent to compete at the highest level of Europe. I think our main problem is the lack of a truly class 10. Although Keatley had a solid performance last night I still wouldn't put my money on him against the likes of Sexton and Farrell. No decent back up 9 is also dangerous but at least Murray seems to be made of iron.

Feeling optimistic anyways, I think SFs for both leagues are very reachable. Feel a lot more at ease than earlier this season with the impending departure of Rassie and a few disjointed performances. Munster seem to be back on the right track. If we make it back to a SF in Europe this year and at least compete and not get rolled over like last year, then I will see that as a big improvement and would be pretty happy. Would love to see us in the Pro 14 final this year but I think it just might be a Glasgow Leinster showdown.

As for Castres Racing... I watched 20 minutes of it and I turned it off. Comical, error-strewn, fragmented... pretty sloppy stuff. Castres winning is great for Munster at least. Munster should be able to beat Racing away from home. Would be pretty disappointed if we didn't.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Although Keatley had a solid performance last night I still wouldn't put my money on him against the likes of Sexton and Farrell.

That's a pretty high benchmark to be fair! Farrell and Sexton are perhaps the two best flyhalves in Europe. As a partnership, there aren't many the equal of Keatley and Murray.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I'm just after reading about all MO'C's *****ing post game. What a horrible man and terrible loser he is!

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I'm just after reading about all MO'C's *****ing post game. What a horrible man and terrible loser he is!

What comments? this one.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2017/1210/926272-leicester-boss-oconnor-takes-aim-at-cynical-munster/
"I thought we were poor, we didn't look after the ball well enough and we turned over the ball 20 times.
"Munster took their chances in the first half, they were very clinical and accurate. From there, they were very diligent and cynical - they killed the ball whenever we had opportunities.
"That made it hard for us to score. It's always the same here, you have to make sure you are accurate. They are very committed and you have to be more accurate."

That's pretty tame TBH.
Not like that was a bad thing from a munster POV or insulting.

God the Irish press are spinning a yarn with the headline and comments on there are going a bit stupid.





And if it is the conway thing, if you look at the tigers forums pretty much every tigers fan agrees with him. Personally i think it was reckless but an accident.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

What comments? this one.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2017/1210/926272-leicester-boss-oconnor-takes-aim-at-cynical-munster/
"I thought we were poor, we didn't look after the ball well enough and we turned over the ball 20 times.
"Munster took their chances in the first half, they were very clinical and accurate. From there, they were very diligent and cynical - they killed the ball whenever we had opportunities.
"That made it hard for us to score. It's always the same here, you have to make sure you are accurate. They are very committed and you have to be more accurate."

That's pretty tame TBH.
Not like that was a bad thing from a munster POV or insulting.

God the Irish press are spinning a yarn with the headline and comments on there are going a bit stupid.





And if it is the conway thing, if you look at the tigers forums pretty much every tigers fan agrees with him. Personally i think it was reckless but an accident.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ru...ses-conway-over-veainu-s-broken-jaw-1.3322096

"[Conway] smashed [Veainu] in his face with his head," said O'Connor.

What exactly are you saying?

"You saw it, I saw it. Duty of care, isn't there?"

He's implying Conway did it on purpose to me, ******* brainless thing to say when Conway went off concussed!

"Hopefully there is a reciprocal home game arrangement," O'Connor added in reference to the refereeing. "There was a lot of stuff that went on that was pretty harsh. There was a blatant incident of killing the ball in the first half when we had momentum. That was probably a yellow card. We kick three and we're still in the game."

That's a stupid way to start that sentence too, don't praise Munster for being cynical and playing the ref if you are going to undermine it and imply there was an agenda against you. Blaming everything but himself as per, reeks of when he complained at press conference after press conference that the reason he couldn't get the best squad in the pro12 into the top for was because of the IRFU player welfare system handicapping him.

They're not the worst things he's ever said but they epitomise the reasons he'll never be successful as a head coach.

 

[curtbob7]

What comments? this one.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2017/1210/926272-leicester-boss-oconnor-takes-aim-at-cynical-munster/
"I thought we were poor, we didn't look after the ball well enough and we turned over the ball 20 times.
"Munster took their chances in the first half, they were very clinical and accurate. From there, they were very diligent and cynical - they killed the ball whenever we had opportunities.
"That made it hard for us to score. It's always the same here, you have to make sure you are accurate. They are very committed and you have to be more accurate."

That's pretty tame TBH.
Not like that was a bad thing from a munster POV or insulting.

God the Irish press are spinning a yarn with the headline and comments on there are going a bit stupid.





And if it is the conway thing, if you look at the tigers forums pretty much every tigers fan agrees with him. Personally i think it was reckless but an accident.

Hahahaha! Some of the comments on there. Poor headline I agree.

'Money doesn't buy you everything'...yeah but having the Irish national team split between 3 clubs rather than 8-9ish for the English helps and players contracts being funded centrally too. It works both ways. It isn't a level playing field either side of the Irish sea.

 

[Groundhog]

Think it's more the suggestion that Conway and Veainu clashing heads was dirty or a high tackle which is insulting. Both players won't play next week and it's an unfortunate rugby injury. Comes across as a complete *** calling us cynical before vowing to do the same if possible. For the record an honest backrow is like a pacifist in a war.
That said any articles rubbing it in faces are classless too. Media giving teams ammunition to get fired up for the return fixture has blown up in teams' faces so many times before. Just take the Perpingan fella a few years back saying playing Munster was like playing an amateur team after Munster won narrowly in Thomond, before Munster went to France and humped them by 30 the next week.

 

[curtbob7]

Think it's more the suggestion that Conway and Veainu clashing heads was dirty or a high tackle which is insulting. Both players won't play next week and it's an unfortunate rugby injury. Comes across as a complete *** calling us cynical before vowing to do the same if possible. For the record an honest backrow is like a pacifist in a war.
That said any articles rubbing it in faces are classless too. Media giving teams ammunition to get fired up for the return fixture has blown up in teams' faces so many times before. Just take the Perpingan fella a few years back saying playing Munster was like playing an amateur team after Munster won narrowly in Thomond, before Munster went to France and humped them by 30 the next week.

Don't agree with O'Connors comments but wouldn't have minded him slating the ref a bit.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

They're not the worst things he's ever said but they epitomise the reasons he'll never be successful as a head coach.

Bar winning the Prem and the Pro 12.

You might not like him as a coach but how many head coaches have won the Prem and the Pro 12?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Bar winning the Prem and the Pro 12.

You might not like him as a coach but how many head coaches have won the Prem and the Pro 12?

He wasn't the head coach winning the prem. And he won the pro 12 with an outrageously strong squad.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pro12_Grand_Final

Look at the teams, it was 3 and a half years ago so many of the older Leinster heads were in their prime while Glasgow were very very raw, that Pro12 is as much a testament to the work Schmidt did in bringing players through in his three years as it was anything MOC did. Don't forget Toulon utterly embarrassed us in the Heineken Cup after us missing a home quarter due to losing at home to Northampton. The longer he stayed the worse it got and that was the impression I got from his first stint at the Tigers also.

He's got the pro12 on his CV but failing to make the playoffs in his ***le defence with the most impressive performance of that season being pushing an underperforming Toulon to extra time says a lot more about any success he could achieve going forward than a Pro12 ***le in a much weaker league than we have now!

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

He wasn't the head coach winning the prem. And he won the pro 12 with an outrageously strong squad.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pro12_Grand_Final

Look at the teams, it was 3 and a half years ago so many of the older Leinster heads were in their prime while Glasgow were very very raw, that Pro12 is as much a testament to the work Schmidt did in bringing players through in his three years as it was anything MOC did. Don't forget Toulon utterly embarrassed us in the Heineken Cup after us missing a home quarter due to losing at home to Northampton. The longer he stayed the worse it got and that was the impression I got from his first stint at the Tigers also.

He's got the pro12 on his CV but failing to make the playoffs in his ***le defence with the most impressive performance of that season being pushing an underperforming Toulon to extra time says a lot more about any success he could achieve going forward than a Pro12 ***le in a much weaker league than we have now!

Technically he was head coach at tigers, Cockers was DOR in 2013.

That wasn't THAT strong where is the wonderful Sexton? Define prime becuase 30+ years old isn't really the prime of a lot of players TBH. Just saying.
Kearney
BOD
Darcy
Reddan
Heaslip
Jennings
Toner
Ross
Cronin
Healy
Cullen
O'Brien
Boss
MOC brought in Gopperth, Kirchner and Fanning.

All had Irish caps before Schmidt even arrived if anything Schmidt benefited from Chiekas work and development and rode there coat tails to victory leaving pretty old squad left. (Come at me bruh).

I think most people would say the opposite about MOC when he left Tigers on the whole. (The issue was younger players game time which was similar to Leinster), after he left our attack went to **** pretty much. (Burke wasn't ready).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Technically he was head coach at tigers, Cockers was DOR in 2013.

That wasn't THAT strong where is the wonderful Sexton? Define prime becuase 30+ years old isn't really the prime of a lot of players TBH. Just saying.
Kearney
BOD
Darcy
Reddan
Heaslip
Jennings
Toner
Ross
Cronin
Healy
Cullen
O'Brien
Boss
MOC brought in Gopperth, Kirchner and Fanning.

All had Irish caps before Schmidt even arrived if anything Schmidt benefited from Chiekas work and development and rode there coat tails to victory leaving pretty old squad left. (Come at me bruh).

I think most people would say the opposite about MOC when he left Tigers on the whole. (The issue was younger players game time which was similar to Leinster), after he left our attack went to **** pretty much. (Burke wasn't ready).

Aight, I didn't know that, you can have it if you really want to but then you're admitting Cockers was just a passenger!

I'd say Cullen, BOD, Boss and Reddan were past their prime, Beard D'Arcy year was probably the second best of his career. Sexton and Nacewa were losses from a side who'd won four competitions in three years. And Schmidt brought Gopperth in, possiblity Kirchner too. Fanning is the reason Cian Kelleher is a Connacht starter these days while he owns a healthy food restaurant... He wasn't a professional quality player. Schmidt got far more out of Madigan, brought McFadden and DK into the backline too, O'Malley was developed by Joe before his injury, Cronin, Ruddock, McGrath, Moore, McCarthy, Dom Ryan, Strauss and Toner all saw massive development when playing for Schmidt.

MO'C played Fanning, Mick McGrath, Jack Conan Tadhg Furlong, Te'o, he gave Marsh 15 minutes once... Along with Gopperth and Kirchner, Te'o was the only player who really became a starter under him He had plenty of backs who've found success in the province or elsewhere since then who he never gave a chance, it took Leo and Girv a year to sort out the lethargic play he introduced and they needed the help of Graham Henry and Lanc. The few positives in his two years were in the pack with the exception of Te'o, he's a backs coach!

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Veainu out for the season by the sounds of it.

 

[munstermuffin]

Veainu out for the season by the sounds of it.

Was a tough nut in that cold. If Andy wasn't out he was gone for try. It was pure accidental as every camera angle proved. MOC hadn't a clue either but Veainu is a tough nut

 

[Groundhog]

Hate to see it. One in, one out for the Tigers I suppose. Manu is apparently back.

 

[munstermuffin]

Hate to see it. One in, one out for the Tigers I suppose. Manu is apparently back.

I'd be happy for that. Veainu is an exciting runner. I think our defensive system is more suited to stopping an undercooked Tuilagi

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Toomua and Manu apparently might be back. (Focus on Apparently)

 

[munstermuffin]

Toomua and Manu apparently might be back. (Focus on Apparently)

Weren't both rumoured to be back last week too? Like say 3 weeks ago they were pencilled for Thomond Park