Surely three-in-a-row is out of the question?
Munster’s forthcoming tie against Llanelli is an intriguing match-up, in that it looks to test the old adage “forwards decide who wins the game, backs decide by how much”. Continue reading
Back on the bottom of the SpecSavers Fair Play League to boot
Munster’s preparations for their key back-to-back matches with the Llanelli Scarlets in the Heineken Cup were staggered by an unexpected loss to the Ospreys.
The thing about the record books is that they don’t draw a picture – they just record the score. In that light, a bonus-point loss to the second-placed team in the league away from home isn’t a bad result. In any other light, it was a terrible result. Continue reading
"Kick it into the corner, then maul it over. Else drop a goal."
Failing to get out of the pool stages of last year’s Heineken Cup was perhaps a blessing in disguise for Tony McGahan and his need to find replacements for Generation Ligind. The journey was always going to have to end somewhere but until then it was difficult for McGahan to jettison proven campaigners. Kidney’s silverware gave him the status to make some structural changes, notably introducing O’Leary and Hurley against Gloucester. McGahan’s status as an “outsider” without silverware meant he lacked the political capital to rock the boat too much. The fact that Munster finished the season by winning the league and beat Leinster in a match that mattered was very important for Dumper. Continue reading
With the second pick of the first round, Connacht select Ian Nagle, Munster Academy
Afficionados of American Football will be familiar with the NFL Draft. Each year in April, the best players from college are distributed amongst the 32 NFL teams in a manner designed to maximize competitiveness in the league: thus the team with the worst record gets the first choice in the first draft, and the team who won the last Super Bowl gets the thirty-second choice. It runs over seven rounds, so 224 players are selected. The last player selected is cruelly titled ‘Mr Irrelevant’, but funnily enough, that’s totally irrelevant to this article. Continue reading
Mallinder is the swimmer
So now, after just two weeks, there are only seven teams left unbeaten and some of the Pools are being to look tasty. Toulouse are still France’s finest, whilst Harlequins hold the flag for St George. Munster and Leinster are still there for the ‘oul sod’, but the Welsh continue their great start with all three still unbeaten – even if it took a 50m last minute kick from 20-year old substitute Matthew Morgan on his Heineken Cup debut to keep Ospreys afloat in Italy against Treviso. Continue reading
Gamblor seals the deal!
Northampton must be wondering just what they have to do to beat Munster in Thomond Park. The Liginds took everything they had, and after a marathon 41-phase endgame crawled out of the coffin and grabbed the win with a monster Gamblor dropgoal. RADGE! Continue reading
Digging Like a Demented Mole 