The UAFC

Shan wrote:

solidarity wrote:It is always really odd having the home support outsung by the visitors, but it was always going to happen today.

You hit the nail on head, D4. All we need is a Westie to agree and we've got a full house.

Unlikely to get it. Westies on a Nordie forum are even rarer than Ulster folk on this forum these days with an interest in rugby not involving Ulster.

No Ive no interest in that either.

Frank wrote: No Ive no interest in that either.

Yer special Baz.

Probably needless to say but shur I''ll say it anyway - Munster win yet another game they are expected to win. Munster allowed Connacht to think they had a chance but really a nothing game.

One more nothing game to get through and then the competition actually starts. Remains to be seen if there's 3 or 4 teams in the Pro14.

Well Munster extremely lucky to win that "nothing game". Looks likely their limit in this competition is the semis, same as the ECC.

Gerry Flannery and Felix Jones have both rejected contract offers from MunsterRugby.
Seems a bit like deja vu from last year at Ulster when everything is in flux.
I get the impression that their Staffa Coach is not entirely popular with the proud and faithful

Felix Jones is shitt so no great loss there.

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Aird wrote:Gerry Flannery and Felix Jones have both rejected contract offers from MunsterRugby.
Seems a bit like deja vu from last year at Ulster when everything is in flux.
I get the impression that their Staffa Coach is not entirely popular with the proud and faithful

Sounds like they walked rather than take a demotion.

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Well Munster has had a non-existent attack so Jones won't be missed. Not sure about Flannery but I'm not exactly crying at the news. That said I'm not convinced about Van Graan. Then again I'm not convinced we have enough players good enough to get to the summit anyway no matter what coaches are in place.

Sexton dropped

Dave wrote:Sexton dropped

Careful Now! Can’t expect Johnny to start 2 weeks in a row

Leinster won handy enough. 24-9.

So 2 weeks ago 2nd beat 3rd x 2 and this w/e 1st beat 2nd x 2.

Wouldn't it just be better if we just had a feckin league?

big mervyn wrote:So 2 weeks ago 2nd beat 3rd x 2 and this w/e 1st beat 2nd x 2.

Wouldn't it just be better if we just had a feckin league?

Quite right Merv. A league is a league is a league. All these other games are just money making nonsense.

Hard to know what exactly is going on down in Munster, certainly the rate of coaching churn that they have seen in the last few seasons isn't helpful (as we well know) - they seem to have thrown their lot in with Van Graan for good or ill, tbh you get the feeling that Jones was under pressure, Flannery was a bit of a surprise. The way JVG was so quick out of the blocks to talk about how they had both been offered improved terms smacked a bit of spin to me - I wouldn't be entirely surprised to find out that he has been engineering a clearing of the decks to instal his own team.

Bit of an odd season, looked very solid in defence but in the back end of the season lacked cutting edge and couldn't really live with the bigger sides. But then again, who can? I think a problem with Munster is a sense of entitlement among the fans, the truth is that they punched above their weight through the naughties, in the longer run they don't have the player numbers to be guaranteed to be competitive the way that Leinster do

Apparently on the off the ball podcast, O'Connor and Wood were going on about how the IRFU need to splash out on big-name NIQs (also hinting that surprise surprise Mathewson's contract may be extended further ), thankfully it seems like there's no chance of that (I say thankfully because the IRFU's been bailing them out hand over fist, presumably the message is "go away and start selling out games and paying us our loan back, and then we'll talk about [even more] South Africans"). Just the one player incoming this year so far, McCarthy to keep the scrum-half bench warm (poor move for him tbh, he should have come up here). And quite a few leavers, looks like they're under pressure to get their squad down to a more sensible number. I would say that our (relative) success this year is being used by Nucifora and co as a stick - "use your youngsters, like Ulster did"

The good thing for them is they have a really strong U20 cohort coming through - a lot of the stand-outs in the side that won the GS were Munster boys (Casey, Hodnett, Wren, Flannery, Wycherley, French), so you'd have to ask serious questions if they aren't making good progress over the next couple of seasons.

Atmosphere is toxic from what I'm hearing. VG is doing an EOS including coaching the alleged attack while Jones just nodded his head. Can't work under those conditions. Serious issues coming as VG is set in stone. Munster will be extremely lucky to maintain their number 2 position in terms of Irish provinces.

As for the good bunch of young lads.....Munster don't trust guys under 25 years old. Total joke.