THE ARRIVAL OF Gloucester Rugby to Thomond Park will always invoke memories of the Miracle Match.
Rob Penney’s men paid a fitting tribute to the Heineken Cup classic, which took place over a decade ago, by putting four tries on the board against the Premiership side.
A 28-17 victory in Limerick, with a debut try for winger Andrew Conway, was the perfect preseason start for Munster. CJ Stander, who will definitely registered to compete in this season’s Heineken Cup, also dotted down while JJ Hanrahan scored under the posts and knocked over two conversions.
Penney used 33 players in total and will have been impressed with performances from players such as Ivan Dineen, Casey Laulala and Niall Ronan.
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Gloucester hit the front through Jimmy Cowan, after Munster’s Johne Murphy had a try chalked off. The home side responded well and Ian Keatley was the backline catalyst for a crossfield move that saw Conway dive over in the corner.
The winger, signed from Leinster in the summer, went off immediately afterward but the club confirmed to TheScore.ie it was a purely precautionary substitution after he sustained a dead leg. Conway later thanked his new supporters for their vociferous support.
Dineen and Laulala combined to tee up Denis Hurley for Munster’s second try. With his side leading 14-5 at the break, Penney made a raft of changes and was rewarded when Hanrahan, one for Keatley, touched down. Stander dived over after a rolling Munster maul before Gloucester responded with a late consolation.
Connacht’s preseason sweep of matches is now at an end and Pat Lam, after three games, has yet to experience the winning feeling. Craig Clarke started in the second-row for the westerners and Newcastle Falcons led 6-3 at half-time.
Second-half tries from Ryan Shortland and Andy Higgins settled the tie in the favour of the newly promoted Premiership side. There was the consolation of a late try, in the righthand corner, for Connacht back-row Willie Faloon.
Lam and Connacht will now hit the training ground in Galway over the coming weeks with a victorious start to the RaboDirect Pro12 season the goal. First up at the Sportsground are Italian side Zebre.
Did Munster field a reasonably strong team. Compared to the teams ulster and Leinster put out? What’s the thoughts behind those two fielding second string sides and Munster fielding a team with first choices in it.
And before this gets silly can Elrat please not reply as I’m not interest in anything you have to say.
@ chris same sheit out of you already. no kilcoyne no botha no o’connell no ryan no o’mahoney no o’donnell no murray no earls no zebo no downey no dave o’callaghan so no it wasnt a strong team considering he used 33 players on the night.
Lads your picking this up all wrong. I was only asking if there a reason that the other two seemed to be playing without many players (who didn’t tour with the lions). Not having a go because Munster fielded a decent team.
I was disappointed that Leinster played so many young players all at the same time, I know it’s great to get them on the pitch but they would learn far more with some of the big boys about, ala what Munster did.
We will have some banter as always this season lads but this comment wasn’t ment to be part of that.
I didn’t pick it up that u were having a pop Chris if its any consolation. :-) Munster did field a much weakened side afterall using 30 odd players. Noises coming out are that the younger players adjusted more quickly to Penney’s game plan and that they may feature more this season. This was Penney’s way of showing that I guess…
I was trying to say Munster fielded players who will feature when the serious stuff starts which is a big help to the younger players while the other two didn’t really do that.
If anything it shows the progress Munster have made over the past few seasons when you take into account the players they left out. In the glory years strength in depth maybe wasn’t their strongest point.
If either Keatley or JJ step up you might be on to something.
Very interesting season ahead.
Was at the game.Munster changed the front row every 20mins.Had a whole New 2nd row for the 2nd half.Given the greasy conditions it was a livelier game than I expected.Munster dominated thruout with some great interplay between the backs and forwards.Andrew Conway looked lively.Only got about 20mins gametime before coming off injured.Took his try well from a beautiful pinpoint cross field kick from Keatley in spite of clearly carrying an injury at the time.Looked Luke Conway picked up a dead leg
Not worried, kinda glad you boys are getting your act together. A strong Munster drives everyone on. It’s no secret you set the standard but for a few years now you have not been good as you can.
Hopefully Munster get back to the standard they set a few years ago as its much sweeter to beat a strong Munster than a team in transition ( equally some times it’s ok to lose to a really good side too )
Losing the backbone of your team in such a short space of time will do that to any team. While we should have been better prepared we could not have foreseen the enforced retirements to Fla, Wally, Quinny etc. Things are definitely looking up with the newly established internationals like POM, ZEBO and Murray in there not to mention Tommy O Donnell, Sherry and Kilcoyne knocking on the door for Ireland, and all at such a very young age.
Leinster will no doubt have a smoother transition but the experience the Munster young lads gained reaching the Hcup semis last season is invaluable considering the age profile in the squad.
Here’s hoping Munster fans will try and keep some kind of classiness about them while Leinster get themselves together over the next few seasons and not engage in what has gone on here and on many other fora since 09. It’s a type of behaviour that is not becoming of the sport I was brought up with and has more of a place in the terraces of Millwall than what I experienced in the RDS and the Aviva.
The point was several of the players involved were young and/or club players. It allowed them exposure to stake a claim for a contract. They were involved in pre season all the way. It shows them that they can get a chance if they work at it and also allows management to look at players they may not have otherwise.
Well there are only two preseason games for a squad of 40 odd and the AIL doesn’t start for another month, so it would be beneficial for all involved to get some game time particularly the players who were on the bench yesterday as majority of them haven’t played a game in months.
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Munster are normally Gash in pre season… This is very encouraging.
Same old story for connaught so
Did Munster field a reasonably strong team. Compared to the teams ulster and Leinster put out? What’s the thoughts behind those two fielding second string sides and Munster fielding a team with first choices in it.
And before this gets silly can Elrat please not reply as I’m not interest in anything you have to say.
In that case Batman – GFY !!
Munster fielded a team minus lions and those that toured the us with Ireland.
@ chris same sheit out of you already. no kilcoyne no botha no o’connell no ryan no o’mahoney no o’donnell no murray no earls no zebo no downey no dave o’callaghan so no it wasnt a strong team considering he used 33 players on the night.
And a player that played for Richmond all last year in Munster J1….
Lads your picking this up all wrong. I was only asking if there a reason that the other two seemed to be playing without many players (who didn’t tour with the lions). Not having a go because Munster fielded a decent team.
I was disappointed that Leinster played so many young players all at the same time, I know it’s great to get them on the pitch but they would learn far more with some of the big boys about, ala what Munster did.
We will have some banter as always this season lads but this comment wasn’t ment to be part of that.
I didn’t pick it up that u were having a pop Chris if its any consolation. :-) Munster did field a much weakened side afterall using 30 odd players. Noises coming out are that the younger players adjusted more quickly to Penney’s game plan and that they may feature more this season. This was Penney’s way of showing that I guess…
I was trying to say Munster fielded players who will feature when the serious stuff starts which is a big help to the younger players while the other two didn’t really do that.
If anything it shows the progress Munster have made over the past few seasons when you take into account the players they left out. In the glory years strength in depth maybe wasn’t their strongest point.
If either Keatley or JJ step up you might be on to something.
Very interesting season ahead.
Was at the game.Munster changed the front row every 20mins.Had a whole New 2nd row for the 2nd half.Given the greasy conditions it was a livelier game than I expected.Munster dominated thruout with some great interplay between the backs and forwards.Andrew Conway looked lively.Only got about 20mins gametime before coming off injured.Took his try well from a beautiful pinpoint cross field kick from Keatley in spite of clearly carrying an injury at the time.Looked Luke Conway picked up a dead leg
Ah Mr shorts with shoes and white socks again.
That’s philip ryan btw
Chris sounds to me like someone who might be a little worried about what’s around the corner.
Not worried, kinda glad you boys are getting your act together. A strong Munster drives everyone on. It’s no secret you set the standard but for a few years now you have not been good as you can.
Hopefully Munster get back to the standard they set a few years ago as its much sweeter to beat a strong Munster than a team in transition ( equally some times it’s ok to lose to a really good side too )
Losing the backbone of your team in such a short space of time will do that to any team. While we should have been better prepared we could not have foreseen the enforced retirements to Fla, Wally, Quinny etc. Things are definitely looking up with the newly established internationals like POM, ZEBO and Murray in there not to mention Tommy O Donnell, Sherry and Kilcoyne knocking on the door for Ireland, and all at such a very young age.
Leinster will no doubt have a smoother transition but the experience the Munster young lads gained reaching the Hcup semis last season is invaluable considering the age profile in the squad.
Here’s hoping Munster fans will try and keep some kind of classiness about them while Leinster get themselves together over the next few seasons and not engage in what has gone on here and on many other fora since 09. It’s a type of behaviour that is not becoming of the sport I was brought up with and has more of a place in the terraces of Millwall than what I experienced in the RDS and the Aviva.
Now that is a clever wind up. Well crafted, intelligent and just enough sense to make people take it seriously. Kudos sir…
“Penney used 33 players…”
What’s the point?
The point was several of the players involved were young and/or club players. It allowed them exposure to stake a claim for a contract. They were involved in pre season all the way. It shows them that they can get a chance if they work at it and also allows management to look at players they may not have otherwise.
Well there are only two preseason games for a squad of 40 odd and the AIL doesn’t start for another month, so it would be beneficial for all involved to get some game time particularly the players who were on the bench yesterday as majority of them haven’t played a game in months.
Cian, do you know if Mike Kelliher got a run out?
He did.