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Munster make easy work of Zebre on same day IRFU stress need for South Africans in a PRO16

By PA
(Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Damien de Allende, Sean French and Thomas Ahern scored their first Munster tries in a 52-3 Guinness PRO14 pummelling of Zebre at Thomond Park. In addition to a penalty try, Dan Goggin, de Allende and Darren Sweetnam all swept over for converted scores as Munster pocketed their bonus point to lead 28-3 at the break.

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They added four more tries by the finish, as JJ Hanrahan and young guns French, Craig Casey and Ahern each made it over. Paolo Pescetto kicked a lone penalty for the depleted Italians. Quick lineout ball allowed player-of-the-match Hanrahan to dink a kick over the top, setting up centre Goggin to gather it on the bounce and touch down beside the posts.

Hanrahan’s conversion was cancelled out by a Pescetto penalty on the quarter hour mark, before another deft Hanrahan kick almost played in Matt Gallagher for Munster’s second try. It was a double setback for Gallagher with the TMO review going against him and an injury forcing him off.

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However, Munster’s strong scrum soon forced the issue and De Allende powered in underneath the posts from a smart offload by Gavin Coombes. Hanrahan quickly converted. With their forwards now under intense pressure, Zebre leaked a penalty try from a maul with number eight Lorenzo Masselli also seeing yellow.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Goggin ghosted in between two defenders on halfway and passed for Sweetnam to finish off to the left of the posts. Munster had been sloppy at times, but they went up a gear after the restart with the impressive Hanrahan, who finished with 15 points, using a slick three-man passing move to go over from close range.

Zebre used a series of penalties to threaten through their maul, yet Munster held them out and some lovely hands from Coombes and Hanrahan had academy youngster French diving over in the 56th minute. Hanrahan nailed the difficult conversion as fellow Kerry native Jack Daly was sent on for his debut. It is the first time two Kerry men have played a senior game for Munster in three years.

With first-time starter Ahern joining Jack O’Donoghue in the Munster pack, it was also the first time two players from Waterford have started for Munster at this level. Zebre ended the game with lock Gabriele Venditti in the sin bin, and as Munster moved 16 points clear at the top of Conference B, Casey and towering young lock Ahern made it an eight-try rout late on.

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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