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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The Red 78. Report Monster people. Gerber gets over the line, try for Monster. Nobody knows Monster Rugby better.
Hello, you're very welcome along to the Red 78. Unfortunately, the last episode of the Red 78 because Munster's season is over. A big defeat to the Bulls in South Africa, season growth of the URC. We're going to go over all that, everything to do with the game and we're going to look back at the season as a whole and we're going to look ahead to next season and see if there's any optimism.
for next season after the campaign that monster have just had delighted as always to be joined by monster legends alan quinlan and fiona hayes to talk all things monster rugby guys how are ye
Good, Rory, what a way to go out. We thought it might be a close game. I think we were very wrong in our predictions, but we did feel like there was going to be a little bit of fight there. But unfortunately, the Bulls were too good. So I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of my weekend anyway. So it wasn't great, the bank holiday.
Mr Quinlan, how are you today? Good, thanks. Yeah, it was obviously disappointing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not surprising in a sense that the Bulls are kind of a knockout team and just the strength and power they had and so many South African internationals, World Cup winners and Munster with so many injuries. I think that's probably the frustrating thing.
I would have loved to have seen Munster with... a bit of power and ballast there. Because they did show at times when they held on to the ball, they caused the Bulls some problems. But yeah, look, it's not a surprise. It's a disappointing end to the season. And probably at this stage, it's just draw a line in it now. I know there's a review ongoing.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights of Munster's season?
The coaches obviously have to review what they're doing and the whole rugby programme. But there's a bigger review obviously going on.
And I've said it probably a few times in the last few weeks, hopefully it's the worst it can be and that things can get better now and some positive stories can start to come out and, yeah, to get a good start to next season and learn from probably some of the mistakes on the field, off the field, and get some positivity going.
All right, we'll talk about the match in a sec. We've had some comments into us, Fiona Hayes, and a lot of frustrated Munster fans out there.
Are we not calling her Fiona Slott anymore?
Chapter 3: Why was the quarter-final defeat to the Bulls disappointing?
I'm not gone yet. Her uncle Arnie Slott got the sack there in Liverpool as well.
Do you know what? It was actually while you were working. I was listening to you on the TV and the news came over my phone.
Chapter 4: What factors contributed to Munster's struggles this season?
I said, he's probably watched after seeing that now flashing on his phone during the game. But yeah, look, new start for Liverpool as well, Quinny. We're happy days.
yeah lots of stuff coming in thanks again guys some of them I probably can't read out just a lot of bad language in there but I will say Paul sent in a stand up and replace the F with an SH it did give me did give us a bit of a laugh Dave Ahern has there's a lot of excuses given you ask if Macmillan should be given another season but no one can seem to point out any area on the pitch that's improved under his coaching
uh tactically he's been poor any selections questionable is there any positives you've seen under him um peter o'flynn second bring second-hand players in get second-hand rewards a clear out of top is required and do not mean the coach munster have been completely mismanaged for more than 10 years at an executive level and until that changes nothing will improve underneath uh trevor say season turned up to december we had
clarity of intent with one with one way to play simplicity we were playing at speed after that we lost all capacity for ball handling lineouts and scrummaging high point was argentina keen mcgivney again the season ended unfortunately the way the season went after the stormers lost in toman park high beating uh it was a high beating lenster back in october plenty of work at boardroom level to be done as well as coaching appointments to be made
in the summer must do better next season and Brian Lallor all I can say is I hope the powers that be look at the Irish 20s carefully this summer and make the right decisions for our future and thanks for the pod another great year of chats well thanks for those messages I'm going to get both your opinions on the game Alan Quinlan start with yourself like the Bulls just inside were bigger more clinical faster more physical this is a bit of a reality check for Munster I think was it yeah look it wasn't a surprise Rory and look um
The comments are... I think when we started this podcast, first and foremost, it was to try and engage with supporters and try and give them a voice as well of their opinions. We've tried our best to read them out. Some of them are fairly damning that I've seen. Fiona hasn't read them all out. And we respect them all. But there's a frustration there.
I think there's a frustration of... And a lot of what's coming up is... probably where the club has run behind the scenes. I go back to what I said about reviews in 2016, where I kind of opened a can of worms when I was outspoken about that. And it does feel like, even though we know there's an internal review going on, we don't know when that will be out.
But it is time for a reset and a look at all positions behind the scenes, try and get structurally... get some transparency, get some trust within the, the, the organization again with the fans, but trust for the staff as well, because I'm sure Clayton McMillan, he hasn't a clue what's hitting this year with, with everything that's gone on.
Um, the systems, the way it's run, um, all that kind of stuff. And who, who does he trust? Who does he not trust where, you know, where all this stuff is broken down.
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Chapter 5: How do the guests feel about Munster's performance against the Bulls?
Um, finances are an issue of course um i've probably said over the years that you know monster the three overseas sign things they need to go and sign three world-class players it's not it's not as easy as that um but you have to have the ambition to try and find a way to bring in outside money i know lots of people in in who uh would like to help out in a sense of
um you know we had a situation years ago with Damien D'Alende and RG Snyman where there was outside money came in to top up their contracts that you could get two world cup winners it feels like it just needs a little injection like that where you bring in you know Marius van der Merwe is the only overseas signing at the moment I know Alex Nankerville is overseas next year maybe the end of next year he becomes Irish qualified so there's there's one position available there's talks that it's
It's in the tight end area that they want to bring somebody in. Will they get a little bit of leeway to get a fourth? Again, these laws or rules are not set in stone. But I do think, and look, Connacht and Ulster will argue their point that they need help and support as well.
Munster needs, aside from this review, they need the IFU to have a close look at this whole setup as well and David Humphries to look and see what's what's needed, what's required here, structurally making it better.
And again, look, the idea of the four provinces from the RFU's point of view is that they become self-sufficient, that they start generating their own funds, that there's not an over-reliance on the union every time to bail people out.
um all squads have been cut a little bit there is a tightening of the belt around finances so it's not it's not easy but it does need a a real structural review um from top to bottom and just try and find out where where this all kind of went wrong and where like aside from the roger randall stuff for the redundancies which is is weighed heavily on the province i think
The inconsistency around the performance and some of the comments are, yes, what has Clayton McMillan brought? Where's the identity? It's difficult. And I think he's come into a group last summer not really knowing any of the individuals and trying to chop and change and get to know people. And it's been difficult. I think if he had his time back, maybe he would have not made as many changes.
Some of them were through injury. Some of them were through necessity to try and keep players fresh. So it's difficult. But the quality and depth of the squad is not good enough. There is some very good players in there. And I'm not saying cast people away or anything. I mean, they need some top-class players to come in if they can. and drive the standards.
I just look at Jordan Henderson, who's in the English Soccer World Cup squad. A lot of people questioning his selection. A lot of people saying he's 35. He doesn't start every week for Brentford, so it shouldn't make sense that he's in an England squad. But I've read loads of stuff in a sense, and this isn't a Liverpool-biased thing or anything.
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Chapter 6: What changes are needed for Munster to improve next season?
So Munster's inconsistencies have been a problem and the players have got to take that on board. And to be fair, the uncertainty around Clayton McMillan a few weeks ago, whether he's staying or going, and I'm sure he was very frustrated with the Roger Randall thing and the whole thing had played out and all that stuff.
But I feel he just needs an opportunity to draw a line in the sand this year, sit down with his own coaches and his own group and try and develop a structure and a standard around the player playing squad. And bring in some young players, try and upskill them and get them involved. And the only way you do that is by playing matches. And just get a bit of enthusiasm and vigor back in the group.
Because there is some very good players there. There's no doubt about that. I think when you go down into the depth, it becomes... And like most teams, if you lose 8, 10, 12 players for a quarterfinal of a URC, most squads will be... very much so. So that's the mitigation at the weekend. But the overall inconsistency hasn't been there. And the fans know it.
And I think I've always said this, and I'm consistent in saying this, if you have fight, spirit, passion, commitment, desire... in your performances, the Munster fans will clap and applaud that. There's no one under any sort of false illusions. I saw one message coming through.
Would it be better next year in Europe to actually go out and play young players in the four pool games and kind of forfeit it in the sense of we're not going to win that competition anyway and give them opportunities to expose them to European rugby. And The answer is no, because you can't do that in Europe and we've too much DNA involved in the competition.
But there is a case of throwing caution to the wind a little bit next season in the URC and just trying to bring through some young players. And then the guys who get shifted to the side who don't start, it's up to them then to raise their standards to that Jordan Henderson type drive, desire,
And the Munster fans will applaud that because there's no expectation out there that, oh, Munster are going to win the URC and the European Cup because we're further away from that than we've probably ever been. But that can be turned fairly quickly with positivity and momentum moving forward. So that's, you know, the Munster fans, they feel it and it affects everyone.
And it's very difficult then for staff and people because aside from the financial pressures and the redundancies that were requested... you know, if you go on kind of struggling and the crowds come down a little bit, it'll start to affect the club more and more and more and more and more people. So, it's difficult and there is a lot of responsibility when you put on a Munster jersey. But,
The one thing I will say is, and I give credit to the players and the coaches in the last couple of weeks, obviously it's a difficult loss to go out, but they have shown plenty of fight. And I want to see that. And we can start delving into quality and trying to improve the team in little parts then.
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Chapter 7: What are the fans' reactions to Munster's coaching situation?
The first 10, 15 minutes was like, oh my God, this is the worst possible start. And they could have, they very nearly blew Munster away. I think there was two tries disallowed. It was 14-0. Munster's reaction was brilliant. They got it back to 17-14 right from the kick-off. Alex Nankerville, who had a really good game, to be fair, and
But I'm not sure he should be catching a kickoff like that in the position he's in. I think Brian Gleeson, your number eight, has to be catching that or one of your back rows or your right winger coming onto it a little bit. He was in a standing position, gets tackled. Cameron Hanekom, who had a great game, gets a turnover penalty, kick to the corner, try.
That's right from the, you know, some basic errors as well were frustrating. The defence was all over the shop at times. They were very narrow defensively. And the Bulls changed tact from the game in March. They tried to punch around very tight to the rocks with wingers picking and going and different backs coming in trying to pick and go and then spreading the ball wide.
They had 21 clean breaks in the game. Munster had six. That's way too many. The kicks retained, seven kicks retained by the Bulls. Munster won. And that was another significant part of that first half and the damage that was done. Shane Daly's kicked a touch for the second try. He's got, it wasn't, it was kicked straight to Ville LaRue and they counterattacked and Curt Lee Aronson scores.
That's got to be put in the stand. So when I talk about standards in the first piece I'm talking about, it's all those simple things that they need to understand better about managing tempo when you're away from home, holding onto the ball. Niall Scannell early on in the game got a ball, Gather the ball when the Bulls made a break up the far side of the field.
Set it up, Michael Alalatoa, forward pass. Scrum, trouble again straight away. You know, small things, players slipping off tackles. So, yeah, look, they certainly tried. And they've 38 missed tackles in the game. They were under immense pressure. And it could have got really, really ugly there.
Ugly, or it was ugly, obviously, in that second half because it was kind of all over the shop in the last 20 minutes, wasn't it? Yeah, so look, they're very powerful and they're so strong. And the scrum, of course...
Munster held their own and a couple of their own balls which was admirable but got blown away too many times and it was five scrum penalties in the game again no scrum no win so a lot of stuff going on there and just in the game itself it was always going to be very difficult you're missing so many players and I just think it was too tall an order for Munster I was kind of optimistic and Fiona said the same last week that they could have found something and made it tricky for the Bulls but
On the balance of it, you know, the Bulls just blew them away and it was not a major surprise.
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