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Tight Five
Overall no movements in the rankings, with the top players cementing their status and those looking to climb the ladder unable to make enough of an impression to shift those above them.
No real surprises as Dave Kilcoyne cements his place at the top of pecking order at loosehead. Jeremy Loughman didn't have the same impact off the bench as last week but by virtue of being the only other LH to play he doesn't have any challengers, as of yet!!
Another strong showing from Niall Scannell who is now certainly the top hooker in the squad. Diarmuid Barron, like Loughman was solid but failed to really make a statement to move up the pecking order and must wait to see how Kevin O'Byrne will do on his reappearance.
Keynan Knox was fantastic off the bench last week and deserved his start. His work in the mauls and tight was excellent and I thought the ref was slow to ping the Stormers LH for driving sideways a number of times in the first half. Stephen Archer came off the bench for his first appearance of the season but didn't do enough to bypass Knox for me. John Ryan continues to be top dog.
Kleyn and Wycherley were both excellent. Kleyn is continuing his development with ball in hand and is being used to pull the ball back to the back line on a number of occasions. Like Knox he is being used as a carrier on slow ball or starter plays designed to carry into a well established set defensive line to either generate quick ruck ball or to draw in defenders with the hope of creating space elsewhere a number of phases later.
Snyman is just box office - the man is an absolute monster and we are now seeing what exactly Munster missed out on last season with his injuries. He's truly world class and will be a starter for the big games once he is fit.
Backrow and Half Backs
I have Wycherley down as hybrid lock but his performance in the second row was very impressive. His carrying and ruck work was excellent and he while he might still be a little bit off pushing for a position in the starting XV with everyone fit, he's certainly laying down markers that he deserves a spot on the bench with his flexibility to cover back row and second row.
POM may have played 6 but his work at the breakdown and in the wider channels was immense. He ruled the lineout for both sides thrown ins and is showing that any young guns coming through are going to have to do something special to take the starting jersey off him.
JOD was also excellent against the Stormers but plays a game very similar to POM and my feeling is that they may be just too similar to play in the same XV together against the top sides.
Gavin Coombes just continues to put in performance after performance and its going to be difficult for Andy Farrell to leave him out of the Irish side.
Jack O'Sullivan got his first run out of the season and while he played a solid game he didn't do enough to challenge JOD for his spot as the back up No 8 never mind pushing Coombes.
Casey had another good outing and is starting to put in performances capable of challenging Murray's position of automatic starter, particularly should Munster want to play a higher tempo game. Rowan Osbourne has taken his chances off the bench to stake his claim as the third choice scrum half. Its now up to Cronin and Patterson to see if they can do anything to dislodge him.
Ben Healy once again came off the bench and show why he is deserving of more game time and a chance to start against the Scarlets. He is starting to eat into the gap between himself and Carbery in the rankings but still has a ways to go to overtake the current jersey holder.
Carbery himself had another meh outing on Saturday night and while he wasn't personally responsible for the shitshow that was the Munster performance in the first half he didn't do a lot to help matters either. And that is the problem for Carbery, the expectation is that he will be the leader, the finished article at out half where as the performances since his return from serious injury have only shown glimpses of that, a lack of consistency and more worryingly a defensive frailty that is being exposed week after week. The question now becomes how long do the Munster coaching ticket stick with him hoping that he finds the form they know he is/was capable of or when do they need to change tact and invest serious game time into the other young options coming through.
Back Five
Not a great night to be a Munster outside back as between the disastrous first half performance and the excellent Stormers defense there was little chance to impress.
I think the though process of selecting of Earls at 13 was two fold - 1. due to a lack of depth at outside centre and 2. to look at this being a cover option for bigger games (ie going with a 6/2 bench split and having limited options on the bench can Earls cover 13 at push if needed). While I don't think it was a success I don't think he was overly tested in defensive and he didn't get much chance to attack with ball in hand either, so I still see Earls as wing option.
Scannell continues to prove his worth as a back up 12 who can fill in at 10 in a push and is perfect cover for when the likes of De Allende is unavailable for the URC games.
Daly and Nash both suffered due to a lack of ball in hand but Nash made one particularly bad decision in defense that allowed the Stormers score their second try. Zebo came off the bench but didn't have any real chance to impress on the night and while he was much quieter than last week, Mike Haley continues to shine in both defence and attack. More and more he reminds me of Shaun Payne and how under rated both players are/were. Zebo despite not making a mistake is the real loser this week as Haley moves above him for the 15 jersey and Zebo may have to look elsewhere in the starting line up to claim his spot.
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