Penney Appointed

[Speedee]

There is a short interview with Dave O'Callaghan at http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/10641.php Maybe a little hint about how Penney is going to play. Hopefully with the pace in the team now we can see some good running rugby, but a bit of toughness up front.

“I’ve only come back into it but Rob has been checking up on me and asking how it’s all going. We’re all delighted with his attacking philosophy and he’s all about throwing the ball around so it’s exciting, especially for us younger players breaking in. We knew of his pedigree from Canterbury and we got to watch him in action with the New Zealand U20s as well. He’s got a reputation for trying out youth and we have a young squad so it’s obviously a promising time for us all.”

[Sketchy]

There is a short interview with Dave O'Callaghan at http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/10641.php Maybe a little hint about how Penney is going to play. Hopefully with the pace in the team now we can see some good running rugby, but a bit of toughness up front.

“I’ve only come back into it but Rob has been checking up on me and asking how it’s all going. We’re all delighted with his attacking philosophy and he’s all about throwing the ball around so it’s exciting, especially for us younger players breaking in. We knew of his pedigree from Canterbury and we got to watch him in action with the New Zealand U20s as well. He’s got a reputation for trying out youth and we have a young squad so it’s obviously a promising time for us all.”

Interesting indeed. Huge fan of DOC 2.0. Thought he showed some serious intensity when he made any appearance last season. In particular against the 'sprays when we were well beaten, he came on with an angry never say die attitude. Does anyone know if his preferred/intended position is 6 or second row? Are they blooding him at 6 a la Ryan, or is he backrow for good?

[Hellraiser]

Interesting indeed. Huge fan of DOC 2.0. Thought he showed some serious intensity when he made any appearance last season. In particular against the 'sprays when we were well beaten, he came on with an angry never say die attitude. Does anyone know if his preferred/intended position is 6 or second row? Are they blooding him at 6 a la Ryan, or is he backrow for good?

He's being moved permanently to 6. This Summer is his first on a purely backrow conditioning programme iirc.

[Colliniho]

Cany any Dolphin fans confirm if he played much rugby for them in the 2nd row? I remember the commentators saying during the U20 world cup a couple of years ago that he'd been parachuted into playing second row for Ireland when he was largely a backrow with his other teams.
Big season for DOC2 this year. When CJ is over we will have a lot of competition for the Number 6 jersey, particularly if Coughlan discovers his 2010 form or if Butler kicks on from last year and one of them nails down the 8 jersey.

[Sketchy]

He's being moved permanently to 6. This Summer is his first on a purely backrow conditioning programme iirc.

Nice one, cheers for that. I'm glad to hear that really. He seems to have a lot to offer as a backrow with pace, power and a decent bit of skill. Just hope his height doesn't go against him in terms of core power and centre of gravity. At that height he would not have the compact strength of SOB or Ferris to bust through holes at pace. Hard to know really. Anyone think of an established 6ft 5" Number 6 ?

[Sketchy]

Ferris is 6ft 4" according to wikipedia. He has a good frame already for his age.

[HenryFitz]

I don't think Dave O'Callaghan should specialise yet. There are 4 open-sides at Munster this year, which means O'Mahony is presumably seen as a long-term 6 or 8, and with Butler, Stander and Coughlan there too, it'll be difficult for young O'Callaghan to get his game for the next couple of years. At lock, there are a couple of big retirements coming up and Munster will be regularly losing 2 or 3 players to the international squad, which would give big Dave a greater chance of game-time short and long-term, especially with Foley and Nagle being injury prone. I imagine that the conditioning for locks and backrows is not so different as to preclude crossover, but it would probably be better for the team and the player if he wasn't exclusively on one regimen.

[Thomond78]

Nice one, cheers for that. I'm glad to hear that really. He seems to have a lot to offer as a backrow with pace, power and a decent bit of skill. Just hope his height doesn't go against him in terms of core power and centre of gravity. At that height he would not have the compact strength of SOB or Ferris to bust through holes at pace. Hard to know really. Anyone think of an established 6ft 5" Number 6 ?

Juan Smith.

[isola ciarrai]

Lets not get too gushing about his interview technique. Kidney won us 2 heineken cups without ever saying anything useful to the press.

I cannot help myself - it's a bromance thing - that exciting mix of Stephen McHattie and Lance Henriksen crossed with an unsuccessful light heavy weight fighter who was hit square on the nose with a 4 be 2.

[Sketchy]

Juan Smith.

A fine example. According to Wikipedia there is 12kg in the difference. Wonder will he be able to get to that type of weight.

[Speedee]

I cannot help myself - it's a bromance thing - that exciting mix of Stephen McHattie and Lance Henriksen crossed with an unsuccessful light heavy weight fighter who was hit square on the nose with a 4 be 2.

I'm not going to lie, I'm smitten.

He just says all the right things.

****swoon****

[Red October]

I don't care what he says so long as he backs it up and has the squad crawling over shards of glass to get in and stay in, his good graces.

ALL of the squad.

[ed7890]

A fine example. According to Wikipedia there is 12kg in the difference. Wonder will he be able to get to that type of weight.

Well the Munster site has DOC2 as 102kg, but that seems awful light for him. No way I would say he's lighter than Butler and POM.

[Sketchy]

Well the Munster site has DOC2 as 102kg, but that seems awful light for him. No way I would say he's lighter than Butler and POM.

It does seem very light. Cos he is definitely one of the better built youngsters coming through!

[John Cooper Clarke]

Well the Munster site has DOC2 as 102kg, but that seems awful light for him. No way I would say he's lighter than Butler and POM.

It'd be folly to believe much from that source.

[daveyreidy]

Have there been any noises from the camp other than DOC 2.0 as to what the game plan is likely to be? I would assume pragmatism would be top of the list as we had bucket loads of possession in games last season, namely the 1/4 final and came up with nadda on the scoreboard.
Penney sounds like he has given renewed enthusiasm to the younger players and hopefully lit a rocket under some of the older guys. The guy I am a little more interested in is Mannix, what are his goals, objectives and philosophies? All I know of him is the few times I have seen Racing play and that was a "give it Juan Martin Hernandez or Frans Steyn and kick he leather off it" game plan.

[B.A.]

"give it Juan Martin Hernandez or Frans Steyn and kick he leather off it" game plan.

To be fair, that's not a bad plan when you have those 2 on your team. You play to your strengths. We won 2 Heineken cups based on Rog kicking to the corners

[daveyreidy]

Fair point B.A. Ya I probably should have elaborated on that. I meant that at least he played them to their strengths. I didn't see too many flowing back line moves though, so it ill be interesting to see what he comes up with that was different to Dutchy?

[Sketchy]

Have there been any noises from the camp other than DOC 2.0 as to what the game plan is likely to be? I would assume pragmatism would be top of the list as we had bucket loads of possession in games last season, namely the 1/4 final and came up with nadda on the scoreboard.
Penney sounds like he has given renewed enthusiasm to the younger players and hopefully lit a rocket under some of the older guys. The guy I am a little more interested in is Mannix, what are his goals, objectives and philosophies? All I know of him is the few times I have seen Racing play and that was a "give it Juan Martin Hernandez or Frans Steyn and kick he leather off it" game plan.

From the Earls interview in the Examiner:

""We know Rob and Simon from their records as coaches but don’t know them yet as persons but they’re both positive men who like to keep it simple and let fellas express themselves. They’re killing us with the fitness right now but we’ve also run through two or three moves, they’ve been asking us to produce some ourselves and we’ll come up with a play book then.

"There are no numbers on backs any more. Some of the forwards are a bit scared by that but there’s no doubting the talent we have. They can throw a seven or ten-metre pass and even Rob was saying that he has never seen forwards and backs as such good passers."

There is a commonly held belief that Munster will play a more expansive game under Penney but Earls isn’t promising anything.

"You never go into a season saying you’re going to throw the ball around," he warned. "You have to adapt when you’re in Newport on a December night. Rob just wants a good skill level out of everyone and if the forwards have to truck it up and the backs as well and vice versa, that’s a good mixture."

Good to see that there will be an emphasis on skill and passing in the forwards. There is absolutely no reason a backrow should not be able to pass comfortably off both sides like a centre.

[Thomond78]

First match in charge Friday week. Here comes the season, boys!

[rathbaner]

I think Munster have always been fairly good at throwing it around, forwards and backs, once the defensive line is broken. And there's the rub.

[Piquet]

I think Munster have always been fairly good at throwing it around, forwards and backs, once the defensive line is broken. And there's the rub.

Indeed, throwing it around from the start sounds distressingly like the dreaded mcGahanball.

[MrsMcGahan]

First match in charge Friday week. Here comes the season, boys!

Looks week.

[Thomond78]

Looks week.

I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you. And, deep down, you'll know you deserve it, too...

[MrsMcGahan]

I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you. And, deep down, you'll know you deserve it, too...

Oooooh you are awful!

[MrsMcGahan]

Pics from training today:

[Hellraiser]

Well the Munster site has DOC2 as 102kg, but that seems awful light for him. No way I would say he's lighter than Butler and POM.

He's well over 17st.

[dropkick]

Have there been any noises from the camp other than DOC 2.0 as to what the game plan is likely to be? I would assume pragmatism would be top of the list as we had bucket loads of possession in games last season, namely the 1/4 final and came up with nadda on the scoreboard.
Penney sounds like he has given renewed enthusiasm to the younger players and hopefully lit a rocket under some of the older guys. The guy I am a little more interested in is Mannix, what are his goals, objectives and philosophies? All I know of him is the few times I have seen Racing play and that was a "give it Juan Martin Hernandez or Frans Steyn and kick he leather off it" game plan.

I think hes going to empower the players to play heads up rugby as opposed to the pre programmed stuff under McGahan. He also said he likes athletic players so presumably his long term goal is to get Munster playing like a good super 15 team.

[Cowboy]

I think hes going to empower the players to play heads up rugby as opposed to the pre programmed stuff under McGahan. He also said he likes athletic players so presumably his long term goal is to get Munster playing like a good super 15 team.

Hopefully a good super 15 team involving a pack that bates the lard outta opposition sides.

[Valencia]

Was talking with a friend of mine, who is an AIL ref, he was working with the Munster lads last week on the new scrummaging, crouch, touch, set. He said as an aside that the Munster backs looked HUGE! same guy is pretty big himself but he thinks the Munster backs have serious bulk & size.

One interesting aspect of the new scrum calls was he said they did about 40 scrums and there was almost no collapses
which was intriguing, under the previous laws there'd be a dozen or so per session. One down side is the ref can't call Set until the props withdraw their arm, when one leaves it a little longer than the other it can feck up the call