Tom Savage
THE DAYS of rugby being a game for all shapes and sizes is long gone. That’s not 100% true, of course. There are exceptions where you can afford to carry smaller, more skilful players without penalty. Scrum half, fly half and one of your wingers. You can maybe carry a smaller hooker and back row,…
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I WASN’T meant to be playing that day. I wasn’t meant to be playing at all actually now that I think about it. It was five or six years ago. I was in Italy working as a part-time performance analyst, a part-time underage coach, a part-time Venetian tour guide, part-time barman, and part-time waiter And…
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RG SNYMAN is a game changer for Munster Rugby. In some ways, he is more of a “final piece in the puzzle” than even Damian De Allende. Let me explain why. First, I wrote a little about potential signings back in February for a Three Red Kings Mailbag and identified three areas where I thought…
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MATT GALLAGHER on a two-year deal is the very definition of a good get for Munster. With all the hubbub of the Six Nations, and the presence of RG Snyman and Damien De Allende in the same press release, it would be easy to forget Munster’s acquisition of this player. Would he be heading to…
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CHANGE happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. For Munster, the pain of staying the same was a series of defeats to the very top tier of European rugby in knockout rugby – Racing 92, Saracens and Leinster – over three seasons. Munster were good, one of…
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WHEN YOU owe the bank €1000, you’ve got a problem. When you owe the bank €100,000,000, they’ve got a problem. I love that phrase. It encapsulates the balance of power between two states of being quite perfectly, I think. If you’re the bank, it’s better to keep your borrowers in line because, if things get…
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Life isn’t easy for scrum halves. They touch the ball more than anyone else, so much in fact that they can almost blend into the background of a game until they do something that pushes the perception of their overall performance up or down. Score a try? Up. Fumble the ball at a breakdown? Down.…
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EVERYONE wants to develop new stars until it coincides with losing one too many games. Ireland are at a point where, realistically speaking, we’re in need of a bit of a reset and a reshuffle in a few positions in the side. The back row, back three, half-back, loosehead, hooker, and bench options need a…
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MUNSTER have some space now. It isn’t space they want but it’s space they have all the same. Not being in the Champions Cup knockout stages frees up at least six weeks of pre and post time compared to the last three seasons. Sure, it’s a bit like not having to pay for dinner because…
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One a great wind came and began to tug at the walls of the farmer’s new cottage. First, the eaves started to rumble. Then the walls shook. Then the windows blew in and scattered glass and rain all over the rooms of the house. The farmer and his family managed to escape just as the…
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