Watch | Munster’s season so far as they reach the halfway mark in their search for silverware

As Munster approach the halfway point of their season, we take a look at their season so far

Johann van Graan’s side have recorded 10 wins in 12 games. The province won all four games in the Champions Cup to qualify for a round of 16 clash against Exeter over two legs in April. 

Munster are third in the United Rugby Championship with two games in hand of first place Ulster, a game in hand of second and third placed Edinburgh and Glasgow, and have played as many games as Leinster who have a point over the boys in red.

Munster are third in the Irish Shield, nine points ahead of Connacht, one point behind Leinster and seven points behind Ulster. Munster have two games in hand of Connacht and Ulster.

46 senior players have lined up for Munster this season, 10 Greencore Munster Academy players and 2 club players have had the honor of being part of the 56 players to wear the jersey this season.

There have been 19 appearances for Academy players with Alex Kendellen featuring in six of Munster’s 11 games so far this season.

Attack and Defensive Dominance

Munster have scored 324 points and 40 tries in 11 games, averaging 29 points per game and 3.6 tries. Opting for an “outscore the opponent approach” the team has asserted its attacking dominance across all leagues.

Munster defense coach JP Ferreira is leaving the squad in excellent defensive levels conceding less than half the tries they have scored. The team has conceded 171 points and 18 tries in games. The squad had conceded 13 tries in the URC, no tries have conceded less in the competition so far.

Debuts

There have been debuts for 14 players this season, including eight Greencore Munster Rugby Academy members.

The full list of debutants includes: Scott Buckley, Tony Butler, Patrick Campbell, Ethan Coughlan, Mark Donnelly, John Forde (Cork Constitution), James French, Jason Jenkins, Conor Moloney (Young Munster), Declan Moore, Eoin O’Connor, Daniel Okeke, Rowan Osborne and Jonathan Wren.

There have been Champions Cup debuts for 19 players. All of the players above, other than Osborne, made their first appearances in the Champions Cup along with Diarmuid Barron, Jack Crowley, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen, Keynan Knox and Roman Salanoa.

Awards & Landmarks

Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Chris Cloete Scott Buckley, Damian de Allende, Tadhg Beirne, Jack O’Donoghue and Neil Cronin have been Munster’s Player of the Match winners so far this season.

Rory Scannell and Jack O’Donoghue have earned their 150th Munster caps with O’Donoghue becoming the youngest player to reach the landmark.

Jean Kleyn made his 100th appearance away to Zebre last weekend.

Simon Zebo overtook Anthony Foley to become Munster’s record try-scorer in the Champions Cup after his double against Wasps.

Jack O’Donoghue was included in the initial longlist for European Player of the Year after the Pool stages with two tries in three appearances for the Waterford man.

Watch the season so far below!

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Accept YouTube Content