Stats & Pics | Season So Far

23rd January 2020 By The Editor

Munster players celebrate James Cronin's bonus point try against Ospreys in the Champions Cup. Inpho

With more than half of the season having flown by, we take a look back at Munster’s campaign to date.

Check out the best photos from the season so far in our gallery here.

Munster’s pre-season training programme began on July 1 with Nick McCarthy and promoted Academy players Craig Casey, Gavin Coombes, Shane Daly and Seán O’Connor the new additions to the senior squad.

New Senior Coach Stephen Larkham joined the province in mid-August with the squad playing pre-season games against London Irish and Connacht before kicking off the Guinness PRO14 on September 28.

New Forwards Coach Graham Rowntree joined Munster in late October following his Rugby World Cup commitments with Georgia.

Munster’s 12 Rugby World Cup players returned to the province at the beginning of November.

Landmarks

Nick McCarthy and Academy players Ben Healy, Keynan Knox and Jack O’Sullivan all made their Munster debuts this season along with short-term signing Jed Holloway.

Five Academy players have played PRO14 rugby this season.

There have been Champions Cup debuts for Calvin Nash, Craig Casey, Ben Healy and Jack O’Sullivan.

Billy Holland has now made 225 appearances for Munster and has the fourth most appearances in the province’s history. Stephen Archer surpassed the 200-cap mark and is eighth on the list.

John Ryan made his 150th Munster appearance with Niall Scannell reaching the 100 landmark as Dan Goggin surpassed 50 appearances.

Andrew Conway scored his 42nd Munster try to move ahead of Anthony Horgan into third place on the province’s list of top try-scorers.

There have been Man of the Match awards for Shane Daly (two), Mike Haley (two), JJ Hanrahan (two), Rory Scannell, Jeremy Loughman, Jack O’Donoghue and Conor Murray.

Battle For Top Spot In Guinness PRO14 Conference B

Munster are third in Guinness PRO14 Conference B, four points behind leaders Edinburgh with 11 games to go.

Six teams are battling it out for the three top spots in Conference B – second-placed Scarlets are one point ahead of Munster with Connacht, Cardiff Blues and Benetton all in the hunt for a play-off place.

Champions Cup Campaign

Munster finished third in a very competitive Champions Cup Pool with Racing 92 and Saracens advancing to the quarter-final stage.

The province defeated Saracens at Thomond Park and recorded two bonus-point wins over Ospreys.

A home draw against Racing proved Munster’s undoing with the province subsequently beaten in the away fixtures against the French side and Saracens.

Champions Cup Attendances

There was a record-equalling attendance at Thomond Park for the December game against Leinster as additional seating helped to cater for a fantastic 26,267 crowd. In all three of Munster’s home Champions Cup games, the attendances (25,600 v Racing 92, 25,034 v Saracens & 19,891 v Ospreys) were each the highest for their respective round of fixtures.