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'Doesn't look happy': Munster slammed for disrespecting Ireland captain
By Josh Raisey
Munster great Alan Quinlan has criticised the way the club have treated Ireland captain and his former teammate Peter O'Mahony in recent weeks.
The 34-year-old only managed 46 minutes of Munster's United Rugby Championship quarter-final victory over the Ospreys on Friday, which is not the first time that he has failed to see the 50-minute mark since returning to club duty after the Six Nations.
Speaking on Off The Ball this week, Quinlan hinted that there could be a rift between the club's former captain and head coach Graham Rowntree, saying he sees shades of how he was treated himself towards the end of his career.
O'Mahony was replaced by Jack O'Donoghue against the Ospreys, an Ireland international himself, and Quinlan was quick to highlight the strength of Munster's bench. However, he stressed that the 105-cap Ireland international is being taken off when he still has plenty to give.
The challenge for Munster only increases this weekend as they host Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park in their pursuit of defending their URC title. Quinlan, and many Munster supporters, will surely be curious to see how long the flanker lasts.
"I don’t like the way Peter O'Mahony's being treated at the moment in the sense of being taken off early in matches,” Quinlan said.
"I think he doesn't look happy, I don’t think it’s the right decision, I think it's premeditated.
"We've spoken a lot about Munster’s bench recently and the impact, that's been very good but he’s coming off after the 45th or 46th minute last week, it could have been even earlier.
"It was done to me at the end of my career, and you have a decision made before a game that you're taking a player off early.
"He’s 34, it's not as if he's a pensioner.
"I think he deserves a bit more respect than that.
"It doesn’t look right to me."
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The Rebels situation is understandably a touchy subject for Geoff Parling but I’m currently listening to a podcast with Mat Rogers who bluntly said “the best thing to happen to Australian rugby union in the last 15 years is the Melbourne Rebels going broke”, citing the better spread of talent across Australian rugby.
Having Skelton in the squad for the Lions series is a must. Yes he’s a 2nd rower who's a lineout lifter instead of a lineout jumper but his mongrel is essential as displayed against Wales in November.
As for the 7-1 bench split, I flip flop between praising Rassie Erasmus and Fabien Galthie for playing to their team’s strengths and being willing to embrace the trade-off that comes with a 7-1 bench composition but also believing World Rugby should stipulate that a bench must have at least 2 specialist backs.
Go to commentsRatings seem hugely generous, they were awful one and all.
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