The 2010–11 Munster Rugby season was

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

's tenth season competing in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

alongside which they also competed in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

for the sixteenth time. They also competed in the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

for the first time after elimination from the Heineken Cup. It was

Tony McGahan Tony McGahan is an Australian rugby union coach who is currently Head of Sport at St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace and a former assistant coach at the Queensland Reds. Early career Born in Queensland, Australia, a teacher by profession, a ...

s third season as director of rugby.

Summary

Munster were drawn in Pool 3 of the

alongside the Ospreys,

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

and

RC Toulon Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its h ...

. Munster lost 23–17 away to London Irish, before defeating RC Toulon 45–18 at Thomond Park on 16 October 2010. Munster defeated Ospreys 22–16, but lost the reverse fixture at Liberty Stadium 19–15. In round 5 Munster went to RC Toulon, losing 32–16. As a result of this defeat, Munster failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time in 13 years. As one of the top three runners up in the Heineken cup pool stage, Munster entered the quarter-final stage of the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

where they defeated

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

42–37 in France before losing at home 12–20 to Harlequins. In the

Magners league The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

Munster finished top of the table with nineteen wins and three defeats after twenty two matches to qualify for the semi-final playoffs where they defeated Ospreys 18–11. They then played in the

2011 Celtic League Grand Final The 2010-11 Celtic League Grand Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Celtic League season. The final was won by Munster who defeated Leinster by 19–9 at Thomond Park to claim their third Celtic League title. Background and Build Up 20 ...

where they defeated

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

by 19 points to 9 to claim their third league title.

2010-11 Playing Squad

Coaching and Management team

Players in

Johne Murphy Johne Murphy (; born John Edmund Murphy 10 November 1984) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played wing, fullback or centre. On 27 August 2015, Murphy announced his retirement from rugby. Family Murphy was born John Edmund Murphy to ...

: ''from''

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

* Corey Hircock: ''from''

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

* Sam Tuitupou ''from''

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

* Wian du Preez ''from''

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (), formerly known as Orange Free State (), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs due to sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are ...

* Peter Borlase ''from''

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

Players out

Jean de Villiers Jean de Villiers (born 24 February 1981) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He started his career at wing, but played most of his career as an inside centre. De Villiers previously played for Western Province in th ...

''to''

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

and

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) and the academic team DHL Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a tra ...

* Jeremy Manning ''to''

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

* Julien Brugnaut ''to''

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

Ciarán O'Boyle Ciarán O'Boyle (born 22 February 1984) is an Irish former rugby union player. Career O'Boyle joined the Munster academy ahead of the 2005–06 season, and progressed to a development contract with the province ahead of the 2006–07 season. I ...

''returned to club'' * Nick Williams ''to''

Aironi Aironi Rugby (, "herons") was an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the Pro12 and the Heineken Cup, representing the Italian regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. It lost its status as a regional side at the end of the 2011–12 ...

* Eoghan Grace ''to''

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

2010–11 Celtic League

Playoffs

Semi-final

Grand Final

2010-11 Heineken Cup

Pool 3

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2010-11 Amlin Challenge Cup

Quarter-final

Semi-final

References

External links

2010–11 Munster Rugby season official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munster 2010-11 2010–11 Celtic League by team 2010–11 in Irish rugby union 2010–11 Heineken Cup by team