Edinburgh vs Munster - Murrayfield (Fri-30/Sept/2011)

[monkeypigeon]

Munster with 10 changes:

Munster:

S Deasy; J Murphy, T Gleeson, L Mafi, D Hurley; I Keatley, P Stringer; W du Preez, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D Foley, M O'Driscoll; T O'Donnell, N Ronan, P Butler. Replacements: M Sherry, J Ryan, S Archer, I Nagle, P O'Mahony, D Williams, D Barnes, S Zebo.

Alot of inexperienced player there in Deasy, Gleeson, Foley, O'Donnell and Butler. - But alot of experience there too. Hopefully they can keep younger heads cool.

Deasy has been poor whenever I've seen him for Munster, Gleeson is a very average player. Will be interesting to see how O'Donnell and Butler get on.

The bench is packed with -no- experience.

Edinburgh

15 Jim Thompson
14 Lee Jones
13 Matt Scott
12 James King
11 Tim Visser
10 Gregor Hunter
9 Greig Laidlaw
1 Kyle Traynor
2 Steven Lawrie
3 Lewis Niven
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 David Denton
7 Roddy Grant
8 Stuart McInally

Alun Walker, Robin Hislop, Shaun Knight, Esteban Lozadam Hamish Watson, Chris Leck, Phil Godman, Tom Brow

Despite having an inexperienced Munster team that'll probably be stuttering for most of the match it's hard to fear a weak Edinburgh side in their empty coffin of a stadium and Michael 'Useless' Bradley in charge.

Tom Visser is good and hahaha, Phil Godman has really fallen down the pecking order.

 

[Peat]

Who on earth goes to 10 if Keatley comes off injured?

 

[monkeypigeon]

Who on earth goes to 10 if Keatley comes off injured?

Deasy.

 

[Jockstap]

Foley seems to have overtaken Nagle, he's started the last couple of games ahead of him, has Nagle not lived up to the hype?

 

[Peat]

Deasy.

God help you.

 

[monkeypigeon]

Foley seems to have overtaken Nagle, he's started the last couple of games ahead of him, has Nagle not lived up to the hype?

He got injured pre-season STARTing against London Irish and this is the first week that he's been deemed fit I think.

Foley's starting this week because of on or both of:

i) Foley played well the week before last agauinst Scarletts.
ii) Nagle not fully fit yet.

 

[Irishflanker]

What's the story with DOC 2.0? I've only ever heard good things about him, yet he doesn't seem to get picked for any of the squads.

 

[munstermuffin]

This is a good team when you consider the bigger picture.
Some lads are carrying knocks and well had an intense week training and could benefit with a rest and that is what a squad is for. There was always a plan to rotate and well Paddy Butler if he plays to his ability will be another gem in Munster's backrow.

And in fairness to Deasy he has done ok at 15 any time he's been asked and has been going well in training.
Also monkey Gleeson, Deasy and O'Donnell have plenty of experience at this level and I'd have no worries over them.

Also Dave Foley has been playing well but Ian Nagle has been carrying injuries since start of season and is only returning and that is reason for his absence in previous games.

Also DOC v2 isn't featuring alot because he is still in the academy and well allowed gain more experience with A games as we have plenty of competition in the backrow but he will be a superb player in next 18 months.

 

[monkeypigeon]

This is a good team when you consider the bigger picture.
Some lads are carrying knocks and well had an intense week training and could benefit with a rest and that is what a squad is for. There was always a plan to rotate and well Paddy Butler if he plays to his ability will be another gem in Munster's backrow.

And in fairness to Deasy he has done ok at 15 any time he's been asked and has been going well in training.
Also monkey Gleeson, Deasy and O'Donnell have plenty of experience at this level and I'd have no worries over them.

Also Dave Foley has been playing well but Ian Nagle has been carrying injuries since start of season and is only returning and that is reason for his absence in previous games.

Also DOC v2 isn't featuring alot because he is still in the academy and well allowed gain more experience with A games as we have plenty of competition in the backrow but he will be a superb player in next 18 months.

Do you think O'Donnell will be given Heineken Cup time this year?

Given that Wallace and Quinnie are effectively gone (or Wallace for the time being) you'd think that O'Donnell would be either getting his push now or end up a Pro 12 player for the rrest of his career.

 

[munstermuffin]

Tommy is playing excellent and well as I said about him last week he is a physical player and I think he is good enough for HEC level but form plays a big part as backrow is a place we have a huge amount of options and I know people will say this is crazy but don't be shocked to see Leamy even get a go at 7. But it may not be this season but I do think Tommy is good enough to cement that 7 jersey to himself

 

[monkeypigeon]

Tommy is playing excellent and well as I said about him last week he is a physical player and I think he is good enough for HEC level but form plays a big part as backrow is a place we have a huge amount of options and I know people will say this is crazy but don't be shocked to see Leamy even get a go at 7. But it may not be this season but I do think Tommy is good enough to cement that 7 jersey to himself

My thoughs exactly (except for the Leamy bit). If this match were to go well, come the visit of the Ospreys the following weekend I'd love to see 6. O'Mahony, 7. O'Donnell 8. Butler/Coughlan.

We've been watching this new wave of backrows for a couple of years now It'd be nice to see them all play next to eachother. Or 2 with Coughlan who's been brilliant this last year.

But like you said, Form will play a big row and TOD, POM, Ronan and Coughlan have all been impressive and when Ryan and Leamy come back I'm sure there'll be some ferocious training sessions...

 

[Seaton]

Thons another surprising result, to say the least.

Fits wrang?

 

[munstermuffin]

In fairness we just didn't turn up and the younger guys just lacked that bit of experience. The ref was poor too but we will learn from this and be a better team

 

[profitius]

Although it was a loss McGahan did the right thing in making the changes. The team looked a bit stale against Cardiff the week before so a rest for one or two was the right thing to do. POM, Barnes, Nagle, Archer etc can come in to boost the side next week. In future I'd like to see a more gradual rotation of the squad instead of making loads of changes at once. They lost away to Treviso last season because of that too.

I'd like to see Scanlon get some gametime in the next few weeks. Deasy has looked very good in patches and I thought he would turn out better but I can't see Munster playing him in a HEC match.

Foley seems to have overtaken Nagle, he's started the last couple of games ahead of him, has Nagle not lived up to the hype?

They both need to put on more weight especially Foley. To me Nagle looks a much better player. He is more dynamic and better in the lose.

 

[munstermuffin]

Although it was a loss McGahan did the right thing in making the changes. The team looked a bit stale against Cardiff the week before so a rest for one or two was the right thing to do. POM, Barnes, Nagle, Archer etc can come in to boost the side next week. In future I'd like to see a more gradual rotation of the squad instead of making loads of changes at once. They lost away to Treviso last season because of that too.

I'd like to see Scanlon get some gametime in the next few weeks. Deasy has looked very good in patches and I thought he would turn out better but I can't see Munster playing him in a HEC match.



They both need to put on more weight especially Foley. To me Nagle looks a much better player. He is more dynamic and better in the lose.

Scanlon has to improve a bit to be really ready for this level but yes Tony is really using his thinking cap and like Schmidt at Leinster I think we are using the fact that there is less pressure on results to really test fringe players and see what are they capable of at this level.