European Champions Cup 2017/18: Pool 4

[munstermuffin]

Muff, I was considering going further (Had a nice one about Sexjob being richer than POM and going to improve his game whereas POM only cares about cash) but I'm absolutely taking the mick and don't care to debate the other stuff!

I think the improving game bit takes the Mick when you consider rest. I would add POM will get a CC deal with what he wants.

Off topic in these talks I think McGrath will be worried as pressure on only 1 LHP to have deal which will be Healy. Will Jack as a Lion settle for provincil deal

 

[Groundhog]

O'Donnell is playing As this weekend, so that means Leicester will have to contend with Jerry Flannery and Michael Hooper's lovechild come Saturday.
Gonna say
1. Kilcoyne
2. Marshall
3. Ryan
4. Kleyn
5. Holland
6. O'Mahony
7. Cloete
8. Stander
9. Murray
10. Keatley
11. Conway
12. Scannell
13. Arnold (what a difference a few games makes)
14. Sweetnam
15. Zebo

16 O'Byrne
17. Scott
18. Archer
19. ehhhhh O'Shea I suppose. O boi
20. O'Donoghue
21. Williams
22. Hanrahan
23. Wootton

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Tigers is prob looking like
1. Bateman
2. Youngs
3. Cole
4. Fitzgerald
5. Kitchener
6. Mapapalangi
7. Hamilton
8. Kalamafoni
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. May
12. Tait
13. Smith
14. Thompstone
15. Veainu

16. Thacker
17. Rizzo
18. Mulipola
19. Williams
20. O'Connor
21. Harrison
22. Ford
23. Malouf

missing like 3 key players

 

[munstermuffin]

O'Donnell is playing As this weekend, so that means Leicester will have to contend with Jerry Flannery and Michael Hooper's lovechild come Saturday.
Gonna say
1. Kilcoyne
2. Marshall
3. Ryan
4. Kleyn
5. Holland
6. O'Mahony
7. Cloete
8. Stander
9. Murray
10. Keatley
11. Conway
12. Scannell
13. Arnold (what a difference a few games makes)
14. Sweetnam
15. Zebo

16 O'Byrne
17. Scott
18. Archer
19. ehhhhh O'Shea I suppose. O boi
20. O'Donoghue
21. Williams
22. Hanrahan
23. Wootton

Think it was hard for Tommy to get in due to only returning and fact Cloete and Jack are flying it

 

[munstermuffin]

Tigers is prob looking like
1. Bateman
2. Youngs
3. Cole
4. Fitzgerald
5. Kitchener
6. Mapapalangi
7. Hamilton
8. Kalamafoni
9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. May
12. Tait
13. Smith
14. Thompstone
15. Veainu

16. Thacker
17. Rizzo
18. Mulipola
19. Williams
20. O'Connor
21. Harrison
22. Ford
23. Malouf

missing like 3 key players

Who's the Ford on bench

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Who's the Ford on bench

Baby Ford Senior. If he had the little fellas skills or George had his size they'd make a world class 10!

 

[Which Tyler]

I believe herefers the term "Fordling"

Whilst "Cordless" leaves him feeling undermined, as if he's not trusted to run the game himself.

 

[munstermuffin]

Baby Ford Senior. If he had the little fellas skills or George had his size they'd make a world class 10!

Have heard of him but can't say I've seen too much. Think with the weather expected though this will be a dog fight up front

 

[Which Tyler]

Whilst "Cordless" leaves him feeling undermined, as if he's not trusted to run the game himself.

"Fordlet" not "Cordless" Fing autocorrect

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Leicester Tigers (v Munster Rugby, away, Saturday 7.45pm)
15 Telusa Veainu
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Matt Smith
12 Mathew Tait
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford
9 Ben Youngs
1 Kyle Traynor
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Mike Fitzgerald
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Valentino Mapapalangi
7 Luke Hamilton
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Harry Thacker
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Chris Baumann
19 Dom Barrow
20 Mike Williams
21 Sam Harrison
22 Joe Ford
23 Nick Malouf


Munster going to be humping us into submission

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Munster:

15. Simon Zebo
14. Andrew Conway
13. Sam Arnold
12. Rory Scannell
11. Alex Wootton
10. Ian Keatley
9. Conor Murray

1. Dave Kilcoyne
2. Rhys Marshall
3. Stephen Archer
4. Jean Kleyn
5. Billy Holland
6. Peter O'Mahony (captain)
7. Chris Cloete
8. CJ Stander

Replacements:

16. Kevin O'Byrne
17. Brian Scott
18. John Ryan
19. Darren O'Shea
20. Jack O'Donoghue
21. Duncan Williams
22. JJ Hanrahan
23. Darren Sweetnam

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Munster team looks strong albeit not sure why Stephen Archer is ahead of John Ryan. Bench isn't great though.

 

[Fuzzy du Plessis]

My already limited optimism has all but disappeared with Traynor starting and Baumann on the bench. Tbh I'd be over the moon with a 4-1 loss for Tigers because it would still leave them in a great position to top the group.

If it's dry my prediction is 5-1 (TBP not a LBP) but if it's wet and windy I can't see beyond 4-0.

 

[Groundhog]

I wasn't far off. On Wootton v Sweetname I actually love that move, Wootton is on a roll and made some highly dominant hits this year, which Sweetnam just doesn't have. We may lose something under the high ball, but I'm happy about it. Ryan behind Archer is weird, but I know due to his Crohn's, Ryan won't always be able to start games, but I would have thought we'd start with our best man. As Snoop said the bench has holes, but we're well enough stocked in O'Donoghue for the back row, Sweetnam forthe back three and I think the young front rows have been positive. Still have relatively little faith in Hanrahan, but could be the man to nick a score near the end.
Sammy Arnold is gonna burst into form if he stays healthy, watch this space

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

It will be 5-0 win for munster due to the ref.

 

[Groundhog]

My already limited optimism has all but disappeared with Traynor starting and Baumann on the bench. Tbh I'd be over the moon with a 4-1 loss for Tigers because it would still leave them in a great position to top the group.

If it's dry my prediction is 5-1 (TBP not a LBP) but if it's wet and windy I can't see beyond 4-0.

Wet, windy and freezing is on the cards. Can't see any TBPs being scored, and it's gonna be tight.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Wet, windy and freezing is on the cards. Can't see any TBPs being scored, and it's gonna be tight.

Could see Munster getting 5 points through the forwards alone.
5th choice LH starting, 5th choice TH on the bench.... Midfield that is has been struggling to defend.....

 

[mosfeldt]

Feeling pretty confident about it. It's early days yet but I like this Van Graan chap. The Wootton call is a great one IMO. I think Welford Park will be a big ask though.

 

[Groundhog]

Could see Munster getting 5 points through the forwards alone.
5th choice LH starting, 5th choice TH on the bench.... Midfield that is has been struggling to defend.....

I think we've been unlucky in the sheer volume of injuries we've had, but also lucky in that they've been for the most part in areas of relative depth so the quality doesn't dip much, but we're an injury or two away from seriously murky water. For instance if Arnold is injured, I have no idea who plays 13. If we lose a second row the dip in quality is huge. O'Byrne has a bit of experience, but is 3rd choice if we're not counting the long term injured Sherry and Casey and 17 are raw as you'll see in our squad and are still finding their feet, although I have no doubt they will.
A bonus point isn't 100% out of the question, but I think unlikely. I'm nowhere near as confident in Munster as you, because we've played quite well in patches, but do struggle with letting teams back in the game. I'm open to changing that if we manage the weather supremely well, but I don't think we'll go into the game with an expectation of scoring many tries. I would say you centres being weak in defence is encouraging, because Arnold and Scannell will run direct and extremely hard and will make hay against soft tacklers. Really hoping Keatley keeps up his recent form too, especially in front of posts.

 

[munstermuffin]

Could see Munster getting 5 points through the forwards alone.
5th choice LH starting, 5th choice TH on the bench.... Midfield that is has been struggling to defend.....

No BP we did the captain' run there today and handling will be hard. It's ice cold. I think Ford will struggle with the kicking as he's not used to this type of swirl too. And I know Tigers are missing few but thats when we usually misfire when it against the 3rd or 4th choice guys. Can't explain why but well I will be happy with a win and denying Leicester a LBP