Leinster v Munster

[An Tarbh]

<div align='center'>

Leinster v Munster
Venue: RDS
Date: Sunday, September 28
Kickoff - 19:00, Live: Setanta 1</div>

Right it's the big one this Sunday as Leinster host Munster at the RDS. Munster are off to a flyer while Leinster aren't exactly going at full pelt yet but are getting the job done for the most part but form is irrelevant as these two sides match up on Sunday.

Leinster will be without Ica Nacewa whose broken arm sees him out of action until the end of November. However new signings CJ van der Linde and Rocky Elsom are included and are in line for their debuts in Sunday's derby clash.

Keith Earls comes back into the Munster squad having been rested against the Blues while there are also returns for David Wallace, Marcus Horan and Donncha O'Callaghan.

So how do you see it going, will Leinster continue the recent trend of home wins, for the most part or will it be Munster who come away with the victory. It certainly is a case of rolling out the clichés as this one can go either way but if either side clicks and the other doesn't it could well be a hiding as well.

Your thoughts???

 

[shazbooger]

No thoughts. Havent a clue whats going to happen, but there is going to be a cracking atmosphere in the RDS so heres hoping the spectacle matches it.

oh ................... and heres hoping we thump the redneck, bandwagon joining, event junkies by 30+ points

 

[monkeypigeon]

Theres gonna be bandwagoners where there's success so...drop it!

Now, I hope Munster win against those success begrudging, event Junkies, But I have a feeling that their home form + Contepomi form will win the day.

Really, as ever I'm just hopeing for a craicing match with some good trys and big hits!

 

[An Tarbh]

Bit tetchy over a tongue in cheek comment but there you go.

As for the game Munster have looked that bit sharper from what I've seen and I think they'll do enough to take the win on Friday, last thing Munster ever need is extra motivation but losing both games last year still won't have been easy for them to take so I'd expect them to put in a performance to get the job done on Sunday. Defeat might not be a bad thing for Leinster as it could be the wake up call they'll probably need with the Edinburgh game on the horizon.

 

[MunsterMan]

Hopefully Munster will win. It will be nice to see some nice running rugby in the RDS for a change

If Contepomi doesn't like contact how will he cope with Mafi and Tipoki? Leinster have an excellent pack, so I think all our big counter ruckers need to be on the pitch and Leinster have an excellent lineout so we will need our best jumpers on the pitch as well as options in the backrow. For those reasons Donnacha Ryan must start, I think he should be HEC first choice by the end of the season. It looks like Earls will be starting fullback, having only played against London Irish, Edinburgh and the Dragons there so is unproven. It should be OK though as we have Dougie to slot in if it isn't going well. A lot depends on whether or not CJ (and to a lesser extent Elsom start) If CJ does not start, Munster can play Buckley at Loose head which IMO would give us an advantage in the loose.

I predict this one to be close, but then again It's Munster V Leinster so who knows. Hopefully the weather stays like it is now.

 

[An Tarbh]

I don't think Buckley is in the squad which is a mistake as far as I'm concerned, he needs to be involved in these big games even if it's only from the bench if he's to be the long term replacement for Hayes.

 

[MunsterMan]

Teams:

Munster: K Earls; D Howlett, R Tipoki, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; P O'Connell capt, D O'Callaghan; D Ryan, D Wallace, J Melck.

Replacements: F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, J O'Sullivan, A Quinlan, P Stringer, P Warwick, B Murphy


LEINSTER:
15: Girvan Dempsey
14: Shane Horgan
13: Brian O'Driscoll
12: Felipe Contepomi
11: Luke Fitzgerald
10: Jonathan Sexton
9: Chris Whitaker
1: Ronan McCormack
2: Bernard Jackman
3: CJ Van Der Linde
4: Leo Cullen CAPTAIN
5: Malcolm O'Kelly
6: Rocky Elsom
7: Shane Jennings
8: Jamie Heaslip

REPLACEMENTS:
16: Stan Wright
17: John Fogarty
18: Trevor Hogan
19: Cameron Jowitt
20: Sean O'Brien
21: Chris Keane
22: Rob Kearney

 

[An Tarbh]

Would have preferred to see Kearney in instead of Horgan but that's nitpicking as Horgan certainly gives Leinster plenty of options.

 

[MunsterMan]

Scrum will be interesting. CJ will destroy Marcus, and The Bull will destroy Ronnie. Every man 4-8 is a credible Jumper for Munster but I still think Leinster will have the upper hand. I think Melck deserves his spot but would have preferred Wallace at 8 and Quinlan at 7. Very harsh on Ronan. I think if Mafi and Tipoki unnerve Felipe we will win as he is the only proven goal kicker in the Lester 22.

 

[An Tarbh]

Kearney's well able to kick the goals as well and Sexton didn't let us down last season either.

 

[shazbooger]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Sep 26 2008, 05:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I don't think Buckley is in the squad which is a mistake as far as I'm concerned, he needs to be involved in these big games even if it's only from the bench if he's to be the long term replacement for Hayes.[/b]

Sw an article in the Indo or Times yesterday. An Interview with that hairy Australian guy coaching in Munster. He mentioned Buckley briedly as having the potential but when you get to your late 20's it stops being potential (Buckleys 26-27 now aint he?). Thats not word for word and he wasnt overly critical, but he wasnt praising him either.

I think those in Munster are starting to realise he may not be the replacement for Hayes they need.

 

[monkeypigeon]

I enjoyed that. Alot. Fitzgerald very quite and Earls showing that he can do it against the big opisition with some great moments in that match.

Munster need to get that lineout sorted out tres quickly and the ref was consistant but not particularly good at the ruck sometimes.

Happy with the result, O'Leary was awful, Jackman should be getting the Hooker spot this November. Kearney should've been brought on sooner if they ever wanted to try comeback though he was poor in defence for the first Munster try.

 

[Sir Speedy]

18 - 0, wasn't it? Munster have always been a much better side, though I'd never expect them to nil Leinster at the RDS...

 

[munross]

Yeah I thought that Leinster might actually have had a chance of winning this game even though in the back of my head I knew Munster would win but not by 18 to 0!Some interesting results from the Magners League this weekend(thats what I think in anycase )

To think a teams with such players like Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi, Malcolm O'Kelly, Rocky Elsom not even scoring a try,NOT EVEN 3 POINTS :ninj: .

I see Leinster got three penalties and Contepomi missed all of them...? :blink:

 

[monkeypigeon]

Yeah, he was very poor (Contepomi), I could've kicked two of them myself.

 

[shazbooger]

Just got back from the RDS. Not sure what to say really.

First of all it was a great atmosphere at the game and I think the Leinster fans did themselves proud throughout.

The ref did alright. Equally good or bad for both teams (depends on how you see it really), and a few calls confused me but I could say the same of every game.

As for the result. It was 18-0 in the end, but I still think it "could" have gone either way right up to the 70th minute. I keep looking at a couple of incidents here and there that could have swayed the game, the main one being Quinlans off the ball tackle on VdL for the first try. It should have been a penalty back at the half-way line, but the ref missed it. At the same time, VdL was not going to have an effect during that play so it seems a bit of a daft complaint. The others were a series of enforced (or forced) errors by Leinster. These have been glossed over in the past few weeks by playing average opposition, but they will need to cut out those errors quickly or its another season of mediocrity. Everytime Leinster got themselves into a decent position, they spilled the ball or got themselves isolated. Was really frustrating to watch.

As for the players. Earls looked class with ball in hand but sorry lads, he aint a fullback (well not yet). Stick him on the wing where he belongs, or maybe in the centre, but he was poor under the high ball (usually out muscled).

Nacewa was missed and Leinster looked devoid of ideas with the slow ball Munster allowed them. While I'm happy to see Sexton get a run of games at 10, hes a bread and butter outhalf and isnt going to give you anything special. The game was calling out for Cheka to take a risk and move Contepomi inside, but it never happened.

Well deserved win for Munster but the 18-0 score doesnt go anywhere close to reflecting how close that match was.

 

[MunsterMan]

Munster were superb! Really pleased with the result. I couldn't fault any of the players in red apart from maybe O'Callaghans usual almost anonymous performance when PO'C is playing. Has the Bull ever played better? Definitely looks to be in the best shape of his career, Looks like he lost a stone and he had some excellent carries tonight.

Logorrhea - As far as I remember Earls only knocked the ball on once so I don't understand your poor under the high ball comment, unproven yes but you can't really call him poor. I think Earls is more talented than Fitz but I would still be reluctant to give him the nod over him due to plain old experience. Earls must start against Canada though.

Anyone hear ROG's interview after the game? Serious praise for McGahan, said something like there is no telling how much this guy could influence the game in the next 10 years.

Shane Jennings was the Phillips MOM! :lol:

Well done to both sets of fans :bravo: Created a great atmosphere and It was nice to see both kickers being shown respect.

 

[shtove]

Good game.

Earls has pace, swerve, passing - but he's not a full back yet: weak under good high kicks, but Sexton forgot to test him in the second half.

O'Leary was poorish, and Whittaker did better than usual. ROG had a problem off his left hand - a lot of long passes fell short and bounced in to the receivers' hands. Guess it had something to do with the elbow strapping. His kicking was almost perfect, and the dink through for the last try was out of habit.

Big disapppointment was the anonymous Leinster midfield in attack. BOD could have had a score, but he forgot that you have to expect Fitzgerald to offload in even the tightest smother tackle - the ball bounced off his gut and he ended up with a lemon-sucking look on his face.

The replacements seemed to make the difference. I dunno - I kind of lost concentration in the last quarter because we were watching on a 15 min delay and the uber-Munster supporter next to me kept receiving texts and dropping heavy hints about the result.

Ref was good. Both teams will improve, but Munster more than Leinster. Guys, you still haven't brought a pack for 80 mins!

 

[MunsterMan]

Anybody without provincial bias care to comment on the Earls/Kearney/Fitzgerald situation?

 

[shazbooger]

Oh there is no Bias. I think Earls is absolute class and as I said to a mate of mine he'll look better in green

I just dont think hes big enough to command under the high ball. He didnt shirk once, but he failed to gather the few (too few) up and unders that were thrown at him. Any players going up with him disturbed him enough to put him off. Not a huge criticism of him as a player, just pointing out the obvious is all. Its kinda similar to Shane Williams or Billy Whizz at full back. Fantastic with ball in hand going forward, but not secure under a high ball.

As for the Kearney, Fitzgerald, Earls debate. I dont think there is one. Its more a Kearney, Fitzgerald, Earls, Horgan, Dempsey, Murphy, Bowe discussion. If you asked me I'd have Earls in ahead of all of em, but not at fullback.

Oh and I laughed my head off when Jennings was named as MoM.