Munster v Blues

[TRF_Cymro]

Venue: Thomond Park, Limerick
Date: Saturday, 4 December
Kick-off: 1930 GMT
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Paul O'Connell could make his return to Munster duty for the first time in almost nine months in Saturday's Magners League clash against the Blues.

O'Connell played his first match since Ireland's defeat by Scotland in March when he lined out for Young Munster in the All-Ireland League last weekend.

The Blues will be without forwards Martyn Williams and John Yapp who are on Barbarians duty.

In their absence Gethin Jenkins and Sam Warburton are on Blue standby.

O'Connell, the 2009 Lions captain, has been out of action since last Spring because of a groin injury.

John Hayes is in line to start for Munster at Thomond Park.

Hayes has been released from the Barbarians squad for Saturday's game against South Africa.

O'Connell played all the second half for Young Munster against Shannon on Friday evening.

Munster saw their lead at the top of the table reduced to one point as they were defeated 20-6 by the Dragons at the weekend while the Blues moved up to third by beating Glasgow 38-6.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/munster/9244231.stm​

 

[TRF_Olyy]

In their absence Gethin Jenkins and Sam Warburton are on Blue standby.[/CENTER]

Not the kind of players you'd be gutted about having on stand by :lol:

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Not the kind of players you'd be gutted about having on stand by :lol:

Ye hardly bad, think they will likely feature but off the bench, im sure Filise / Scott Andrews and Tom Davies will get a look in. Should be a good game to watch.

 

[dullonien]

Been impressed with Tom Davies is the little gametime he's had. This game should really show wheather the Blues have turned a bit of a corner after a string of rather dissapointing results. Should be a good game.

 

[munstermuffin]

We might have to rest some guys or limit their gametime. On the plus side I walked the pitch earlier and despite the artic weather the pitch is good and the studs are still dipping in to the surface. We probably lucky we got no snow. As for the game I'd expect a nice battle and well our loss last week might benefit us. A lot of young guys looked like they had heavy legs after a gruelling November in training but also from plenty of games. Saturday is a good chance for us to mix youth and experience

 

[dullonien]

Glad to hear no snow, as we've got a foot minimum here in Lincoln and it's still coming down!

 

[munstermuffin]

Yea it seems someone put an umbrella over Limerick as rest of ireland seems to have got snow. It is freezing here though but excellent work by ground staff seem to have got pitch ready.

A d realistically this game is perfect preperation for Ospreys

 

[Jockstap]

What are the chances of POC starting this match muffin?

 

[munstermuffin]

Just a note kick-off is moved to 5pm to help accomodate freezing weather. The ground staff feel if the 7:30 kickoff happened we would struggle with managing pitch.

Jockstap. Paulie is training well and I would expect we will see him feature. It a question of will we start him and try get more than 40 mins out of him or bring him on for 20 or 30. Paul will get a say on this but we have to factor in he has only played 40 mins AIL and well Magners is a big step up. We will probably use him off the bench for last 20 as this is role he will probably have for Ospreys double header.

 

[coonor]

Munster: 15 Johne Murphy, 14 Lifeimi Mafi, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Sam Tuitipou, 11 Darragh Hurley, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Paul Stringer, 8 Alan Quinlan, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Denis Leamy (c), 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Wian du Preez, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Tony Buckley.
Replacements: Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Dave Ryan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Paul O'Connell, 20 David Wallace, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Paul Warwick, 23 Barry Murphy.


Cardiff Blues: 15 Chris Czekaj, 14 Richard Mustoe, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Tom Shanklin, 11 Gavin Evans, 10 Dan Parks 9, Richie Rees, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Sam Warburton 6, Mamma Molitika, 5 Paul ***o, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Taufa'ao Filse, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Williams, 17 Tom Davies, 18 Sam Hobbs, 19 Bryn Griffiths, 20 Ben White, 21 Tom Slater, 22 Ceri Sweeney, 23 Dafydd Hewitt.

To very good teams. I'm lookin forwards to Earls and Tuitipou vs Shanklin and Laulala. Munster clearly are testing their team for next weeks H-Cup and i'm sure Cardiff are doing the same. Stringer is prefered to TOL which shows that Munster plan to start him against the Ospreys mext week. Warwick on the bench and Howlett not in the squad suprises me but this must be due to them needing a rest after a long November. Quinlan also returns for Munster as he fights for his place in the back row. The big news for Munster is the return of Paul O'connell after nine months out of rugby. I think that Munster's bench is the main advantage between the two teams.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads the November training and matches were more gruelling for Munster than Ireland when you factor in we put on intense training. Had hard matches and between travelling to wales and cork it was tough. So that why Howlett rested and Warwick on bench. Mafi needs gametime as does Earls. Will be great to get Paulie in for next week and Quinny needs a test on hamstring too

 

[MunsterMan]

DOC has played a lot of rugby lately, but then again Munster played 3 games in 10 days just a week ago, this one will make it 4 in 18, or one game every 4.5 days, so we are in the bizarre situation of bringing in the Internationals to rest our squad players as muffin said!

Will be a good match hopefully, too Heineken cup standard teams, hope we can hold our own against the conquerors or Europe!

 

[coonor]

6-3 to Cardiff at half time. Munster has deffinatly been the more threatning team but they could do with Wawrick and Howlett as they are missing some penetration and the are not being clinical. The pack has been good but we havn't been able to break down the impressive Cardiff defence.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Just turned this on now,
How the hell can the players see anything?!
It's so bloody foggy, you can't make anything out

 

[coonor]

ye it was fine up untill the 70 min. A good win for munster. It will give us confidence for the game next week. I think our forwards played well by keeping the ball and making hard yards. Great to see Paul O'Connell return. I think he did pretty well but h needs to just take his time.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well we got the win. We needed a good bollocking at half time and lads reacted as the pack were excellent in 2nd half. Paulie did well when introduced but still won't be ready to start for another few games.
Varley again showed his class and well was excellent. I think Warwick will be back at 15 with Johne (handling was poor at FB) on the wing next week. The back 3 we started just never seemed to work.
Also I think our scrum went well tonight

 

[coonor]

Well we got the win. We needed a good bollocking at half time and lads reacted as the pack were excellent in 2nd half. Paulie did well when introduced but still won't be ready to start for another few games.
Varley again showed his class and well was excellent. I think Warwick will be back at 15 with Johne (handling was poor at FB) on the wing next week. The back 3 we started just never seemed to work.
Also I think our scrum went well tonight

I agree in the sence we needed to be more clinical but I think we had the possession and territory in the first half, we just missed Howlett and warwick. Johne had a poor game and Mafi didn't take his chance (He'll be lucky to be on the bench next week). I think the Blues defence was very good but our pack was impressive. I think our Tony Buckley and even John Hayes supprisingly dominated Jenkins in the scrum.

 

[dullonien]

Parks seemed to be almost as bad a Biggar in that game. Too much kicking, instead of keeping hold of the ball and being patient. What was the point of going for the drop goal towards the end when they would have still been 1 pint behind had it gone over? He loves the cross field kick aswell, but it's very rarely a sure thing unlike when O'Gara goes for one. Keep the ball in hand and allow Laulala the chance to create some magic. They were unlicky with Shanklin's missed try, but again a chance missed there for the Blues.

 

[MunsterMan]

Warwick/Howlett/Johne back 3 next week. Is Coughlan injured? Coughlan/Wally/Leamy back row. Same team other than that, let's kill us some Ospreys!

Varley excellent againt, I'm telling ye he is the best hooker we have! Other than that an error ridden display, Scrum was good though.

 

[coonor]

I think these games are hard with internationals coming back after a tiering campaign and only a week away from the H-cup so players must be rested and tested. Munster lacked penetration in the backs and the back three were all quite poor. I agree Howlett and Murphy on the wing and Warwick at full back next week. I think Leamy had a good game and was the centre of the pack along with Varley. Quinlan and Ronan both had major brainfarts throughout the match. I mean did Ronan really think he was going to score that drop goal. I'd also have the same front for next week.