Munster v Treviso, eh, tonight

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Munster: S Deasy; D Howlett, K Earls, J Murphy, D Hurley; R O'Gara (Capt.), P Stringer; W du Preez, D Varley, J Hayes; M O'Driscoll, D Ryan; A Quinlan, D Wallace, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, Darragh Hurley, T Buckley, D O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, D Williams, P Warwick, I Dineen

Treviso:
15 Brendan Williams
14 Ludovico Nitoglia
13 Ezio Galon
12 Andrew Vilk
11 Benjamin De Jager
10 Kristopher Burton
9 Fabio Semenzato
8 Robert Barbieri
7 Benjamin Vermaak
6 Francesco Minto
5 Valerio Bernabò
4 Enrico Pavanello
3 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (capitano)
1 Franco Sbaraglini Replacements:
16 Enrico Ceccato
17 Augusto Allori
18 Pedro Di Santo
19 Antonio Pavanello
20 Marco Filippucci
21 Tommaso Benvenuti
22 Tobias Botes
23 Simon Picone
Head Coach: Franco Smith

That's a strong Munster team. I hope Ivan Dineen gets a shot off the bench. I was at the Leinster A versus Munster A game about a month ago and he stood out as one to watch, seemingly having loads of time on the ball and threatening the defence all day long. Maybe this is damning him with feint praise but his performance that day reminded me of the impact Barry Murphy made against Castres and Sale in the 2005/2006 Heineken Cup (albeit at a significantly lower level).

 

[munstermuffin]

Ivan is a fine player but maybe just not ready yet although this game could be a good experience for him. We just need to keep heads and be calm and get the win and then if viable think about the BP

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

I think Munster will get 5 points out of this fixture. The Murphy/Earls centre partnership excites me- here's hoping it's a long term option for Munster.

Going slightly off topic, Ivan Dineen follows Declan Cusack in getting a deal despite missing out on the academy. James Coughlan, Damien Varley and Mike Ross are three other players who've carved out good careers for themselves despite failing to attract the Munster talent scouts as younger players (i.e. up to u20 level). What was wrong wth Munster's scouting department at the time? Good on Tony McGahan for bringing these players (Mike Ross excepted obviously) into the setup.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well snoop problem there was schools and clubs sort of split and well the responsibility was passed and well some players just slipped through net through bad organisation but McGahan and branch members have addressed matter somewhat but still more work to be done

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Good win for Munster. Once they got the bonus point the heat went out of the game. On the plus side, it allowed the coach to blood Mike Sherry (who scored a fantastic try), Peter O'Mahony, Ivan Dineen and Duncan Williams. Williams had an excellent 20 minute cameo off the bench.

David Wallace was hugely impressive and puts it up to Sean O'Brien tonight to deliver an equally strong performance. The battle for the Ireland 7 shirt rages on.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well lads as already known a great win and 5 points in bag.
Treviso were poor and well at times looked like very poor at scrum-time.

On plus side for us Wallace was exceptional and Coughlan was very good too.
As Snoop said we got decent game time for all our youngsters.
Sherry looked very lively and well finished try well after a fine pass from Williams.
Williams looked very bright when introduced and well after a few injuries, in the past few weeks he looks like he could finally deliver on the potential he had from schools.
Again also ROG was in superb form and well I must say overall Irish Rugby is looking as strong in depht as it has ever done in nearly every position.

 

[danit]

Treviso were poor and well at times looked like very poor at scrum-time.

premised Munster is a much better, stronger, faster and more experienced team than Treviso, this was not the proper game to judge the italians, as Franco Smith dropped from the starting XV a bunch of usual starters as McLean, Benvenuti, Botes, Sgarbi, Maddock, Vosaway, Zanni, Derbyshire, Van Zyl, Cittadini

in the front line Sbaraglini was the huge weak hole, he had been shite in Perpignan too when he entered, Treviso leading 7 - 14, he was destroyed by Nicolas Mas

 

[coonor]

premised Munster is a much better, stronger, faster and more experienced team than Treviso, this was not the proper game to judge the italians, as Franco Smith dropped from the starting XV a bunch of usual starters as McLean, Benvenuti, Botes, Sgarbi, Maddock, Vosaway, Zanni, Derbyshire, Van Zyl, Cittadini

in the front line Sbaraglini was the huge weak hole, he had been shite in Perpignan too when he entered, Treviso leading 7 - 14, he was destroyed by Nicolas Mas

To be fair I don't Munstermuffin was judging the whole italian team, he was just saying their scrum was very poor on the night and if old man Hayes managed to get two players binned I can understand why he says that.

 

[danit]

he was just saying their scrum was very poor on the night and if old man Hayes managed to get two players binned I can understand why he says that.

definitely

 

[munstermuffin]

Wasn't judging treviso as I seen what they did against Leicester and acknowledge they didn't field strongest 15. But regardless of what pack was picked I just felt their scrum was very poor

 

[profitius]

it looked like Treviso didn't believe they could win so basically picked largely a second string and tried to keep the score down.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

They'll have their eyes on Connacht this week. I think Treviso will beat the westies by 10-15 points. Good home form will define the Italian teams season. In that regard Treviso have done brilliantly.