Munster v Ulster

[An Tarbh]

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League leaders Ulster travel to Limerick for this interpro strengthened by the return of Paddy Wallace and Stephen Ferris, hopefully Ferris will at least get an hour of action under his belt having seen so little action this season.

The only changes for Munster come in the front row with Brugnaut switching to the loose and Archer is in at tighthead having been on the bench at Murrayfield.

Munster: P Warwick; I Dowling, L Mafi, J de Villiers, K Earls; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; J Brugnaut, D Fogarty, S Archer, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.

Replacements: D Varley, D Kilcoyne, M O'Driscoll, N Ronan, P Stringer, D Hurley, F Jones.

Ulster: C Schifcoske; T Nagusa, P Wallace, capt, D Cave, A Trimble; I Humphreys, I Boss; T Court, N Brady, BJ Botha, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, W Faloon, C Henry.

Replacements: A Kyriacou, B Young, T Horua, R Diack, P Marshall, I Whitten, S Danielli.

 

[Bluemoon]

What are you Irish fellas predicting for this one then? The munster backrow are fantastic on paper, is Ulster's W. Faloon any good - I've not heard of him?

 

[crispy]

Faloon might be the form 7 in the ML, he's been very good this season.

Great tries by JdV and then iHumph. I'm really surprised he didn't get brought into the Ireland squad because he's been the best Irish 10 around (or at least better than O'Gara).

Very entertaining game so far.

 

[feicarsinn]

2nd best.




2nd.

 

[crispy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (feicarsinn @ Oct 31 2009, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

2nd best.




2nd.[/b]

Maybe if Sexton grew a beard he'd be as good as Humphries...but not now.

 

[feicarsinn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (crispy @ Oct 31 2009, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (feicarsinn @ Oct 31 2009, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

2nd best.




2nd.[/b]

Maybe if Sexton grew a beard he'd be as good as Humphries...but not now.
[/b][/quote]
Old Man Humphries needs to get out of the way.

 

[crispy]

Ulster hooker is having a mare...that's like 3 or 4 line outs lost in a row, letting Munster go from defending a lineout in their own 22 to winning ball off another poor throw from Brady on Ulster's 5m line.

Which leads to...

Try Earls. Munster one try away from a BP.

also lol at Alan Quinlan pulling a Neil Back.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (crispy @ Oct 31 2009, 07:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Ulster hooker is having a mare...that's like 3 or 4 line outs lost in a row, letting Munster go from defending a lineout in their own 22 to winning ball off another poor throw from Brady on Ulster's 5m line.

Which leads to...

Try Earls. Munster one try away from a BP.

also lol at Alan Quinlan pulling a Neil Back.[/b]

did he get away with it?

 

[durbutter]

He sure didn't.

 

[munross]

On magnersleague.com they had JDV at 13 and Mafi at 12, did they play like this or did the website make a mistake?

 

[durbutter]

No thats how the lined up. Must be incredibly frustrating for JdV, almost everytime the ball gets to the centres, Mafi crashes it up. He doesn't even look for the offload, just head down and barrels into whoever. Poor auld Jean spends most of the match in rucks trying to save the ball that Mafi crashes up. I'm all for getting go forward but even when there is space and a bit of guile is required, he still does it.

Having said that, if JdV is the player his reputation proports him to be then he should be able to impose himself regardless.

 

[MunsterMan]

Tomás O'Leary :bravo:

Mafi is incredible at what he does though, he isn't even 14 stone and yet he can smash a rampaging Ferris and get over the gain line with ease. If Mafi gets back to the attacking rugby he was playing last season, the get in behind the defensive line and offload game with JdV running on to the ball, we would be sorted.

JdV is playing 13 (and playing well, a try today and so close to his first Munster intercept) because Lifemi Mafi didn't play well at 13 in the few games he played there, and since returning to the 12 jersey (he has been Europe's best 12 over the last 2 years) he has found some form again.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads just back from Thomond :bravo:

Will start with opposition:
Paddy Wallace for some reason impressed me. But well after leaving today I was wondering if Humphreys was with Leinster/Munster (who get more exposure) what would his scenario be because I really think he is every bit as good as Sexton (granted they both playing better than ROG)

Now on to Munster:
-Stephen Archer I think got better of Tom Court and really impressed by himself and Bruno (who i think can dislodge Horan for 1 jersey)
-Despite making few mistakes and bad kicking at goal ROG played better than previous outing and made some vital hits B)
-I was impressed alot by Warwick again :bravo: (And to think we nearly lost him )
-Also though Varley has a lovely throw at line-out

But although we got the win and the BP i still think there is maybe some problems still there.
1 problem sorted though is Mafi and JDV as it clicked with Mafi at 12 & JDV at 13.

And regards comment about it been frustrating been outside Mafi ... Why :blink:
Mafi is best 12 in Europe when he on form and JDV was urgin him to crash tonight and still JDv and back 3 got plenty of ball.
Still glad that we got that win as Ulster are a much better team than people will credit them for.

 

[KZNSharksFan]

Id like to watch the highlights of this, anyone know where to find them?

 

[munstermuffin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KZNSharksFan @ Nov 1 2009, 10:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Id like to watch the highlights of this, anyone know where to find them?[/b]

The game seems to be repeated on Setanta non-stop if you can get that

 

[monkeypigeon]

I missed the match unfortunately as I was out last night so could anyone fill me in on how everyone performed?

A player by player rating would be nice and how did the scrum hold up with young Archer?

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Monkeypigeon @ Nov 1 2009, 12:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

A player by player rating would be nice and how did the scrum hold up with young Archer?[/b]

I was only half watching the game but thought Archer did okay. He was on the back foot for the most part but the experience will stand to him. That said, if Munster have to pick him against, say, Perpignan, they're in big trouble. He has a future but needs quite a bit of work before being a competent Heineken Cup level prop.

 

[crispy]

Ulster dominated the scrum up front, and won a few penalties, but the rest of the Ulster pack didn't make the most of that advantage, they were lazy and didn't push hard enough. POC and DOC just locked their legs and that was enough to stop the Munster pack from going backwards. So although the Munster front row was going up, the scrum wasn't going backwards which gave Leamy enough time to get the ball out before the ref called any penalties.

 

[munstermuffin]

Rating for you Monkey from terrace of Thomond Park

1. Bruno - 7 (Played well and steadied scrum)
2. Fogarty - 6
3. Archer - 7 (May say he was raw but he had better of Tom Court)
4. DOC - 8 (Big improvement on previous outings)
5. POC - 8 (Made some handling errors but very good in open getting on alot of ball, also the lineout functioned much better)
6. Quinny - 7 (Typical Quinny getting through great work but isn't able for 89mins any more)
7. Wallace - 8 (1 of best ball carriers in world rugby)
8. Leamy - 7
9. O'Leary - 9 (At centre of everything)
10. ROG - 7 (Gets 7 because he did make TACKLES at vital times but any bad patches seemed to involve him)
11. Earls - 7 (Keith had his good moments and bad moments but took try well and developing well every game)
12. Mafi - 8 (Finally partnership worked and Mafi looked like the one we have grew to love in Munster, Best tackling Centre in Europe)
13. JDV - 7 (Took try well with excellent support and seems to be improving every game)
14. Dowling - 7 (Typical Dowling does basics brilliantly nothing fancy and is as hard as nails)
15. Warwick - 8 (Is simply the best all-round player and always seems to perform)
16. Varley - 7 (Beautiful darts)
19. Ronan - (Not on long enough)

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (munstermuffin @ Nov 1 2009, 03:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

12. Mafi - 8 (Finally partnership worked and Mafi looked like the one we have grew to love in Munster, Best tackling Centre in Europe[/b]

Bet tackling centre - possibly. Best defender - not a chance. Mafi tends to shoot out of the line in search of a big hit too often thus leaving a gap in the defensive line. He's been an outstanding signing for Munster but is prone to mistakes in defence and in attack he rarely passes the ball (though he always goes forward and gives some excellent offloads). He had a good game yesterday though.

I'm surprised you didn't rate Leamy higher. He had easily his best game of the year and was a contender for MoM.