Round 13

[big ginger 8]

Munster:

15. Mike Haley
14. Calvin Nash
13. Rory Scannell
12. Damian de Allende
11. Shane Daly
10. JJ Hanrahan
9. Nick McCarthy

1. James Cronin
2. Kevin O'Byrne
3. John Ryan
4. Jean Kleyn
5. Fineen Wycherley
6. Jack O'Donoghue (captain)
7. Chris Cloete
8. Jack O'Sullivan

Replacements:
16. Niall Scannell
17. Liam O'Connor
18. Roman Salanoa
19. Billy Holland
20. Gavin Coombes
21. Paddy Patterson
22. Joey Carbery
23. Darren Sweetnam

Cardiff Blues:

15. Matthew Morgan
14. Owen Lane
13. Mason Grady
12. Rey Lee-Lo
11. Aled Summerhill
10. Ben Thomas
9. Jamie Hill

1. Corey Domachowski
2. Kirby Myhill
3. Dmitri Arhip
4. Seb Davies
5. Rory Thornton
6. Shane Lewis-Hughes
7. Ellis Jenkins
8. Josh Turnbull (captain)

Replacements:

16. Liam Belcher
17. Theo Bevacqua
18. Keiron Assiratti
19. James Ratti
20. Olly Robinson
21. Lewis Jones
22. Dan Fish
23. Max Llewellyn

Referee: Adam Jones [WRU]

Ulster:

15. Michael Lowry
14. Rob Lyttle
13. James Hume
12. Stuart McCloskey
11. Jacob Stockdale
10. Ian Madigan
9. John Cooney

1. Andrew Warwick
2. John Andrew
3. Marty Moore
4. Alan O'Connor
5. Kieran Treadwell
6. Greg Jones
7. Jordi Murphy (captain)
8. Nick Timoney

Replacements:
16. Adam McBurney
17. Eric O'Sullivan
18. Ross Kane
19. Cormac Izuchukwu
20. Sean Reidy
21. Alby Mathewson
22. Matt Faddes
23. Robert Baloucoune

Ospreys:

15. Dan Evans
14. Keelan Giles
13. Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler
12. Keiran Williams
11. Luke Morgan
10. Stephen Myler
9. Rhys Webb (captain)
1.Gareth Thomas
2. Sam Parry
3. Tom Botha
4. Lloyd Ashley
5. Rhys Davies
6. Will Griffiths
7. Olly Cracknell
8. Morgan Morris

Replacements:

16. Ifan Phillips
17. Nicky Smith
18. Ma'afu Fia
19. Gareth Evans
20. Sam Cross
21. Shaun Venter
22. Joe Hawkins
23. Luke Price

Referee: Seán Gallagher [IRFU]

Connacht team to face Bennetton:

15. Tiernan O'Halloran
14. Peter Sullivan
13. Tom Daly
12. Bundee Aki
11. Alex Wootton
10. Conor Fitzgerald
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Paddy McAllister
2. Shane Delahunt
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Oisin Dowling
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Eoghan Masterson
7. Jarrad Butler (C)
8. Paul Boyle

Replacements

16. Jonny Murphy
17. Denis Buckley
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy
19. Niall Murray
20. Sean Masterson
21. Caolin Blade
22. Jack Carty
23. John Porch

Good to see Stockdale back and absolutely brilliant to see both Carbery and Baloucuone return after long term injury.

 

[paddybrown]

Great news on Baloucoune and Stockdale - pleased to see Rob Lyttle back as well, we've missed him.

And Joey Carbery's back from the dead! There'll be a few people holding their breath if he comes off the bench.

 

[ajwffc]

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Benetton v Connacht – KO 17:30 UK / 18:30 ITA

Stadio Monigo, Treviso

Referee: Marius Mitrea (FIR, 98th competition game)

Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli, Filippo Russo (both FIR)

TMO: Stefano Pennè (FIR)

Live on TG4, Premier Sports 2, DAZN, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv.

Cardiff Blues v Munster – KO 20:00

Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 9th competition game)

Assistant Referees: Ben Whitehouse, Dan Jones (both WRU)

TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

Live on S4C, Premier Sports 2, TG4, eir Sport 1, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv.

Ulster v Ospreys – KO 20:00

Kingspan Stadium, Belfast

Referee: Seán Gallagher (IRFU, 23rd competition game)

Assistant Referees: Eoghan Cross, Paul Haycock (both IRFU)

TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)

Live on eir Sport 2, Premier Sports 1, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv. Deferred: 21:35 S4C

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27

Edinburgh v Scarlets – KO 12:00

BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Referee: Ben Blain (SRU, 9th competition game)

Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White, Graeme Ormiston (both SRU)

TMO: Charles Samson (SRU)

Live on Premier Sports 1 eir Sport 1, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv.

Zebre v Dragons – KO 17:15 UK / 18:15 ITA

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR, 6th competition game)

Assistant Referees: Manuel Bottino, Matteo Liperini (both FIR)

TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)

Live on Premier Sports 1, eir Sport 1, DAZN, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

Leinster v Glasgow Warriors – KO 17:30

RDS Arena, Dublin

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 41st competition game)

Assistant Referees: Chris Busby, Robert O'Sullivan (both IRFU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

Live on eir Sport 1, Premier Sports 1, Super Sport (SA), ESPN+ (USA), pro14.tv.

 

[big ginger 8]

1. Oli Kebble (53)
2. Grant Stewart (40)
3. Enrique Pieretto (10)
4. Richie Gray (54)
5. Leone Nakarawa (74)
6. Rob Harley (242)
7. Thomas Gordon (28)
8. Ryan Wilson (C) (182)

9. Jamie Dobie (15)
10. Adam Hastings (47)
11. Cole Forbes (0)
12. Sam Johnson (67)
13. Huw Jones (46)
14. Rufus McLean (2)
15. Ollie Smith (1)

16. Johnny Matthews (8)
17. Aki Seiuli (23)
18. D'arcy Rae (79)
19. Gregor Brown (0)
20. TJ Ioane (9)
21. Sean Kennedy (13)
22. Ross Thompson (3)
23. Robbie Fergusson (8)

Unavailable for selection: Alex Allan, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Chris Fusaro, George Horne, Pete Horne, Paddy Kelly, Kiran McDonald, Niko Matawalu, Tommy Seymour, Kyle Steyn

International duty: Scott Cummings, Matt Fagerson, Ali Price, George Turner.

 

[Groundhog]

That's a game Leinster could drop. Decent enough Glasgow selection. Wouldn't bet against Leinster though. Glasgow were fairly crap last week too and offered very little

 

[big ginger 8]

Crazy finish, fair play to Aki actually being patient at the back of the maul.

Treviso have had an unlucky run vs the provinces lately.

 

[big ginger 8]

Munster getting absolutely done by the flat pass, looked liked bad individual decisions and system errors.

They've made a few bad mistakes which have stopped me saying it so far but overall Munster are looking more comfortable playing the ball than they were at the start of the season.

 

[Groundhog]

Frustrating old half. Played a lot of decent rugby and made mistakes when push came to shove. Cardiff can be pretty sharp when they want to though making us look foolish in defence.

 

[Groundhog]

Jesus christ my heart. I genuinely hate rugby. We were not nine points better than them tonight. Was getting my humble 'better side won post' ready for parts of that game. Just shows you just have to be the better side in key moments. Cloete was definitely our Man of The Match he will get pinged a good bit but he's generally bang on with his technique and sometimes punished harshly I think. Haley was also very good they learned early on the high balls weren't working on him.

Few lads were very very poor tonight though. Thought our starting props were behind the pace and our rows really frustrated me. O'Donoghue followed up a class game last week with a relatively poor one this weekend. O'Sullivan had a few nice carries but disappeared at times. Hanrahan the usual few howlers

The back play showed a bit of evidence of trying to play good ball in the first half no matter how frustrating the execution was at time. O'Byrne relied upon massively to handle the ball and then a ball out the back to Hanrahan which was maybe a bit predictable at times. Would love to see our wings actually attack more they really are just kick chasing implements on nights like tonight.

Lineout, ball presentation and support play all need work.

Job done against a bogie team though. Best Connacht and this pool is well beyond doubt.

 

[munstermuffin]

Jesus christ my heart. I genuinely hate rugby. We were not nine points better than them tonight. Was getting my humble 'better side won post' ready for parts of that game. Just shows you just have to be the better side in key moments. Cloete was definitely our Man of The Match he will get pinged a good bit but he's generally bang on with his technique and sometimes punished harshly I think. Haley was also very good they learned early on the high balls weren't working on him.

Few lads were very very poor tonight though. Thought our starting props were behind the pace and our rows really frustrated me. O'Donoghue followed up a class game last week with a relatively poor one this weekend. O'Sullivan had a few nice carries but disappeared at times. Hanrahan the usual few howlers

The back play showed a bit of evidence of trying to play good ball in the first half no matter how frustrating the execution was at time. O'Byrne relied upon massively to handle the ball and then a ball out the back to Hanrahan which was maybe a bit predictable at times. Would love to see our wings actually attack more they really are just kick chasing implements on nights like tonight.

Lineout, ball presentation and support play all need work.

Job done against a bogie team though. Best Connacht and this pool is well beyond doubt.

To be fair to us.

Ref let free for all at lineout. No gaps. And biggest thrill for me was we won with lads like Coombes leading it when he came on.
Cloete is playing magical rugby this year. Joey came through good.
Jack O Sullivan was good but still has a long way to go.
But we did win pens at vital times. I thought all of our 6 frontrowers contributed.
And Mike Haley showed quietly how good he is and in my eyes how underrated alot view him.

 

[The Seeker]

 

[The Seeker]

 

[The Seeker]

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Scarlets beat Edinburgh for the first time in ages, and away as well. Dragons' poor form continues. Ospreys and Blues both lost to Irish provinces, though not as badly as in many other occasions in recent years.

 

[Groundhog]

To be fair to us.

Ref let free for all at lineout. No gaps. And biggest thrill for me was we won with lads like Coombes leading it when he came on.
Cloete is playing magical rugby this year. Joey came through good.
Jack O Sullivan was good but still has a long way to go.
But we did win pens at vital times. I thought all of our 6 frontrowers contributed.
And Mike Haley showed quietly how good he is and in my eyes how underrated alot view him.

Ref had some blips but actually thought he did well enough. Our discipline continues to be quite poor. When we stop beating ourselves it was so obvious man for man we were a better side. Maul now was a complete free for all I will agree. Cloete is doing what I hoped he'd do with the law changes alright.
We would miss Haley alright. Think Daly and Nash have been a bit disappointing to be honest.

 

[munstermuffin]

Ref had some blips but actually thought he did well enough. Our discipline continues to be quite poor. When we stop beating ourselves it was so obvious man for man we were a better side. Maul now was a complete free for all I will agree. Cloete is doing what I hoped he'd do with the law changes alright.
We would miss Haley alright. Think Daly and Nash have been a bit disappointing to be honest.

Agreed. Daly has suffered from being with Ireland in Autumn and missing Munster games.

 

[The Seeker]

Great game!

 

[The Seeker]

Zebre is much improved.

 

[big ginger 8]

Frawley cannot catch a break this year, really feel for the guy. Big day for Osborne, coaches don't seem to fully trust Hawkshaw.

 

[big ginger 8]

Fantastic line from HB, big thank you to Ollie Smith for gifting the field position.