Ulster vs. Munster aka Saffas vs. Munster As

[Peat]

Looked at it that way, Ulster should definitley win... and, uhm, hmm, well. We'll see.

Not all is well, the confidence seems to have gone and things are yet to gel. One good victory though and things could look rosy again. Admittedly, Munster aren't most people's choice for "we could use a win now" (Ulster on the other hand...) if you've got to play them, then playing them while they're getting gangbanged by the triple scourges of suspension, injury and internationals is the time to do it.

Because this is the Munster squad:

International Squad - Buckley, Varley, Donn Ryan, O'Driscoll, O'Callaghan, Wallace, Leamy, O'Gara, Earls

Injured - O'Connell, Flannery, Dowling, Barnes, Fogarty, Jones, Horan, O'Leary, Dave Ryan

Suspended - Mafi, Tuitupou

Not Arrived - Borlase

Picked - Everyone else probably including every guy in the crowd who's brought his boots.

This gives a likely Munster team of...

Du Preez
Sherry
Hurley
Foley
Nagle/Holland
Quinlan
Ronan
Coughlan

Stringer
Warwick
Zebo?
Deasy
Joanne Murphy
Howlett
Hurley

????
Archer
????
Nagle/Holland
POM
Williams
????
Barry Murphy

Srsly. I'm a massive rugby geek, and even I can't make great educated guesses as to who will play.

Conversely Ulster should be fairly strong, although still missing a fair few particularly in the backs

Ulster's squad:

Forwards
Alan Whitten, Paddy McAllister, Jerry Cronin, Bryan Young, BJ Botha, Nigel Brady, Andi Kyriacou, Dan Tuohy, Neil McComb, Tim Barker, Johann Muller, Ryan Caldwell, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry

Backs
Adam D'Arcy, David McIlwaine, Paul Emerick, Mark McCrea, Tommy Seymour, Luke Marshall, Nevin Spence, Ian Whitten, Jonny Shiels, Ian Humphreys, Niall O'Connor, Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Ian Porter

Unavailable due to injury: David Pollock, Declan Fitzpatrick, Adam Macklin, Darren Cave, Simon Danielli, Jamie Smith, TJ Anderson

Expected team

McAllister
Brady
Botha
Caldwell/Tuohy/Barker
Muller
Wannenberg
Faloon
Diack

Pienaar
iHumph
McCrea
Big Whitten
Spence
McIlwaine
D'Arcy

Kyriacou
'Little' Whitten
Young
Tuohy/Caldwell/Barker
Henry
P Marshall
... NOC... I guess... can we have Luke Marshall
Emerick or Shiels

So, plenty of kids from the kindergarten on both sides. Botha vs. Du Preez should be worth the entry money, while the Munster lineout might be understandably feeling a little overwhelmed about dealing with Muller (I hope Caldwell as well, thats the one to **** their line out up most). Faloon vs. Ronan is a good old fashioned 7 battle, iHumph vs. Warwick is a great one if probably more suited to 7s...

Should be a good one. You'd like to think Ulster will win, but...

edit: Just noticed Hayes is available too. Would still rather start Hurley tbh.

 

[munstermuffin]

Peat the squad trained today and well there was 21 players training and 3 were not professional rugby players so as well stated we are right up against it

 

[Peat]

A promising start, but I refuse to get optimistic. Who were the non-pros?

 

[munstermuffin]

2 academy players and Dutchy Holland. The 2 academy lads were garryowen academy not Munster. Also we had to cancel our A game due to lack of players

 

[Conal]

ulster have called up two non pro props alan whitten and theres one more as ulster's injurys are all props!

 

[munstermuffin]

I reckon this will be a messy game. Poor weather. Two teams thrown together.

 

[Conal]

I reckon this will be a messy game. Poor weather. Two teams thrown together.

builds up for a cracking game or scrum after scrum after scrum and nothing really happining in the backs

however the one or two senior heads in either team could make some of the less experinced guys gel together eg ruan peinarr muller,,
i could mabey see the munster half backs managing to gel the team if they preform

 

[coonor]

I think this game will be won by the team that makes the least little mistakes. I would go back to a bit of conventional rugby for this game an try to kick into good territorial positions.

 

[munstermuffin]

Warwick or Cusack could be at 10 but it is never easy up in Ravenhill even if it with a full team so it a hard call. We will also be hurt by the fact we have lost our leadership in a big way - Leamy, ROG, Micko and DOC all absent. If we manage to get a win up here I would rank it up there with some of our finest results given the circumstances.

 

[Peat]

I think this game will be won by the team that makes the least little mistakes. I would go back to a bit of conventional rugby for this game an try to kick into good territorial positions.

Likewise! Cut out the risky handling and hope the boot of iHumph has a good night.

 

[Peat]

Teams are in

ULSTER (15-9) A D'Arcy; M McCrea, I Whitten, N Spence, D McIlwaine; I Humphreys, R Pienaar (1-8) P McAllister, N Brady, B Young, J Muller (Captain), T Barker, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, R Diack

Replacements (16-23) A Kyriacou, J Cronin, A Whitten, D Tuohy, C Henry, P Marshall, N O'Connor, L Marshall

Munster: S Deasy; D Howlett, J Murphy, I Dineen, D Hurley; P Warwick, P Stringer; W du Preez, M Sherry, J Hayes; B Holland, I Nagle; A Quinlan, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Replacements: S Henry, Darragh Hurley, S Archer, T O'Donnell, P O'Mahony, D Williams, B Murphy, S Zebo

I'll leave you to think those through a little while I **** myself at the prospect of Du Preez vs. Young and Howlett vs. McIlwaine.

 

[Conal]

i may love ulster but i think munster should win this

 

[munstermuffin]

We are still a very inexperienced team. Delighted for Sherry who has been going well in training for last few weeks and great to have Barry Murphy back after months of misery.
At least we have experience of Stringer to start up against Ruan and will be looking on to see how Douggie does with captaincy.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Bryan Young at tighthead - Jesus

Starting with Ulster; D'arcy can provide a real attacking threat from fullback if he ever learns to pass the ball. McIlwaine has had a meteoric rise this season which points to a bright future but right now he and McCrea are a poor pair of wingers. Whitten and Spence (great to see him start) will truck it up through the middle all day. It'll be up to Humphreys mercurial talents and Pienaar's undoubted class to ignite a very average three quarter line. McAllister was terrific against Edinburgh and for my money has moved past Young in the loosehead prop pecking order. Brady is **** poor and Young is a nothing loosehead so what's he doing at 3? From 4-8 Ulster are very strong. I think Willie Faloon is hugely under utilised by Brian McLaughlin and he gets a deserved start today.

Ivan Dineen apart, Munster have a fairly experenced backline. Du Preez should ***** slap Young all day and I think Mike Sherry is a better player than his counterpart. Without trying to sound too harsh, I hope McAllister destroys Hayes since it'll help Ireland more n the long run. To be fair to Hayes, he's not been as bad this season as he was last season. Holland is muck but his second row partner Nagle has a huge future ahead of him. What you see is what you get with Munster's backrow - plenty of effort but not much class.

If I was to pick a composite side of these starting teams it would be this:
Deasy, Howlett, Murphy, Spence, Hurley, Warwick, Pienaar; du Preez, Sherry, Hayes, Muller, Barker, Wannenburg, Faloon, Diack (8 Munster and 7 Ulster)

I think Munster will win the scrum battle and show more cutting edge but Ulster have more quality from 4-10 which should be enough to steer them narrowly home. They probably have slightly more options off the bench too. 20-14 to the home team.

 

[munstermuffin]

Think we will do well to grab something.

 

[Peat]

Young plays tighthead because Botha, Fitzpatrick, Macklin are all injured and Court's with Ireland. It does not fill one with confidence, although personally I like Brady as a player.

I am still bewildered to Spence/Whitten being that way round. Just does not compute. I'm guessing McGlock's got his reasons, but... oh well. We'll see. The good news is with those gentlemen in the centre, it doesn't matter what quality our wings are as they're not going to see the ball!

I suspect there might be a lot of kicking for territory from Ulster. Also, thinking about it, our breakdown skills haven't been all that this season, which makes Quinlan and Ronan just not what we wanted to see.

So far every fan has predicted against their own team. Nuff said about whats going on show really.

 

[munstermuffin]

Well team flying up now from Shannon airport and Peat if rain as bad up there this will be a 10 man game from both teams with possibly alot of errors. I'd expect it'll be won with the boot or with a moment of magic

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Well team flying up now from Shannon airport and Peat if rain as bad up there this will be a 10 man game from both teams with possibly alot of errors. I'd expect it'll be won with the boot or with a moment of magic

Of course it'll be raining heavily. Every time I've been in Belfast I've been ****** on!

Young plays tighthead because Botha, Fitzpatrick, Macklin are all injured and Court's with Ireland.

Granted but there are two tightheads on the bench.

 

[munstermuffin]

Ha Snoop I agree not a more depressing venue except maybe the Scarletts to go in a wet miserable day. But I think for once I'd say the more it rains the more it might suit us.

 

[coonor]

This could be a good match for Hayes. He should be impressive in the scrum. he plays a solid game and should be able to secure good ball for Munster. I think he has an opportunity to stand up as a leader with all his experience. Pienarr must stand out today, facing Stringer will be a big challenge. Munster have more solid backs and Humphreys must organise his backs and make sure Ulster play in the right areas. I'm really looking forward to this game. For alot of young players this is their chance to stand out and get some good game time. Great to see B. Murphy coming back. Really looking forward to the Wain du Preez v McAllistar I was really impressed by him last week.