URC 2022/23 Round 14

[Tooting Carmen]

Methinks it'll be mostly if not entirely home wins this weekend.

FRIDAY
Munster: Shane Daly; Liam Coombes, Antoine Frisch, Malakai Fekitoa, Simon Zebo; Joey Carbery, Paddy Patterson; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, Roman Salanoa; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Mark Donnelly, Stephen Archer, Jack O'Sullivan, Alex Kendellen, Ethan Coughlan, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Ospreys: Max Nagy; Luke Morgan, Michael Collins, Owen Watkin, Keelan Giles; Stephen Myler, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Nicky Smith (capt), Elvis Taione, Tom Botha, Bradley Davies, Huw Sutton, Jack Regan, Ethan Roots, Morgan Morris

Replacements: Tom Cowan-Dickie, Garyn Phillips, Rhys Henry, James Fender, Harri Deaves, Matthew Aubrey, Jack Walsh, Iestyn Hopkins


Glasgow: Ollie Smith; Sebastian Cancelliere, Stafford McDowall, Sam Johnson, Cole Forbes; Tom Jordan, Jamie Dobie; Nathan McBeth, Johnny Matthews, Lucio Sordoni; Lewis Bean, Scott Cummings; Thomas Gordon, Sione Vailanu, Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan, JP du Preez, Alex Samuel, Euan Ferrie, Ali Price, Duncan Weir.

Ulster: Ethan McIlroy; Ben Moxham, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Jacob Stockdale; Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Eric O'Sullivan, Tom Stewart, Jeff Toomaga-Allen; Alan O'Connor (capt), Kieran Treadwell; Harry Sheridan, Jordi Murphy, Nick Timoney.

Replacements: John Andrew, Rory Sutherland, Andy Warwick, Cormac Izuchukwu, Greg Jones, John Cooney, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy.

SATURDAY
Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl; Steff Evans, Joe Roberts, Ioan Nicholas, Ryan Conbeer; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies; Kemsley Mathias, Shaun Evans, Sam Wainwright, Morgan Jones, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Dan Davis, Sione Kalamafoni (capt).

Replacements: Taylor Davies, Steff Thomas, Javan Sebastian, Ben Williams, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Dane Blacker, Dan Jones, Eddie James.

Edinburgh: Wes Goosen; Damien Hoyland, Mark Bennett, James Lang, Jack Blain; Charlie Savala, Charlie Shiel; Boan Venter, Dave Cherry (capt), Murray McCallum, Glen Young, Jamie Hodgson, Nick Haining, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata.

Replacements: Adam McBurney, Jamie Jack, Lee-Roy Atalifo, Marshall Sykes, Connor Boyle, Ben Vellacott, Jaco van der Walt, Chris Dean.


Cardiff: Ben Thomas, Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Jason Harries; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams; Corey Domachowski, Kristian Dacey, Dmitri Arhip, Lopeti Timani, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull, Ellis Jenkins, James Ratti.

Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Brad Thyer, Keiron Assiratti, Rory Thornton, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Ellis Bevan, Aled Summerhill, Matthew Morgan.

Benetton: Rhyno Smith, Onisi Ratave, Marco Zanon, Filippo Drago, Mattia Bellini, Tomas Albornoz, Dewaldt Duvenage (capt); Nahuel Tetaz, Siua Maile, Tiziano Pasquali, Marco Lazzaroni, Riccardo Favretto, Giovanni Pettinelli, Alessandro Izekor, Henry Time-Stowers.

Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Thomas Gallo, Filippo Alongi, Carl Wegner, Toa Halafihi, Alessandro Garbisi, Jacob Umaga, Joaquin Riera.


Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien, Jordan Larmour, Liam Turner, Jamie Osborne, Dave Kearney, Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath, Michael Milne, John McKee, Michael Ala'alatoa, Ross Molony, Brian Deeny, Rhys Ruddock (capt), Scott Penny, Max Deegan.

Replacements: Lee Barron, Jack Boyle, Thomas Clarkson, Jason Jenkins, Will Connors, Nick McCarthy, Charlie Tector, Rob Russell.

Dragons: Angus O'Brien; Sio Tomkinson, Steff Hughes, Jack Dixon, Ashton Hewitt; Will Reed, Rhodri Williams (capt); Rhodri Jones, Brodie Coghlan, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Ben Carter, Ben Fry, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty

Replacements: James Benjamin, Aki Seiuli, Chris Coleman, Sean Lonsdale, Lewis Jones, JJ Hanrahan, Jordan Williams

 

[big ginger 8]

Great to see Jenkins back.

Hope Boyle gets a decent runout.

 

[Al Bangor]

Glasgow over Ulster.

We Are Warriors!

 

[Groundhog]

Worlds best 8s right now
1. Coombes
2. Faletau
3. Probably some overhyped English player with a ridiculous name like Waddlecock who plays for Leicester
6. Caelan Doris

Before sore Leinster fans accuse me of not being able to count, 4 and 5 are both John Hodnett out of position

 

[TRF_Olyy]

3. Probably some overhyped English player with a ridiculous name like Waddlecock who plays for Leicester

Oscar Cumblethwaite-Waddlecock is in way better form than Faletau

 

[Tooting Carmen]

I know the Welsh players are undergoing some tough times, but that Ospreys no-show was just totally unacceptable.

 

[Groundhog]

Oscar Cumblethwaite-Waddlecock is in way better form than Faletau

Oscar definitely went to Milfield then schols in Loughborough before being picked up by the Tigers academy. His girlfriend is a duchess and his family are being asked to pay reparations to the Barbados government.

 

[Al Bangor]

Glasgow Warriors extended their unbeaten streak in all competitions to 10 with a hard-fought victory at Scotstoun.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Worlds best 8s right now
1. Coombes
2. Faletau
3. Probably some overhyped English player with a ridiculous name like Waddlecock who plays for Leicester
6. Caelan Doris

Before sore Leinster fans accuse me of not being able to count, 4 and 5 are both John Hodnett out of position

No Southern Hemisphere players... Nice

Southern hemisphere rugby isn't good.

 

[Groundhog]

No Southern Hemisphere players... Nice

Southern hemisphere rugby isn't good.

I genuinely forgot about their entire whack little hemisphere. I don't think I could name a country there except for Nauru obviously.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Glasgow Warriors extended their unbeaten streak in all competitions to 10 with a hard-fought victory at Scotstoun.

I got my Glasgow prediction horribly wrong this year. When you factor in their bad start to the season they are arguably the second strongest side in then tournament this year (although there seems to have been very few Saffa home games). I can't believe they are easily handling Ulster in wet conditions during 6N squad absences.

 

[Smurfy]

Watching Munster last night I think the penny has finally dropped that they can't replicate the play of the team of the noughties and that the game has moved on while they stood still. I appreciate that Ospreys were awful for a variety of justifiable reasons, but I thought Munsters pace and style of play augurs very well for the development of player. It's also great to see players like Coombes and Carbery put in excellent displays instead of having a bit of a sulk when things haven't gone their way at international level. Our backrow talent across the country is unbelievable, and if Frisch continues like this we'll have similar depth in midfield at international level. Forget the score line and look at the quality and style of performance.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Watching Munster last night I think the penny has finally dropped that they can't replicate the play of the team of the noughties and that the game has moved on while they stood still. I appreciate that Ospreys were awful for a variety of justifiable reasons, but I thought Munsters pace and style of play augurs very well for the development of player. It's also great to see players like Coombes and Carbery put in excellent displays instead of having a bit of a sulk when things haven't gone their way at international level. Our backrow talent across the country is unbelievable, and if Frisch continues like this we'll have similar depth in midfield at international level. Forget the score line and look at the quality and style of performance.

Yeah, I think a move away from the power game was in the new Munster coach's DNA, but they've experienced pain trying to change the old power game.

Some size of crowd at Bulls vs Stormers today by the looks of things. Apparently they had 35k sold a couple of days ago and were pushing for 40k. Excellent to see.

Zebre score a bucketload of points in garbage time and lose. Nothing new.

 

[Amiga500]

I got my Glasgow prediction horribly wrong this year. When you factor in their bad start to the season they are arguably the second strongest side in then tournament this year (although there seems to have been very few Saffa home games). I can't believe they are easily handling Ulster in wet conditions during 6N squad absences.

We've went backwards. A long way backwards.

Not sure how they go about arresting the slide though.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

We are stinking ballsbridge up rn

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

We are stinking ballsbridge up rn

Luke McGrath always out to **** me off...

Great try, what a read

 

[Groundhog]

Leinster getting essentially hammered at home right now by -7 points is why they're Ireland's second province

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Mike Blair needs to be given an ultimatum. Edinburgh in the playoffs or find a new job. It's no use being worldbeaters for three games a season.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Larmour might be playing his alway ahead of Jimmy. I reckon that's the battle for the last spot on the plane to France unless Conway can come back on time.

 

[Smurfy]

Larmour might be playing his alway ahead of Jimmy. I reckon that's the battle for the last spot on the plane to France unless Conway can come back on time.

I'm surprised Larmour isn't more seriously in the frame for a starting spot tbh. He has been superb for the last while. There are going to be some incredible players left behind for the RWC.