Battle of the Bog AKA LLanelli V Munster

toomevara

What a performance from Munster. Atrocious weather, brilliant composure and control...31 phases at one point. Amazing.

Marshy

Yeah they did very well to grind out the win in the end when at one stage it looked like it might be slipping away from them. The sin bin towards the end was crucial I think.

Top of the group now after Wasps lost without a BP earlier.

toomevara

Yeah, they were far from perfect, stringer, O'callaghan, Flannery still off the pace and discipline poor in patches but O'Gara superb as was one A. Foley...and Tipoki has the makings of a munster legend...

bleg

toomevara wrote: »

What a performance from Munster. Atrocious weather, brilliant composure and control...31 phases at one point. Amazing.

33 actually!

in weather like that, unreal. Foley had a huge game today, carried great ball and put in some huge tackles. shone through in conditions like that today.

was great at the end when we got a penalty and foley just took the ball off stringer, gathered the pack, and ran it. would have given him man of the match myself

still not too sure about that centre partnership but have to hand it to mafi, if he wasn't playing tonight the game could have gone very very differently. payne, dowling, stringer and o gara all had great games.

sheahan played well too when he came on. it was also nice to see wallace getting a try, it's been far too long

phog

Weather probably suited Foley a bit and makes the decision not to give him a run last week more surprising, he was certainly close to being MOTM.

Munster deserved their win and with the other teams not getting a BP today puts them top of the table.

Hopefully another big game from Munster next to settle us into a nice Christmas Break.

Well done to all the travelling fans it can't have been easy to support the team today is such shocking conditions - great to hear The Fields on the TV.

toomevara

bleg wrote: »

still not too sure about that centre partnership but

I'd have to agree, but there were signs last night that it is starting to click. I thought there were some really intuitive moments of interplay between the two, suggesting that the understanding necessary for a good centre partnership is starting to build.

Was massively impressed with both guys commitment...Tipoki played at times like an extra flanker and Mafi's commitment huge.

Also with Foley back in the mix and firing I think Munster's tactical awareness will improve massively, the guy reads a game brilliantly.

Would like to see Pulciarello given a run out and Stringer and Flannery need to find some form. Stringers tactical kicking last night was again atrocious (although service showing signs of getting back to silky best). Think we might have a semi-final in us this year..

Sabre0001

Great win especially considering the conditions. A tough match but well played by Munster - they adapted better today than last week against Leinster. Pity about the indiscipline which at one point looked as if it could turn the game - it was really silly mistakes that kept Llanelli is it.


Only concern was Wallace going down holding his wrist...Any news on this? Hope it's not serious!

bleg

seemed to be pretty bad

Erin Go Brath

Mafi showed incredible pace getting back to deny a certain try early on. Moment of the match for me. Worth getting a yellow.

I was very encouraged by the way Munster got down to business, especially in the 2nd half playing into the monsoon. The retention was amazing at times. The second try from Horan was a lesson in patience and composure, slowly grinding away at Scarlets defence until the breakthrough inevitably came.


What is it about Munster perfomances in Europe as opposed to the ML? They always seem to play like a team possessed in Europe!

remus808

Erin Go Brath wrote: »

Mafi showed incredible pace getting back to deny a certain try early on. Moment of the match for me. Worth getting a yellow.

I'd love to know what that yellow was for! I just caught the highlights out of the corner of my eye in the pub.. Looked like Peel should have been penalised for holding on if anything! Was incredible work from Mafi to get back and stop him

Erin Go Brath

karmabass wrote: »

I'd love to know what that yellow was for! I just caught the highlights out of the corner of my eye in the pub.. Looked like Peel should have been penalised for holding on if anything! Was incredible work from Mafi to get back and stop him

I thought along similar lines to yourself. This is Planet Rugbys take on it anyway:

"Peel raced away, but was brilliantly caught five metres short of the line by Lifiemi Mafi, who then ruined his good work by tumbling clumsily onto Peel and wrapping the ball up. He had kind of got to his feet a bit but... zero tolerance, remember? Mafi went to dry himself off for ten minutes, Rhys Priestland made it 6-3."

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Marshy

karmabass wrote: »

I'd love to know what that yellow was for! I just caught the highlights out of the corner of my eye in the pub.. Looked like Peel should have been penalised for holding on if anything! Was incredible work from Mafi to get back and stop him

Yeah it was a marginal one. Might have gone either way. Mafi kinda half got back on his feet but you can see why the ref gave it at the same time.

I was glad to see cards being handed out though. Far too many professional fouls go unpunished these days. Llanelli got done for a similar offence slightly later on.

toomevara

Noticed over the weekends games that all the refs seemed to be playing short advantages (all for it). Has a directive gone out?

legspin

Mafi was unlucky with the yellow but at least the ref was consistant

phog

karmabass wrote: »

I'd love to know what that yellow was for! I just caught the highlights out of the corner of my eye in the pub.. Looked like Peel should have been penalised for holding on if anything! Was incredible work from Mafi to get back and stop him

Seemingly and the refs on here might know more but once Mafi takled him he should have released him then got to his feet and ran around to the defensive side, stayed on his feet and then tried to steal the ball, if he managed to this then Peel would have been penalised for not releasing and subbed by Llanelli for not scoring a try while Mafi was moving from tackle to getting back to on-side.

GreenHell

Great performance in sloppy conditions, you gota hand it to Foley, had a brilliant game. Being dropped from the Irish setup seems to have aided his game more, looks fitter and stronger now.

Good work rate from 1 to 15. If we keep this up a final spot should be our minimum.

Nukem

Munster showed there class by playing up the jumper rugby and bullied the scarlets off the field. Surprised DK didn't sub a few more and try for a bonus point earlier on. Could be me getting greedy:D

Stringer was the cause of the near try and Mafi binning. I saw it coming a mile off and no one on the Munster side seemed to know he was going to kick it.Watch how slow Carney and the rest of them were to run, they didn't know where he had kicked it too.

Poor LLanelli, outta the HC in three games, thats crushing for a team of their caliber.

Good win through!

remus808

phog wrote: »

once Mafi takled him he should have released him then got to his feet and ran around to the defensive side, stayed on his feet and then tried to steal the ball

From what I saw it looked as if he was in the process of doing this! I don't think falling over the ball like he did should have been a yellow TBH

scoring a try while Mafi was moving from tackle to getting back to on-side.

Your saying Peel could have gotten back up and went over the line? I don't think so, once a player is held in the tackle they can't keep going..

I'd need to take another look at the footage, but seriously think that was a bad decision from the ref

future_plans

anybody know where I can see Hook'n'Popey analysis from Saturday night online? I heard even Hook was impressed and "Leinster will never win anything" or something along those lines?

bleg

future_plans wrote: »

anybody know where I can see Hook'n'Popey analysis from Saturday night online? I heard even Hook was impressed and "Leinster will never win anything" or something along those lines?

to summarise what he said, it was a great win with a very good performance, he doesn't think they'll get out of the group though

he then summed up by stating munster >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>leinser

phog

karmabass wrote: »

From what I saw it looked as if he was in the process of doing this! I don't think falling over the ball like he did should have been a yellow TBH



Your saying Peel could have gotten back up and went over the line? I don't think so, once a player is held in the tackle they can't keep going..

I'd need to take another look at the footage, but seriously think that was a bad decision from the ref

I think the ref looked at it like this - once Mafi tackled Peel, Peel should release the ball, Mafi would have to release Peel then get up off the ground and then get onside, Peel meanwhile could get up grab the ball and score.
The YC may still have been harsh but if the play was reversed we'd be screaming blue munder.

il gatto

toomevara wrote: »

Noticed over the weekends games that all the refs seemed to be playing short advantages (all for it). Has a directive gone out?

If that happens, alot of teams will spill the ball or do something stupid to get the penalty/scrum. If they think the advantage will last a bit, there's more chance they will try and make something happen from play. That said, I don't like seeing play dragged back 30m for something that happened a minute before.
Munster were immense. Mafi was a fantastic signing and Tipoki is looking like he might be the same. Nice to O'Gara back on form. Still think O'Connell and Quinlan were missed. O'Callaghan has been hitting a poor patch of form recently. Stringer was better than lately. Don't know about the aimless box kicks in that weather though.
Peel didn't look all that fantastic though. He'd want to up his game if he wants the Lions spot. Priestland has potential, but he's not ready for that level yet.

phog

future_plans wrote: »

anybody know where I can see Hook'n'Popey analysis from Saturday night online? I heard even Hook was impressed and "Leinster will never win anything" or something along those lines?

Hook is a clown, he cut Leinster to strips, said something along the lines they wouldn't beat the skin of custard. He then goes on to say that Jackman, Cullen, Jennings, Mal (maybe), Gleeson and Heaslip would be on the 6Ns team. Does he ever think out what he is saying?

I actually like the analysis at times but generally I take what George says with a grain of salt, I think Popey should get more airtime as he seems to know something about the game and the players.

Sabre0001

I also notice how a few weeks ago Hook said that Carney was bad and not worth all the hype yet a week later he appeared on his 6N team as well! Controversial statements for the sake of it at times...