Ulster-Munster rescheduled - 2 days after HC Semi!

Zzippy

The postponed Ulster-Munster ML game has been rescheduled for Tuesday April 29th - just 2 days after Munster play Gloucester in England in the HEC semi-final.
Anyone care to guess how many first team players Munster will have lining out for this one? Talk about shafting Connacht again, let's make sure Ulster win this one so they stay in the HEC, I know, we'll fix the match so Munster will have to play a second string side. :rolleyes:
Its just as well there's a swear filter on this... :mad:

JC 2K3

*Saracens

Podge_irl

It's nothing to do with trying to shaft Connacht. They'll more than likely be out of the running for the last HEC spot when they most likely lose to Ulster this weekend. Connacht wrecked their chances when the lost at home to Ulster.

bleg

agreed. the fixture is a joke. munster are forced to field a second string side. none of the coaching staff will even be able to concentrate on the match. shafting connacht and shafting munster.

Brewster

Lads,

Dont talk nonsense. As the other poster rightly says, Connaught blew their chances when they lost to Ulster at home. Ulster will beat Connaught at home which will confirm their Heineken Cup place for next year. Stop trying to propagate conspiracies in relation to Connaught when none exist. The game had to be rescheduled some midweek game, its unfortunate for Munster should they be in running for Celtic league granted, but as for Connaught lads, a bit of realism is needed.

marco_polo

bleg wrote: »

agreed. the fixture is a joke. munster are forced to field a second string side. none of the coaching staff will even be able to concentrate on the match. shafting connacht and shafting munster.

That being said a second string XV worked out pretty well for us up at Ravenhill last season against a near full strength Ulster outfit :pac:. And if we are still in the HEC then the competition for squad places for the final will be intense, so they should still be able to make a game of it.

escobar

Brewster wrote: »

Lads,

Dont talk nonsense. As the other poster rightly says, Connaught blew their chances when they lost to Ulster at home. Ulster will beat Connaught at home which will confirm their Heineken Cup place for next year. Stop trying to propagate conspiracies in relation to Connaught when none exist. The game had to be rescheduled some midweek game, its unfortunate for Munster should they be in running for Celtic league granted, but as for Connaught lads, a bit of realism is needed.

You do realise that Connacht gets half the funding and half the voting power of the other provinces...... If that's not a conspiracy I don't know what is .

escobar

It's absolutely crazy. Three matches in a week is unheard of. :mad:
I hope they have a good enough squad to beat Ulster with their second team. We'll see but llanelli a few days later. I'd hate to see Leinster win the League because Munster got shafted......... The previous Leinster Munster match may already have decided that. Still terrrible:(

marco_polo

Just thinking about it we could still put out a pretty competitive side against Ulster. Wouldn't expect them to win the game mind but wouldn't be disgraced. This would be assuming that anyone who was on the bench the previous Sunday such as Strings, Warwick, Buckley, O'Driscoll got no more than 10 -20 minutes gametime. Would be really digging to fill the bench though without using the Academy though.

15. K Earls
14. M Lawlor
13. K Lewis
12. B. Murphy
11. Brian Carney

10. Warwick
9. Stringer

8. J O'Sullivan
7. N Ronan
6. J. Coughlan
5. D Ryan
4. M O'Driscoll
3. T Buckley
2. F Sheehan
1. F Puc

Crash

escobar wrote: »

The previous Leinster Munster match may already have decided that. Still terrrible:(

Pretty much will decide it. There are four matches left in the season for leinster, while Munster have 5.

at the moment its Leinster 50 Munster 39.

If leinster win that will put em 54/55 (dependent on the score) to Munsters 40/41, giving them a 13/14 point lead.

With 4 matches then left, Munster winning all four, with bonus point, would leave them at 61.

To beat this, Leinster would only need a combination of:
2 games lost (with bonus), 1 game won.
2 games lost (1 with bonus, one without), 1 game won with bonus.

Which is very very doable. Granted We've left it behind us before (and one of the 3 leinster games is Edinburgh away) but it Pretty much rides on this game.

Just to put a bit of competitiveness back into it

marco_polo

Munster seek date change
MUNSTER are understood to have lodged an application to Celtic Rugby Ltd to have their rearranged game with Ulster at Ravenhill on April 29, moved to another date.
The Southern Province are playing a Heineken Cup semi-final away to Saracens on Sunday, April 27, which gives them only one full day to recover and prepare for the clash with Ulster.

The game had been postponed from January 4 due to snow and ice, and a new date was set for either April 25 or April 29, depending on Munster's progress through the knockout stages.

Declan Kidney's side impressed in a win over Gloucester, winners of Ulster's pool in the European Premier competition, which put them into the semi-finals. Monday's draw saw their game being played on the Sunday.

Ulster have already made arrangements for the reorganising of tickets for the match on April 29 and a further change would add to the administration already involved.

It is a case of waiting to see what the Magners league organisers, in association with broadcasters, Setanta, decide to do with what would be seen as a reasonable request.

Interestingly, it is also understood that Ulster Rugby were requesting their yet to be arranged game over the weekend of May 3, be played on the Saturday night.

Ulster coach Matt Williams said on Tuesday: "A three day turnaround is really too short, so we have asked that a request be made to the organisers."

Problem is where this game can be moved to. The only possible available fee weekend is the one before the HEC Final should Munster qualify.

Scootay

I find that very strange. Just yesterday Gerry Thornley was reporting that the date of the 29th was arranged by Munster, Ulster and the IRFU. If that was the case then why are Munster objecting now and if that wasn't the case then why was it reported as being so?

marco_polo

No surprises as Munster make 15 change to the team for tommorrow nights game against Ulster. Look more than capable of giving Ulster a good game. Would have liked to see K Earls get a start, but at least he should get another 20-30 minutes under his belt.

Minster 'lidgind' Anthony Foley makes his 200th apperance for the province.

15 S Payne;
14 B Carney
13 B Murphy
12 K Lewis
11 A Horgan;

10 P Warwick
9 P Stringer

1 F Pucciariello
2 F Sheahan
3 T Buckley
4 D Ryan
5 M O'Driscoll
6 J O'Sullivan
7 N Ronan
8 A Foley capt.

Replacements: S Cronin, D Hurley, M Melbourne, J Coughlan, G Hurley, J Manning, K Earls.

Ulster team:

15 B Cunningham
14 T Bowe
13 A Trimble
12 R Dewey
11 M Bartholomeusz

10 P Wallace
9 I Boss;

1 B Young
2 R Best
3 T Court
4 C Del Fava
5 R Caldwell
6 M McCullough
7 K Dawson
8 S Ferris.

Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, J Harrison, N Best, P Marshall, N O'Connor, M McCrea.

bleg

very good move playing the most of the team against the ospreys

Podge_irl

That is an absolutely fantastic second string side to be able to call upon. Munster really do have great depth at the moment. Very disappointed Earls isn't getting a start (again) though.