Connacht-Munster Sunday 28th

Zzippy

The Connacht-Munster game on Sunday is now a sell-out. Looks like there will be a huge crowd up from Munster for this one. Much as I'd love to see us beat another Irish province, I can't see anything other than a Munster win. Although the Sportsground is usually a tough place for Munster - last year it took the big guns to come on to win it late, they were struggling up to the last 15 minutes.

Was planning on coming back early from the folks place for this one, but of course I left it too late to get a ticket D'oh! So if anyone knows of a spare going anywhere....!!!!!! Looks like I'll have to make do with the Leinster game on the 2nd to watch Connacht this Christmas, at least I've got my ticket for that

Robbo

Gutted to be missing this one. I can't see past a Munster win either given the injuries but it's usually been a tight affair until Stringer gets to the ref. Johnny O'Connor is still doubtful, same as Rigney and Muldoon. In the backs Mike Roberts looks like being a gamble gone wrong, but there's a chance Tau'uso will make a start.

I can't make it but if you buy me a pint you can have the loan of my season ticket...

evil_seed

cant wait for this. have missed all bar one game this year due to work. its gonna be good. crank up the volume!

Zzippy

Robbo wrote: »

I can't make it but if you buy me a pint you can have the loan of my season ticket...

PM sent!

Hennybug

I missed out as well If anyone else has a ticket or two to flog let me know

phog

Munster Squad for the game from munsterrugby.ie.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has named his strongest possible squad for the trip to Galway on Sunday for the Magners Leagus clash with Connacht at the sold-out Sportsgrounds.
Munster: D Hurley, D Howlett, K Earls, K Lewis, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling, P Warwick, R O'Gara, J Manning, P Stringer, M Prendergast, T O'Leary, F Pucciariello, M Horan, T Ryan, D Fogarty, J Flannery, F Sheahan, T Buckley, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, D Ryan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, A Quinlan, J Coughlan, N Ronan, D Wallace, N Williams.

Munster are currently 6 points ahead of the chasers so a win is needed here to keep that gap open.

Hennybug

phog wrote: »

Munster Squad for the game from munsterrugby.ie.

Munster coach Tony McGahan has named his strongest possible squad for the trip to Galway on Sunday for the Magners Leagus clash with Connacht at the sold-out Sportsgrounds.
Munster: D Hurley, D Howlett, K Earls, K Lewis, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling, P Warwick, R O'Gara, J Manning, P Stringer, M Prendergast, T O'Leary, F Pucciariello, M Horan, T Ryan, D Fogarty, J Flannery, F Sheahan, T Buckley, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, D Ryan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, A Quinlan, J Coughlan, N Ronan, D Wallace, N Williams.

Munster are currently 6 points ahead of the chasers so a win is needed here to keep that gap open.

Oh crap i forsee another massacre

nacl

Nick Williams, ex Auckland Blues, in the Munster squad for the first time...

Hennybug

Hennybug wrote: »

I missed out as well If anyone else has a ticket or two to flog let me know

Anyone - I really want to get to the game and delayed too long picking up a ticket

Robbo

Connacht Team: G Duffy; T Nathan, N Ta'auso, K Matthews, L Bibo; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris; M McCarthy, A Farley; J Muldoon (C), R Ofisa, C Rigney.

Replacements: (7 from 8)
A Flavin, R Loughney, A Browne, M Swift, K Campbell, A Dunne, M Deane, F Carr.

Interesting to see that Ta'auso is fit enough for a debut. Ideally he's supposed to be at 12 but Carr is a doubt so it's Duffy to full back.

Junior

Is this on Sultana Sports ?

Zzippy

Robbo wrote: »

Interesting to see that Ta'auso is fit enough for a debut. Ideally he's supposed to be at 12 but Carr is a doubt so it's Duffy to full back.

Looking forward to seeing Ta'auso play, may take him a while to adjust but judging by how Mafi and Tipoki have played for Munster hopefully we will have a Kiwi gem on our hands

Zzippy

Junior wrote: »

Is this on Sultana Sports ?

Yep, SS Ireland are showing it

Boots09

Anyone got a stream or tvu channel I dont have SS :mad:

The Saint

Boots09 wrote: »

Anyone got a stream or tvu channel I dont have SS :mad:

http://www.justin.tv/sportstime

Hennybug

Do we dare hope :eek:

[Jackass]

Great game this! Connacht are absolutely dominating Munster. Only 6 - 3 up though at half time. Ronan got carded 3 minutes or so before half time.

Keatley has been excellent, as has the Connacht pack, which is where I thought Munster would really punish them.

It's also frustrating from a Leinster point of view to be watching the depth at which Munster run with the ball as they always seem to have options and can build up the pace. I hope Gafney is watching. But Connacht have never really looked in danger and perhaps should be 6 or 9 points up (Keatley missed a drop goal infront of posts too) such has been their dominance.

It would be good for the league if Connacht were able to push home their advantage here, but as with the Leinster game, I think a try will decide this game, and Munster defence has been superb and very organised with the amount of ball Connacht have ran at them Munster don't seem to get too stretched around their own line.

Should be a good second half.

Stev_o

[Jackass] wrote: »

Great game this! Connacht are absolutely dominating Munster. Only 6 - 3 up though at half time. Ronan got carded 3 minutes or so before half time.

Keatley has been excellent, as has the Connacht pack, which is where I thought Munster would really punish them.

It's also frustrating from a Leinster point of view to be watching the depth at which Munster run with the ball as they always seem to have options and can build up the pace. I hope Gafney is watching. But Connacht have never really looked in danger and perhaps should be 6 or 9 points up (Keatley missed a drop goal infront of posts too) such has been their dominance.

It would be good for the league if Connacht were able to push home their advantage here, but as with the Leinster game, I think a try will decide this game, and Munster defence has been superb and very organised with the amount of ball Connacht have ran at them Munster don't seem to get too stretched around their own line.

Should be a good second half.

For the sake of Irish Rugby Connacht have to win! They deserve it so far they'v been playing all the rugby while Munster seem just as bad as they were when they played Ulster up at Ravenhill. Just think that Connacht need to get out wide a bit more, they are constantly attacking the fringes and the 9/10 channel and getting nothing from it, trying out wide might be a better idea.

toomevara

Really good game. Great stuff out of Connacht (although with all that possession I'd have expected more points on the board.) Shaping up to be an interesting 2nd 40. Nicely poised.

Stev_o

Connacht have to target Mr cant catch a ball Hurley if they want to close this match down, the guy has the biggest question mark over his head when it comes to high balls.

RuggieBear

now that was some penalty forced

Stev_o

Lovely stuff there great commitment by Connacht, fair play to Keatley he's had a great day with the boot again.

[Jackass]

He let one bounce already to save the embarresment of trying to catch it and then knocked on a kick downfield but the ref had already blown up for an advantage to Connacht 50 meters back down field. Unlucky. In fairness though he made one very good catch too over his head. Earls looks lively.

Connacht have been hard done by with a few calls this half I think but have got on with it. Williams for Munster has had a big impact in the worst possible way from a Munster perspective!! The guy is a mess!

Keatley just slots penalty for 12 - 6 to Connacht, just about 10 mins to play. No more than they deserve, but write off Munster at your pearl. Also buy Keatley a one way ticket from Galway to Housten Station please.

Must be Connachts game, Munster have been a lot better in the 2nd half but Connacht are standing up to them. Howlett due back from the bin now too.

Harpy

not a fan of that Frank murphy fella, really dislike him..
Munster have been bad, their handling is very bad.. connacht deserve it but hopefully munster will pull it out in the last ten mins!

Stev_o

Munster falling apart in areas which they really shouldnt be by professional standards, alot of senior players have been missing throughout the game for the men in Red.

Stev_o

How some people think Sexton is better then Keatley is beyond me, having a stormer today and another great kick from him pinning Munster back, would love to see him with a good backline outside him.

Fozzie Bear

Butt clenching time now.... come on Connacht. Deeeefense!!

Fozzie Bear

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO (draws breath) HHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nukem

Awesome win for Connacht. Thoroughly deserved

A-Train

Great win for Connacht, great game from Keatley.

[Jackass]

Great win Connacht.

I'll enjoy this after all the stick Leinster took!

No more than the men from the west deserve though. Superb victory. Keatley should be in the Irish squad as second choice 10 imo.

louthandproud

No excuses from Munster, a great game by Connacht, well done to them!

Stev_o

Great result for Connacht they deserved it and now ffs with scalping the HC champions and Magners League Champions will the IRFU realize that they can get better if more is invested in them!

razorblunt

Connaught were well worth the win, very poor performance from Munster.

galwayrush

Incredible result for us.:cool:

toomevara

Great performance from Connacht. Really gritty display. Richly deserved win, Onwards and upwards from here.

wixfjord

Great gutsy win from connacht that took balls. Keatly kicked very well looks like he should be above sexton in pecking order. Just wonder will the media be as harsh on munster as they were after leinsters loss to connacht?

louthandproud

Connacht's win let them enjoy it without turning it into another Munster v Leinster thread.

RugbyFanatic

of course not in the media's eyes Munster cant do anything wrong!

great win for Connacht Munster were dreadful and Keatley was simply fantastic.

phog

Stev_o wrote: »

Great result for Connacht they deserved it and now ffs with scalping the HC champions and Magners League Champions will the IRFU realize that they can get better if more is invested in them!

Yeah Great win and deserved.

WRT the funding which of the provinces will agree to taking a hit on their funding to fund Connacht properly?

wixfjord

louthandproud wrote: »

Connacht's win let them enjoy it without turning it into another Munster v Leinster thread.

The comment didnt relate to Munster or Leinster just the Irish media. Please dont accuse me of that. as its one of my hates about Irish rugby.

wowy

phog wrote: »

Yeah Great win and deserved.

WRT the funding which of the provinces will agree to taking a hit on their funding to fund Connacht properly?

Ulster?

RuggieBear

back on topic people.

good win for connacht.

Harpy

great win by connacht, deserved..Munster were terrible, handling was rubbish and they just didn't seem to have the desire to go on and try get it...

any way well done connacht great win for them, hopefully they can build on it..
and now Munster will hopefully take the dissapointment from this loss and take it out on ulster next week..

sm.org

wixfjord wrote: »

The comment didnt relate to Munster or Leinster just the Irish media. Please dont accuse me of that. as its one of my hates about Irish rugby.

Unfortunately this means Bradley will keep his job for another 12 months.

Hennybug

Why can't we pull performances like that every week? Hopefully guys like Muldoon and Keatley will now get a look in on the Irish squad

louthandproud

Hennybug wrote: »

Why can't we pull performances like that every week? Hopefully guys like Muldoon and Keatley will now get a look in on the Irish squad

There does seem to be a Jeckle & Hyde element to Connacht alright.

Tonight they managed to do what Claremont and others couldn't and forced Munster to panic and lose shape at the end, no mean achievement, would be great to see them go and play like this on the road in Wales and Scotland.

RugbyFanatic

seems to be an issue of having the drive to win for Connacht they always seem to play well in the interpro games with all the rivalry but then go out against lesser teams and get hammered

[Jackass]

phog wrote: »

Yeah Great win and deserved.

WRT the funding which of the provinces will agree to taking a hit on their funding to fund Connacht properly?

All 3 provinces - Ulster to a lesser extent.

Munster & Leinster in particular have money coming out of their arses from private revenue alone, not to mention the extra funding they receive from the IRFU. They can afford to recruit any player in the world when you look at the like of Elsom, CJ & Howlett - all massive players on a world scale.

It's in the interest of Irish rugby that we have a strong Connacht team bringing more options to the international set up and regularly giving Irish players game time in the Heineken Cup.

Anyway I don't mean to drag things off topic. Well done again to Connacht. Hopefully a few more performances like that this season can see them push for HEC qualification and at least the quarters of the shield.

Zzippy

Just back in the door from the game... bloody fantastic! Yeah!!!

Probably our gutsiest performance of the season, defended superbly, Munster had only a handful of line breaks and very few try scoring chances. Keatley kicked excellently from placed balls, still needs to work on ball out of hand though. Impressed by Nathan who I previously had no time for. The pack were immense, dominated the scrum and kept Munster on the back foot. Back row won a lot of ruck ball, Muldoon was awesome, Mike McCarthy played very well too.

Now if only we could produce performances like that for every game... :pac:

Many thanks to Robbo from on here who sorted me out with a ticket!

ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED!!!

phog

[Jackass] wrote: »

All 3 provinces - Ulster to a lesser extent.

Munster & Leinster in particular have money coming out of their arses from private revenue alone, not to mention the extra funding they receive from the IRFU. They can afford to recruit any player in the world when you look at the like of Elsom, CJ & Howlett - all massive players on a world scale.

It's in the interest of Irish rugby that we have a strong Connacht team bringing more options to the international set up and regularly giving Irish players game time in the Heineken Cup.

Anyway I don't mean to drag things off topic. Well done again to Connacht. Hopefully a few more performances like that this season can see them push for HEC qualification and at least the quarters of the shield.

Sorry, my point was can you see any of the other provinces agreeing to taking a cut from their IRFU funding?

I'd love to see 4 provinces all within striking distances of each other, it could only be good for the national team.

One more thing, the Connacht supporters need to get out and support their team if they want the IRFU to get serious about them, as in the Leinster game there seemed to be more supporters there for the 2nd half then the kick-off, supporters need to be there for bad and good.

Again, back on topic, well done to Connacht.