Montauban v. Munster, Stade de Sapiac, Saturday, ko 3.35pm.

The Ritz

Same squad announced, team to be announced tomorrow noon. I reckon he'll stick with last weeks team, really looking forward to Saturday, we should get the result we want.


Munster: D Hurley, P Warwick, D Howlett, B Murphy, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling, R O'Gara, P Stringer, T O'Leary, M Horan, D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, D Ryan, P O'Connell, A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace, D Leamy


G'WAN MUNSTER !




Ritz.

ScrubsfanChris

My dad is heading over to the game with a few of his friends and the're also planing to go to the Castres v. Wasps game aswell.
I think Munster will win but will have to pull out a huge perfomance to get the bonus point.

C'mon MUNSTER

The Ritz

My heart says they pulled out all the stops last week and they'll be anxious to do the same again. My head remembers POC's words after the match to the effect that it can't be a "passion play" every week.

All in all I'd still say that they'll have the hunger to finish the pool with a home fixture to start the knockout stages - benefit of Thomond behind them and also to put down a marker.

Looking forward to seeing the team selection, I haven't heard of any injury worries so it could start with the same line up.

Ritz.

Noopti

I underestimated Munster last week by prediciting only a 28 - 20 victory.

This time I will go for a bonus point victory. I know it is away etc and Montauban will come out guns blazing, but I can still see Munster stamping their authority all over this game.

puntosporting

I actualy dont expect a whole lot from montauban phycologicaly they have **** all to play for and if munster get a good start tothe game with an early few scores montauban may well give up the ghost!
Im probably completely off and montauban will do what they did in thomond park!

old boy

hopefully the french will be more concerened with their domestic league

The Ritz

Same team announced for Munster:

P Warwick D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling, R O'Gara, T O'Leary, M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.


Replacements: D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, B Murphy, D Hurley

Looking forward to this !


Ritz

Noopti

The Ritz wrote: »

Same team announced for Munster:

P Warwick D Howlett, K Earls, L Mafi, I Dowling, R O'Gara, T O'Leary, M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell capt, A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.


Replacements: D Fogarty, F Pucciariello, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, B Murphy, D Hurley

Looking forward to this !


Ritz

If Munster are back to their consistent best they should be putting Montauban away in 3rd gear.

buck65

Ooh I don't know , kings of Europe at home - I'd say Montauban will raise their game and push Munster to a narrow win. I was at the first leg and the Frnech were a plucky outfit to say the least.

Noopti

buck65 wrote: »

Ooh I don't know , kings of Europe at home - I'd say Montauban will raise their game and push Munster to a narrow win. I was at the first leg and the Frnech were a plucky outfit to say the least.

It sure could be close, but I think Munster will want to finish on a high before the 6N and get that home Q/F.
They weren't great in the 1st leg and they should be a lot better on Saturday. I still say Munster by 20.

premierstone

buck65 wrote: »

Ooh I don't know , kings of Europe at home - I'd say Montauban will raise their game and push Munster to a narrow win. I was at the first leg and the Frnech were a plucky outfit to say the least.

And that was mostly their second string team dont forget, although i think the lessons Munster learnt that night were huge - it was atrocious conditions and Munster were trying to run it from everywhere when it just wasnt on - and in a way if we do go on to retain the HC that first game in Thomond could be one of the most significant turning points of the season IMO.

The Ritz

I think that they have developed an adaptability (ML game against Ospreys) that will enable them to cope better with Montauban compared to thier opening game against them. They're a very strong side who brought their "A" game to Thomond looking for a scalp, I think that a more sophisticated and better organised Munster side are now going to bring their "A" to Montauban with a very important prize at stake. There'll have been plenty of more talk about pride and filling the jersey this week I'd say.


Ritz.

toomevara

Montauban:


15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Adrien Figueiredo, 13 Jean Philippe Viard, 12 Shannon Paku, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 10 Régis Lespinas, 9 Julien Audy,

8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Ibrahim Diarra, 6 Yannick Caballero, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Nick Adams, 2 Brice Mach, 1 Bogdan Balan.

Replacements: 16 Goderzi Shvelidze, 17 Silviu Florea, 18 Rowan Frost, 19 Karim Ghezal, 20 Miguel Avramovic, 21 Fabien Fortassin, 22 Petre Mitu.

A few useful and experienced heads in there....

phog

This will not be a gimme for Munster, they will need to play with the same power and passion as they played against Sale last week and in doing this they need to improve their lineout.

I heard that The Claw and John Kelly are the past players invited by the management team to travel with the team, nice touch.

Prediction - Munster to win. BP?

C'mon Munster

toomevara

phog wrote: »

This will not be a gimme for Munster, they will need to play with the same power and passion as they played against Sale

At least, Montauban looked really solid as a unit to me at Thomond and their mid table position in the Championnat says alot.

French team, home advantage, pipped in Thomond, no fear of the Reds...Munster will have a big task ahead of them today.

Serenity Now!

News I've just heard from a ref contact who is in France after last night's games is that this game could be called off due to weather conditions.

Will update as soon as I hear more.

toomevara

I've just been on the Montuaban Forums and while my French ain't what it was, they seem to be saying the game's off? Apparently the weathers atrocious and the airport's closed...

Open to correction from those who's french betters my crap leaving cert effort...

http://www.ultras-sapiac.com/fus/viewtopic.php?t=6554&start=180

Serenity Now!

Yep. Toulouse airport is shut. There are refs unable to get over there for the Castres game so some serious shuffling of officials is going on at the moment.

kensutz

Game is on tomorrow instead.

toomevara

yep,2' oclock tomorrow afternoon according to the sapiac-ultras!

Orizio

buck65 wrote: »

Ooh I don't know , kings of Europe at home - I'd say Montauban will raise their game and push Munster to a narrow win. I was at the first leg and the Frnech were a plucky outfit to say the least.

I'd agree, expecting it to be tight. Considering its in France and versus Munster, I have no doubt Montauban will come out wanting to get a big scalp.

phog

Game on tomorrow at 2 their time, 1 Irish rime.

What happens TV coverage?

Crash

Oh thats gonna get interesting. Assuming its not gonna be televised then? or at least if it is, i'm getting in early to make sure some of the louder Munster lads dont try and get the tv switched over from the Leinster game :P

phog

Going Waterforward wrote: »

Oh thats gonna get interesting. Assuming its not gonna be televised then? or at least if it is, i'm getting in early to make sure some of the louder Munster lads dont try and get the tv switched over from the Leinster game :P

Hopefully, the bar manager will be from Munster

Crash

Unfortunately he's a limerick man. Fortunately, I have a one-4-all remote

Stev_o

Presume Sky will either go to Sale vs Clermount game (that is on today right?) Which isnt bad or else they ll reply the HC Final. Thats what they did when Bath vs Wasps was called off a few weeks ago

bleg

the sale clermont was going to be on the red button anyway so it'll definitely be shown

murphym7

Limerick leader says its off. Crap, I was really looking forward to a lash of pints for the game. Will go on the piss anyway.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/Munster39s-match-with-Montaubaun-postponed.4910693.jp

Stev_o

bleg wrote: »

the sale clermont was going to be on the red button anyway so it'll definitely be shown

Grand thats not too bad because no offence lads but it was just going to be another Scarlets monsoon type match sure the Gloucester Birraitz match was played on a mud field (Yet both teams played like it was the summer :P)

DarkJager

Yay!! Now I can watch it instead of listening to it on the radio in work

corkandproud

No guarantee pitch will be playable tomorrow either

suppafly

Limerick leader wrote: »

Winds of up to 100 miles an hour have hit the region, leaving thousands of homes in the area without electricity and the public transport network down.

Man thats crazy!! Most have a been a mental storm. it just looked a bit wet and cold in the pic on the munsterrugby website.

I really do wonder if they will show the match. It says nothing at all about it on the SKy guide planner. So they most not have figured something out just yet. Maybe they'll just have it on the red button or something

kensutz

SKY will show it.

MONTAUBAN v MUNSTER MATCH POSTPONED
The Round 6 Heineken Cup Pool 1 match between Montauban and Munster, scheduled to be played at Stade de Sapiac today (Saturday, 24 January) has been postponed on safety grounds due to the high winds affecting the area.

The match will now be played at the same venue at 2.00pm local time tomorrow, Sunday, 25 January. Sky Sports will broadcast the match.

phog

suppafly wrote: »

Man thats crazy!! Most have a been a mental storm. it just looked a bit wet and cold in the pic on the munsterrugby website.

I really do wonder if they will show the match. It says nothing at all about it on the SKy guide planner. So they most not have figured something out just yet. Maybe they'll just have it on the red button or something

According to the Irish Times Sky will be showing the match. :D:D

Crash

I was kidding earlier, but the more I think about it, there are a lot of pubs with only one sky box, and a LOT of Munster people living up in the big schmoke - this could get hilarious. No way i'm shiftin anyhow

ScrubsfanChris

Sky say you can watch the match through the red button

The Ritz

Bring your Sky remote to the pub ?



Ritz.

Aidric

Anyone else watching the Sale Clermont game? Clermont are cutting them up pretty easily on the attack, Sale look flaky, Mcallister the only player looking dangerous going forward.
Reggie 'man of the match' Corrigans punditry is painful enough.

RugbyFanatic

Going Waterforward wrote: »

I was kidding earlier, but the more I think about it, there are a lot of pubs with only one sky box, and a LOT of Munster people living up in the big schmoke - this could get hilarious. No way i'm shiftin anyhow

haha good point.

suppafly

corkandproud wrote: »

No guarantee pitch will be playable tomorrow either

Your right. The weather could be just as bad tomorrow and the pitch in a bad state. That would really suck for all the people that travelled over for it. According to the munster rugby website they said more than 600 went over.

Going WaterForward wrote:

I was kidding earlier, but the more I think about it, there are a lot of pubs with only one sky box, and a LOT of Munster people living up in the big schmoke - this could get hilarious. No way i'm shiftin anyhow

Thats a good point alright. I'm glad i'm down in munster were leinster fans will just have to got someplace else

The Ritz wrote:

Bring your Sky remote to the pub?

lol, remote wars!

Orizio

Anyone know what the weather is like over there now?

The Ritz

Had a look at a few weather forecasts around the web, don't know how accurate this is but there seems to be some consensus around 70 - 80% chance of rain, relatively light winds. We might have to grind this one out, hope our lot are in good fettle, iirc their pack was a monster in Thomond.


Ritz.

[Jackass]

Here lads, do us a favour. Lose. Sure half the fu*king povince have their holidays booked around the HEC weekends...at least give them a couple of weekends away before Edinburgh!!

bleg

not looking like tghat now

munster finding their groove

Orizio

Looking good. Scrum completely dominant, lineout consistent, and possession in their half. The odd error aside, I can see us getting a bonus point win.

toomevara

Beautiful try...Any chance a mod cam merge these Montauban/Munster threads? Alot of overlap

Ponster

toomevara wrote: »

Beautiful try...Any chance a mod cam merge these Montauban/Munster threads? Alot of overlap

True but one is supposed to be for the match and the other refers to the web links.

toomevara

What fabulous play from Munster...beautiful stuff, fantastic defence followed by brilliantly creative attack... all good and again O 'Connell, what can you say?

Aidric

Great try. Absolutely brilliant play prior to the scrum that led to that try.

toomevara

Ponster wrote: »

True but one is supposed to be for the match and the other refers to the web links.

Agreed, thats what I would have thought, but it aint working out that way, instead we've got two competing threads on the same game...but hey-ho, what you gonna do...

Orizio

Montauban try and conversion.