Glasgow Warriors vs Munster, Firhill Fri 27 March 7:45 pm

thomond2006

Munster: Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett, Keith Earls, Lifeimi Mafi, Barry Murphy; Paul Warwick, Peter Stringer; Federico Pucciariello, Denis Fogarty, Tony Buckley; Mick O'Driscoll capt, Donnacha Ryan; Alan Quinlan, Niall Ronan, James Coughlan.
Replacements: Michael Essex, Darragh Hurley, Billy Holland, Tommy O'Donnell, Tomas O'Leary, Jeremy Manning, Kieran Lewis.

Glasgow:

15 Bernardo Stortoni
14 Lome Fa'atau
13 Max Evans
12 Ruaridh Jackson
11 Thom Evans
10 Dan Parks
9 Mark McMillan

1 Justin Va'a
2 Fergus Thomson
3 Moray Low
4 Tim Barker
5 Alastair Kellock CAPTAIN
6 James Eddie
7 Kelly Brown
8 Johnnie Beattie

Substitutes
16 Dougie Hall
17 Kevin Tkachuk
18 Dan Turner
19 Calum Forrester
20 Colin Gregor
21 Jose Maria Nunez Piossek
22 Peter Horne (West of Scotland)*

No Nick Williams involved in squad, Ian Dowling still injured.

No Tipoki either, you'd wonder if he'll call it quits this year, he has hardly played since December.

Otherwise pretty strong Munster side even with many internationals missing.

Glasgow have a strong record against Irish sides in the ML, they haven't lost to an Irish side since May 2006. It will be interesting to see the Evans brothers in action.

I'd say Munster will just edge it, they have to really, with Leinster and Hairsprays on their tails.

Onwards to Munster vs Leinster!! :):):)

ScholesyIsGod

Tipoki was gone at the end of the season anyway.

I would have prefered to see Hurley starting ahead of Buckley but other then that its a strong line up that should have enough about them to beat Glasgow.

spoon

Buckley has picked up his game a lot in his last two outings, so i'm happy enough to see him get the spot.

He's still been incredably weak in the scrum for such a big lad though. If he can pick up this part of his game and stay clear of health issues, i think he'll be a great replacement for the bull when the time comes.


I'm supprised the Williams wasn't included in the squad, was there any word of an injury?

[Jackass]

Potential banana skin for Munster here...Glasgow are not a bad side and the Evans brothers are 2 of the most exciting young talents in the league.

Munster side is decent, but in Firhill, I dunno - maybe it's just wishfull thinking on my part, but I fancy an upset in this one - I'm calling Glasgow by less than a score!! :eek:

ScholesyIsGod

spoon wrote: »

Buckley has picked up his game a lot in his last two outings, so i'm happy enough to see him get the spot.

He's still been incredably weak in the scrum for such a big lad though. If he can pick up this part of his game and stay clear of health issues, i think he'll be a great replacement for the bull when the time comes.


I'm supprised the Williams wasn't included in the squad, was there any word of an injury?

He was in the 26 man panel named yesterday, id presume its just the fact that he hasnt put in anything near a good performance in any of the games he has played so far and has been dropped.

thomond2006

[Jackass] wrote: »

Munster side is decent, but in Firhill, I dunno - maybe it's just wishfull thinking on my part, but I fancy an upset in this one - I'm calling Glasgow by less than a score!! :eek:

Quoted for comedy value. :D:D

G'wan MUNSTER!!!!

chupacabra

Bumped. Match starting in 10 minutes. Live on setanta ireland. I'll update the scores as they come.

juvenal

Poor miss by Warwick there from a penalty, thought he should have popped it over.

Try Glasgow after 8 minutes, lovely break by Max Evans, extras are kickable. . . but Parks fails to add the 2 points.

9mins: Glasgow 5 Munster 0

bleg

v difficult conditions for kickers tonight

chupacabra

Try Glasgow. Earls made a bad mistake allowing Max Evans to make a clean line break, leading to the try.

Not converted

Glasgow 5 Munster 0

bleg

try for ronan

lovely hands from o driscoll

juvenal

Lovely hands by Mick O'Driscoll release Niall Ronan in beside the posts, Munster draw level and should go ahead with this conversion attempt by Earls Warwick - which they do.

12mins: Glasgow 5 Munster 7

chupacabra

Try munster! Niall Ronan.

5 - 5

chupacabra

juvenal wrote: »

Lovely hands by Mick O'Driscoll release Niall Ronan in beside the posts, Munster draw level and should go ahead with this conversion attempt by Earls - which they do.

Warwick

Orizio

I believe Williams has a rib injury, or else he would be on the bench at least.

chupacabra

Try glasgow, kelly brown.

10 - 7

corkandproud

Referee is mmaking a muck of the scrums

juvenal

chupacabra wrote: »

Warwick

Yeah, brain freeze!

Orizio

Would it be unfair to say Barry Murphy seems to concede an abnormal amount of turnovers?

juvenal

Parks misses his third kick at goal from three attempts, that's 7 points gone abegging

25mins: Glasgow 10 Munster 7

juvenal

Nice break by Warwick from a Stringer ball at the base of the scrum, offloads to Earls who canters in. Conversion should be (is) a formality.

29mins: Glasgow 10 Munster 14

juvenal

Parks misses a second penalty, and a fourth kick. Why the hell is he insisting on going for goal, that's potentially 10 points he's missed.

Trotter

Parks is having a shocker with the kicking tee.

Crikey I've rarely seen a chap being rucked out as aggresively by his own player!

corkandproud

referee has ruined the scrum

juvenal

Munster No 8 James Coughlan goes for ten into the sinbin. He gave away a penalty inside the 22 after another break by Max Evans.

Parks eventually gets a kick at goal with the resulting penalty.

38mins: Glasgow 13 Munster 14

juvenal

Glasgow give away a silly penalty after turning over the ball inside their own half.

Warwick pulls penalty wide from just outside the Glasgow 10m line.

Half-time: Glasgow 13 Munster 14.

keano_afc

Try for Munster. Wouldnt rule out a bonus point at this stage.

remus808

keano_afc wrote: »

Try for Munster. Wouldnt rule out a bonus point at this stage.

Right you are! Hatrick for Ronan...

Terrible news for Leinster

remus808

Earls really is Evan's bitch tonight. Keith really should have scored there but Evans buried him.



Edit: Just as I say it, Earls badly misses another tackle on Evans..

bleg

gauntlet thrown down tonight, 8 points clear at the top of the table. i'm a happy man.

stephen_n

Saw the last 20 mins of the first half my god are Glasgow complete Sh8te would imagine the Italians would be watching this and thinking they could really have a go in the ML before I get shot i am purely refering to Glasgow!

Munster seemed to give up the ball in the tackle very cheaply tonight but nice change of gear by Warrick for earls try left Parks for dead though!

phog

Munster were without doubt the best team on the field tonight but they seemed to be a bit rusty, some terrible missed tackles and lack of concentration led to Glasgow's two tries .

A BP win was certainly not what I expected from Firhill but it's very welcome and will pass some pressure onto Leinster and Ospreys to match the BP .

juvenal

Great result from Munster pov, especially Niall Ronan with a hat-trick, but at times the standard of rugby from both sides was very poor.

Max Evans had a very good game, and looks to have the potential to be a huge star in Scotland's future along with his brother. Munster will be delighted with the bonus point away from home, but I'd say it could've been a lot closer if Parks wasn't so poor. His kicking was apalling, and some of his decision making very questionable.

It amuses me that there's a thread in this forum with 127 replies and 2,700 views about O'Gara's performance against Wales, when someone like Parks with well over 40 international caps played so poorly tonight.

Good win for Munster away from home, but certainly not as good as I'd expect from them. There'll be raft of changes for next weeks match and I expect to see a big, big improvement. It will be interesting to see how Sunday goes for Leinster, with an 8-point gap there at the moment, they need a big performance. A victory in Thomond for Munster next weekend could seal the league.

CatFromHue

Parks was very poor tonight, not just in goal kicking but in everything. missed tackle for earls try, a knock on when glasgow were in a good position and his passing was poor too.

i actually though if glasgow had an out half tonight they could have pushed munster alot harder. that guy evans is looking good.

did anyone else think hurley just looked injured for the whole game? he was good under the high ball but in everything else he looked a bit off and un comfortable.

Stev_o

juvenal wrote: »

Great result from Munster pov, especially Niall Ronan with a hat-trick, but at times the standard of rugby from both sides was very poor.

Max Evans had a very good game, and looks to have the potential to be a huge star in Scotland's future along with his brother. Munster will be delighted with the bonus point away from home, but I'd say it could've been a lot closer if Parks wasn't so poor. His kicking was apalling, and some of his decision making very questionable.

It amuses me that there's a thread in this forum with 127 replies and 2,700 views about O'Gara's performance against Wales, when someone like Parks with well over 40 international caps played so poorly tonight.

Hence why Scotland don't have him anywhere near their squad.

chupacabra

Warwick again superb tonight. Thank god London Irish didnt get their mits on him. Earls had a poor performance, lots of missed tackles, bad mistake that led to the first glasgow try, got himself isolated a few times and didnt really look a threat at all. Overrated? I think so.

juvenal

Stev_o wrote: »

Hence why Scotland don't have him anywhere near their squad.

Yes thank you, I'm well aware. I was just pointing out the sensationalist and tabloidy nature of some of the threads here.;)

Leinster need to come away from the RDS with at least a victory, and probably a BP win on Sunday if they're to travel to Limerick with any sort of confidence. Ulster are going to be very strong I feel - I'm looking forward to it.

stephen_n

juvenal wrote: »

Yes thank you, I'm well aware. I was just pointing out the sensationalist and tabloidy nature of some of the threads here.;)

Leinster need to come away from the RDS with at least a victory, and probably a BP win on Sunday if they're to travel to Limerick with any sort of confidence. Ulster are going to be very strong I feel - I'm looking forward to it.

Imagine how many threads there would be If Parks was Irish outhalf lol

anonymous_joe

stephen_n wrote: »

Imagine how many threads there would be If Parks was Irish outhalf lol

He wouldn't ever be our out-half.

NickNolte

juvenal wrote: »

Yes thank you, I'm well aware. I was just pointing out the sensationalist and tabloidy nature of some of the threads here.

Leave it out. Many people who know a lot about rugby (myself included) criticised O'Gara's performance fairly. Besides, this is the wrong thread. If you want to defend his honour, go and spam the other thread that's dedicated to it.

chupacabra wrote:

Earls had a poor performance, lots of missed tackles, bad mistake that led to the first glasgow try, got himself isolated a few times and didnt really look a threat at all. Overrated? I think so.

I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. For the moment anyway. He's had his ups and downs but I reckon the rest of this season and next season, particularly if he's vying for a place on the national squad, will be the measure of the man.

sickpuppy

Hurley had what looked like his hamstring bandaged and for first Glasgow try
he seemed to pull up and hobble a bit looked like hamstring trouble.
Perhaps he was carrying an injury all through match

chupacabra

NickNolte wrote: »

I'd be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. For the moment anyway. He's had his ups and downs but I reckon the rest of this season and next season, particularly if he's vying for a place on the national squad, will be the measure of the man.

Perhaps. But it seems that since he made the move from U-20s, Ireland 'A' to the starting XV with munster, he hasnt proven himself yet. The majority of tries he has scored have been very soft tries for any defense to concede with only his brilliant individual chip, chase and flick standing out for me. His defense is poor and he simply hasnt stood out. And before im accused of any kind of bias i am a munster and young munster supporter and have watched Keiths progression for a few years now. I just dont like how everyone started calling him "the next Brian O'Driscoll" even before he was handed a provincial start. Counting chickens is a dangerous thing.

NickNolte

chupacabra wrote: »

Perhaps. But it seems that since he made the move from U-20s, Ireland 'A' to the starting XV with munster, he hasnt proven himself yet. The majority of tries he has scored have been very soft tries for any defense to concede with only his brilliant individual chip, chase and flick standing out for me. His defense is poor and he simply hasnt stood out. And before im accused of any kind of bias i am a munster and young munster supporter and have watched Keiths progression for a few years now. I just dont like how everyone started calling him "the next Brian O'Driscoll" even before he was handed a provincial start. Counting chickens is a dangerous thing.

Yeah, couldn't agree more. He hasn't entirely shone for me either but, as I say, it's worth seeing how he develops. I *could* be accused of bias as I'm a Leinster fan... but I'm never biased! He's got a big season ahead of him next year to prove himself.

chupacabra

NickNolte wrote: »

Yeah, couldn't agree more. He hasn't entirely shone for me either but, as I say, it's worth seeing how he develops. I *could* be accused of bias as I'm a Leinster fan... but I'm never biased! He's got a big season ahead of him next year to prove himself.

This is true... tho you wonder how a Canadian/USA tour against weak sides can really get the best out of players like Earls. It will just be like the churchill cup all over again.

juvenal

NickNolte wrote: »

Leave it out. Many people who know a lot about rugby (myself included) criticised O'Gara's performance fairly. Besides, this is the wrong thread. If you want to defend his honour, go and spam the other thread that's dedicated to it.

Mate, O'Gara's performances deserve to be critiqued, but compared to any other player in Europe some people are obsessed with both attacking him and defending him, and it's getting real old, real quick. I'm the furthest thing from a Munster/O'Gara fanboi, but most of those sort of threads rapidly descend into the provincial sh1te that ruins this forum, and it was exactly the same with the BO'D thread that was here a while back.

So before you go jumping on your high horse, have a good read of some of the ridiculousness that goes on here (not by you or any regular poster in particular). I don't contribute to half of the threads because they're an exercise in going around in circles. I haven't "spammed" any thread here, and I've no interest in defending his honour, I was merely making a comparison of the difference between sound, balanced analysis and knee-jerk reaction.

Too often there's OTT reaction to silly threads that are started here, and then it turns into a pissing contest about who knows more about rugby bullsh*t etc etc, absolutely juvenile carry on and takes from the meaningful debate that can be very interesting here.

/rant

Munster are certainly in prime position now, and will be very strong with the return of the Irish lads next week. I'm hoping Leinster can do a number on Ulster tomorrow, but it'll be very tough; I'd take a win as perhaps a BP may be a bridge too far. It's certainly building up nicely to a league-defining clash in Thomond next week.:)

Catmologen

chupacabra wrote: »

Earls had a poor performance, lots of missed tackles, bad mistake that led to the first glasgow try, got himself isolated a few times and didnt really look a threat at all. Overrated? I think so.

Eh, i wouldn't write off the leagues (joint) top try scorer yet lads, he did miss a couple of tackles but he hadn't played a game in weeks, he's just a bit rusty. He'll be back to top form in no time.

Orizio

One bad game from Earls, and in fairness the Evans' are pretty excellent players. I wouldn't overreact.

Not convinced Keith is a center at all, more a wing or maybe full back.

thomond2006

Denis Fogarty reminded me of Woody by his pace and power running at the Glasgow defence but he SERIOUSLY needs to improve his lineout throwing. Seems to give at least five crooked throws per game. If his throwing gets sorted out, he could be some player.

barnesd

If Earls could forget to tackle next week too that would be great.