Munster vs Scarlets

bleg

British & Irish Lions tourists Stephen Jones and Matthew Rees have been named on the Scarlets' bench for their trip to Munster at Musgrave Park on Friday.

Fly-half Jones looks set to win his battle with a hamstring difficulty that saw him miss last Saturday's home game with the Ospreys as Rhys Priestland, aged 22, keeps the ten jersey after impressing.

Hooker Rees played the full 80 minutes against the Scarlets' West Wales neighbours. Fellow international Mark Jones retains the captaincy this weekend, with Sevens World Cup champion Lee Williams keeping his place on the opposite wing.

Injuries ruled out prop Deacon Manu (Achilles sprain) and back-row Dafydd Jones (rib cartilage knock) alongside several other regulars. They're replaced by former Cardiff Blues and Wales U21 tighthead Scott Roberts, who makes his Scarlets competition debut, and 23-year-old flanker Rob McCusker.

The bench includes flanker Johnny Edwards, back from a three-month injury lay-off and development contract lock Aaron Shingler.

"Munster will be a big challenge for us but I'm confident that we can do ourselves justice," said Scarlets Head Coach Nigel Davies.

"Our team stood up really well against the Ospreys. We had a lot of young boys out there and we'd had disruptions through the week due to injuries but we fronted up to the challenge.

"In many ways, I was delighted because what we're starting to see now is the advance of a lot of our younger players, the players who'll form a bedrock for the future of this region.

"The fact that they're being exposed to experiences such as the Ospreys and Munster mean that they'll be in a very strong position as we move forward."

More to follow...

Form: Munster have won their last nine games in all competitions since an 11-37 reversal at home to Ulster in the Magners League on 3 January. The Munstermen's only defeat to a Welsh side in their last dozen encounters was 22-25 to the Blues at the Arms Park in the Magners League on 1 March 2008. Scarlets have won just one of their last four matches: 13-6 at home to Edinburgh on 8 March, whilst the Welshmen's only Magners League away win since September was 17-14 at Connacht on 9 January. Munster have won their last six games against Scarlets in all competitions, and the Welshmen have not won on Munster soil since a 19-12 victory at Thomond Park on 12 September 2003.

The teams:

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, M O'Driscoll Capt., A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: D Fogarty, T Buckley, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Stringer, B Murphy, D Hurley


Scarlets: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Mark Jones (capt), 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Lee Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 David Lyons, 7 Rob McCusker, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Vernon Cooper, 3 Scott Roberts, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Phil John, 17 Matthew Rees, 18 Aaron Shingler, 19 Johnathon Edwards, 20 Gavin Cattle, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Ceiron Thomas.

Date: Friday, April 24
Kick-off: 19:35 BST
Venue: Musgrave Park
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Michael Black (Ireland)
Television match official: Brian Fitzgerald (Ireland)
Assessor: John Sheehan (Ireland)

munster putting strongest 22 out for the match tomorrow... probably the same 22 that will face leinster too... excluding o connell of course

barnesd

Munster should dish out an absolute hiding here. Easy BP, and they could put 50 on the board.

chupacabra

It'll be a rout. Need Edinburgh to do us a favour on saturday and the league will be ours!

thomond2006

Jaysus, with that Scarlets team, I'm sure the coach team talk will comprise of:

"Just keep it under 50 lads, FFS"



Munster 10/11 @ - 21. Sounds like a bargain lads.

Mr Clonfadda

Munster 7 Scarlets nil

1/4 way to the five points!!:)

RuggieBear

oh **** tol looks to have been seriously hurt.

chupacabra

oooo thats a bad injury, looks to have completley twisted his ankle... bad news

Stev_o

Just missed it lads who was it? Is it a Cipriani styled ankle twist?

RuggieBear

Stev_o wrote: »

Just missed it lads who was it? Is it a Cipriani styled ankle twist?

hopefully not a break but just a bad sprain but the medics were able to say straight away he wasn't continuing.

o'leary

chupacabra

RuggieBear wrote: »

hopefully not a break but just a bad sprain but the medics were able to say straight away he wasn't continuing.

o'leary

To be honest it looks like he could have fractured it. Apparently someone just told POC the extent of the injury... he does not look happy.

Mr Clonfadda

medical team say it serious.

I hope he doesn't miss out on the lions

Stev_o

RuggieBear wrote: »

hopefully not a break but just a bad sprain but the medics were able to say straight away he wasn't continuing.

o'leary

Depends on how badly bent the ankle was, same happened to me last year ankle got twisted in a ruck and it tore the ligaments in the ankle. If it is torn ligaments he'll be gone for about a month id say.

RuggieBear

horan is killing the scarlets tighthead...he must be really pissed he missed out on lions selection.:D

Onearmedbandit

Looked really bad from what I seen sort of like it was dislocated anyway. We will know at half time anyway.

Danakin

Scarlets hanging on I think here,one more try and it should be floodgates time...

Munster maybe not as fired up as you'd expect and a few more basic errors than you'd expect from them given their recent form...

Terrible luck it seems for O'Leary, could have a big effect next week? Strings is great cover to have though.

Mr Clonfadda

half way to bonus point:)

JJ

Keith Earls sin binned, boo hiss.

Danakin

It's very rare to see a yellow card given without a warning beforehand unless it's a professional foul. I know there doesn't have to be a warning but still seems a little harsh on Earls.

Munster need to sort those restarts out though,some shocking errors.

Mr Clonfadda

half time 17 - 3

chupacabra

The forwards are really showing their class tonight, Quinlan showing why he was selected for the lions, Leamy showing why he should have been selected. Looks like a broken ankle for Tomás O'Learey so no HC or Lions for him this year, he must be devastated.

Half time 17 - 3

Chucky the tree

Broken ankle for TOL.

Tweaky

Just in case anybody doesn't know - the game is live on BBC interactive - just go to BBC2 and press the red button - it is listed as ScrumV

Micky Dolenz

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Broken ankle for TOL.

What a bad break (forgive the pun) for the poor guy, missing a lions tour will be a real heart ache.

barnesd

Danakin wrote: »

It's very rare to see a yellow card given without a warning beforehand unless it's a professional foul. I know there doesn't have to be a warning but still seems a little harsh on Earls.

Munster need to sort those restarts out though,some shocking errors.

There were about 3 penalties in a row against Munster, it was fair enough really. Killing the ball in the 22 is dangerous at the best of times.

ironingbored

Terrible news for TOL. On BBC2 Wales they said he'd been taken to hospital in an ambulance. I'd say that's definitely HC and Lions tour over.

Onearmedbandit

ironingbored wrote: »

Terrible news for TOL. On BBC2 Wales they said he'd been taken to hospital in an ambulance. I'd say that's definitely HC and Lions tour over.

Thats terrible it would have been great to see him play against the boks. What will happen now maybe Stringer getting a call up?

Trotter

God I think it'd have been better to be told I was almost there for the lions but just missed out than to get it and lose it in such an unfortunate way. It doesn't look good for TOL at all.

juvenal

Final score?

ongarite

29-10

chupacabra

Onearmedbandit wrote: »

Thats terrible it would have been great to see him play against the boks. What will happen now maybe Stringer getting a call up?

Definitley not. I would say Blair, Peel or Care will get the call. Or Reddan, never know.

ScrubsfanChris

Is it foolish to hope its only twisted

http://breakingnews.ie/sport/eyauidkfqlau/


Table:

Team: Played Points
Munster 16 58
Ospreys 14 42
Leinster 15 42
Edinburgh 15 40
Glasgow Warriors 15 32
Ulster 15 32
Scarlets 15 30
Cardiff Blues 14 30
Dragons 13 25
Connacht Rugby 16 19

Chucky the tree

chupacabra wrote: »

Definitley not. I would say Blair, Peel or Care will get the call. Or Reddan, never know.

If he didnt break he I'd say he definitly did damage to the ligaments so he will be out for awhile. On tv though it look like he broke it when they showed the slow motion replay. Looked fairly nasty.

Micky Dolenz

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Is it foolish to hope its only twisted

They have some top class medical staff and if he was sent to hospital, then it's bad, real bad.:(

Trotter

Is Tadhg O'Sullivan who was first to Tomás on the pitch the same Tadhg who is/was an orthopedic surgeon in Waterford up to last year? If so, that lad would spot a serious injury a mile off and the fact that he called for the stretcher so soon would worry me.

Hippo

Terrible luck for Tomas, all the best to him for a speedy recovery

dreamer_ire

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Is it foolish to hope its only twisted

Tragically yes.... a friend has a contact in the camp and they are sure it's broken. Poor Tomas, it couldn't have come at a worse time for him. I'm sure he will have other HC semis and finals but he won't make the next Lions tour

SomeFool

dreamer_ire wrote: »

I'm sure he will have other HC semis and finals but he won't make the next Lions tour

A bit early to call that..... he'll be well in the mix in four years.

dreamer_ire

SomeFool wrote: »

A bit early to call that..... he'll be well in the mix in four years.

Very true but at 30 it would be unlikely... I suppose it depends on who comes through over the next few years.

From a Munster perspective I'm happy that we have Strings to fall back on... nice position to be in.

MooseJam

If you watched the slow mo of the incident you could see his foot flapping about - looked like a clean break, don't know why they say suspected fracture when his foot is flapping like that

murphym7

dreamer_ire wrote: »

Tragically yes.... a friend has a contact in the camp and they are sure it's broken. Poor Tomas, it couldn't have come at a worse time for him. I'm sure he will have other HC semis and finals but he won't make the next Lions tour

Was at the match last night and as soon as TOL went off the whole crowd were subdued, we knew it looked horrible even then. The news from the hospital went around pretty quick and everyone was gutted for him, mainly for the Lions tour.