Munster v Dragons Sun 27th 5.05pm

chupacabra

Sunday heralds the return of our Lions after their grueling summer holiday tour but also marks the beginning of what we hope will be a fruitful relationship with "The Intercept king" a.k.a. Jean De Villiers. He starts on the bench but everyone and their mother knows he will pull on the red at some stage. Felix Jones starts on the wing, a good sign i think that he is consistently being considered for selection and now shows a level of depth to the munster back line we haven't seen before with the likes of Howlett and Dowling still hanging about. Earls at full back may be indicative of his future position for munster, at least for this season and i hope to see him carve the dragons defense to pieces and link up with young Jones outside him. Should be a good game this, Dragons are proving that they are not a push over by any means this year.

Teams:

Munster
Keith Earls; Felix Jones, Barry Murphy, Lifeimi Mafi, Denis Hurley; Ronan O'Gara, Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan,Denis Fogarty, Tony Buckley; Mick O'Driscoll, Donncha O'Callaghan; Alan Quinlan,Tommy O'Donnell, Nick Williams.

Replacements:
Damian Varley, Julien Brugnaut, Donnacha Ryan, James Coughlan, Toby Morland, Jeremy Manning, Jean de Villiers.

Dragons:

Martyn Thomas, Aled Brew, Tom Riley, Ashley Smith (Capt), Richard Fussell, James Arlidge, Wayne Evans, Hugh Gustafson, Steve Jones, Nigel Hall, Adam Jones, Rob Sidoli, Dan Lydiate, James Harris, Joe Bearman.

Replacements:
Duane Goodfield, Ali McKenzie, Gethin Robinson, Grant Webb, Hoani MacDonald, Shaun Connor, Danny Lee

PhatPiggins

You forgot to mention Denis Hurley the ML's standout winger so far this season.

Never thought I'd find myself writing that.

Zzippy

PhatPiggins wrote: »

You forgot to mention Denis Hurley the ML's standout winger so far this season.

Never thought I'd find myself writing that.

I think you'll find thats Fionn Carr, with 3 tries to Hurley's 2...

mick_ser

good to see tommy o donnell getting another run. looks a good prospect

phog

Zzippy wrote: »

I think you'll find thats Fionn Carr, with 3 tries to Hurley's 2...

Didn't shine too brightly last night..... or cud that be George Clany's fault

danthefan

Any chance Munster will keep the same pack for the Leinster game? Please?

phog

danthefan wrote: »

Any chance Munster will keep the same pack for the Leinster game? Please?

Getting desperate there Dan are you?

Size=everything

phog wrote: »

Getting desperate there Dan are you?

Well going on how the other pack fared against Leinster in last years semi final I think Dan just wants an interesting game for next week and not another Leinster whitewash

[joke]

spoon

Our back line is looking very healthy.

It's kind of funny that we're playing two natural fullbacks on the wings, and a natural winger/center at fullback. Though, it seems as though Hurley is far more comfortable on the wing.

I'm guessing JDV is going to be brought on for Murphy with Earls then moving to one of the wings and Mafi going to 13, with either Hurley or Jones moving to fullback. This is the part of this game I'll be most interested to see.

profitius

Hopefully there'll be no injuries. Looking forward to seeing O'Donnell. I hear good things about him but havn't seen much of him play.

Hurley is looking dangerous on the wing. His second try against Llannelli was brilliantly taken. I'm a big Dowling fan but maybe Hurley is a slightly better finisher. Time will tell.

phog

Size=everything wrote: »

Well going on how the other pack fared against Leinster in last years semi final I think Dan just wants an interesting game for next week and not another Leinster whitewash

[joke]

I must have missed that because I was sure there weren't any semi-finals in the ML last year

Wonder will Munster achieve another double over Leinster again this year, cant wait for next week

Size=everything

phog wrote: »

I must have missed that because I was sure there weren't any semi-finals in the ML last year

Wonder will Munster achieve another double over Leinster again this year, cant wait for next week

Nope I was referring to the Heineken Cup semi final i.e the the most recent time Munster and Leinster's pack came across each other correct me if im wrong but wasn't that the same pack?

phog

Size=everything wrote: »

Nope I was referring to the Heineken Cup semi final i.e the the most recent time Munster and Leinster's pack came across each other correct me if im wrong but wasn't that the same pack?

So which pack are you now talking about, the one listed for tomorrow night or the one that as of now isnt named for the RDS next week?

MickTipp

munster are gona thrash them

Hyperbullet

I cannot wait to see De Villiers in action. Assume he'll get maybe 20 mins or so tomorrow and then start next weekend

phog

MickTipp wrote: »

munster are gona thrash them

Would hope so but seeing how rusty the Leinster guys were last night doesn't instil me with confidence and we also saw how much improved NGD are this season in their game against Leinster recenlty.

Cant wait for kick-off.

RuggieBear

yeah i'd agree phog... dragons are much improved but still a very limited team who just do the basics well. Munster are a much much better team but will be rusty with a lot of players making their starts.

think munster will win but not as comfortably as it should be

(cue: 98-0 scoreline lol)

PhatPiggins

Good points there. Cant expect them to click straight away. I really hope DeVilliers gets the full second half.

It'll be interesting to see the make up of the backline next week. Niether Devilliers or Mafi are a 13, though I'd rather play Mafi at 13 if pushed.

gearstick

match just started and no sign of earls at fb, anybody know whats up?

Spore

dreary spectacle so far. Only one line break between the two teams. 0-0 after twenty minutes. I'm beginning to suspect that everyone's saving themselves for the Heineken cup

Spore

Update: Most boring god awful game of the season so far...

crisco10

gearstick wrote: »

match just started and no sign of earls at fb, anybody know whats up?

He is "sick" apparently.

Pretty dull game..ROG just missed from 30m out..

crisco10

A score in the 35min!

3-0 to munster

RuggieBear

35min 3-0 munster
rog pen

Spore

hallelujah! More of this please

Im only half watching this,did de villiers come on or start?

crisco10

Natalia Crooked Cucumber wrote: »

Im only half watching this,did de villiers come on or start?

Started in place of earls...

RuggieBear

3-3

RuggieBear

nice play by dragons there

RuggieBear

dg attempt...

ref not sure if over...

it is not


3-3 ht

Judgement Day

A truly dreadful spectacle. Munster have an embarassment of talent on the pitch but you would think to look at them that they had never played together before. Was going to the pub to watch the second half but I won't bother now. They still look like winning but it's like watching paint dry.

Micky Dolenz

Pretty dire stuff alright. They should grind out a result though.

MickTipp

MickTipp wrote: »

munster are gona thrash them

Someone hasnt been watching the Dragons,they are playing the basics right and are organised.

I dont think they will win but I think it will be close.

gearstick

did i actually just see micko breaking the line?

RuggieBear

ref giving munster a few 50-50's there

RuggieBear

scrum pushover try for munster

crisco10

try nick williams. 8-3 convo to come...

In the build up MOD's offload to TOL was sweet!

Spore

8-3 ROG misses conversion

RuggieBear

rog and oconnor sinbinned

crisco10

another n.williams try. again off a 5m scrum...

Nick Williams finally repaying the fans.

RuggieBear

williams try

Spore

15-3 TOL conversion

RuggieBear

tol with conversion

RuggieBear

don't post again in this thread size=everything

RuggieBear

not sure jones is allowed do that. dempsey did the exact same against LI this preseason and the ref gave a 5yard scrum

Amazotheamazing

Natalia Crooked Cucumber wrote: »

Nick Williams finally repaying the fans.

Not his fault he had injuries, give the guy a chance.

crisco10

RuggieBear wrote: »

not sure jones is allowed do that. dempsey did the exact same against LI this preseason and the ref gave a 5yard scrum

I assumed that the ref just didnt realise what Dempsey did that night....wouldnt have been the only thing he missed! :rolleyes:

Spore

Howlet try

crisco10

try howlett. red sea defending from dragons.

Hyperbullet

Just O/T but cheers lads for the updates. Cant watch the match unfortunately so ye're the next best thing.