Pro12: Munster vs Dragons, Sat 3 Sep 7:45pm. Live on TG4/S4C *mod warning post 38*

thomond2006

Munster Squad (28):
S Scanlon, J Murphy, D Howlett, D Hurley, S Zebo, L Mafi, D Barnes,
S Deasy, I Keatley,
D Williams, P Stringer, T O'Leary,

D Varley, M Sherry
M Horan, W du Preez, S Archer, J Hayes, P Borlase,
D Foley, M O'Driscoll, I Nagle, B Holland,
D O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, T O'Donnell, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Not considered because of injury:
Darragh Hurley (achilles); BJ Botha (calf); T Smith (knee); D Wallace (knee); F Jones (foot).

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/9317.php

Yay competitive rugby is back! Dragons at home is a good draw to kick off the season.

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Sherry, Archer, MOD, Nagle, TOD, POM, Coughlan;
Stringer, Keatley, Zebo, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Scanlon

Bench: Varley, Horan, Hayes, Foley, Ronan, TOL, Deasy, Murphy/Hurley

I wonder how much influence Kidney will have on these selections. The likes of Varley, Hayes, MOD, Ronan and TOL are probably on a standby list for the World Cup and will need gametime.

Scanlon by all accounts had a decent game last week so I'd like to see how he does at this level. With Jones out for the forseeable future someone has to put their hand up to play at 15. The call on who to play on the left wing (Zebo/Hurley/Murphy) should be interesting. Deasy has to be in the 22 somewhere to cover outhalf, Cusack suffered a dead leg last week against Connacht A.

It would be great if TOL was tried in the back three for 20 minutes or so, we have plenty of depth at scrumhalf.

CIARAN_BOYLE

I'd have the same first 15 except I'd put Horan ahead of WDP.

buck65

Hard to see beyond a home win here, Dragons may be competitve enough but Munster always seem to put serious points on them in Cork. Reckon Horan, Hayes, O Leary, Ronan will start.
Munster by 10.

thomond2006

Dragons played two preseason games, one against Russia and one against Leeds. They won both.

This was the team that played Leeds:

Dragons: M Thomas, M Pewtner, A Hughes, P Leach, M Poole, M Jones, J
Bedford, N Williams, T Willis, D Way, A Jones, R Sidoli, A Coombs, L Evans, H Ellis.

Replacements (all used): P Price, R Buckley, S Parry, B Castle, J Groves, T Brown, D Waters, J Leadbeater, J Tovey, T Riley, J Smith, S Jones.

Looks like Martyn Thomas is back fit.

thomond2006

Backs
Martyn Thomas, Steffan Jones, Adam Hughes, Mike Poole, Pat Leach, Tom Riley, Ashley Smith, Jason Tovey, Wayne Evans, Joe Bedford,

Forwards
Phil Price, Tom Willis (c), Rhys Buckley, Nathan Williams, Dan Way, Ben Castle, Adam Jones, Jevon Groves, Robert Sidoli, Andrew Coombs, Gavin Thomas, Hugo Ellis, Tom Brown.

Fireball07

thomond2006 wrote: »

Yay competitive rugby is back! Dragons at home is a good draw to kick off the season.

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Sherry, Archer, MOD, Nagle, TOD, POM, Coughlan;
Stringer, Keatley, Zebo, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Scanlon

Bench: Varley, Horan, Hayes, Foley, Ronan, TOL, Deasy, Murphy/Hurley

I wonder how much influence Kidney will have on these selections. The likes of Varley, Hayes, MOD, Ronan and TOL are probably on a standby list for the World Cup and will need gametime.

Scanlon by all accounts had a decent game last week so I'd like to see how he does at this level. With Jones out for the forseeable future someone has to put their hand up to play at 15. The call on who to play on the left wing (Zebo/Hurley/Murphy) should be interesting. Deasy has to be in the 22 somewhere to cover outhalf, Cusack suffered a dead leg last week against Connacht A.

It would be great if TOL was tried in the back three for 20 minutes or so, we have plenty of depth at scrumhalf.

I'd like to see that team too. Good chance for Sherry/Archer/Nagle/TOD/POM to put up their hand and stake a claim for a place. I think Zebo should start on the wing, don't mind who plays full-back.

theKramer

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Sherry, Archer, MOD, Nagle, TOD, POM, Coughlan;
Stringer, Keatley, Zebo, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Scanlon

Bench: Varley, Horan, Hayes, Foley, Ronan, TOL, Deasy, Murphy/Hurley

Will probably be:
du Preez, Sherry, Hayes, MOD, Nagle, POM/TOD, Ronan, Coughlan;
O'Leary, Keatley, Zebo, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Murphy

Bench: Varley, Horan, Archer, Foley, POM/TOD, Stringer, Deasy, Scanlon/Hurley

Even when the WC is on, we still have to play the "old favourites" who are not up to it anymore, just in the very, very unlikely off-chance they might possibly, but probably wont, be needed

Apparently Borlase is the new Tony Buckley. Looking more and more like a bad buy, especially since people on MF.com are saying that Archer has had the scrum pretty solid when he's been on...

CIARAN_BOYLE

theKramer wrote: »

Will probably be:
du Preez, Sherry, Hayes, MOD, Nagle, POM/TOD, Ryan, Coughlan;
O'Leary, Keatley, Zebo, Mafi, Barnes, Howlett, Murphy

Bench: Varley, Horan, Archer, Foley, POM/TOD, Stringer, Deasy, Scanlon/Hurley

Even when the WC is on, we still have to play the "old favourites" who are not up to it anymore, just in the very, very unlikely off-chance they might possibly, but probably wont, be needed

Apparently Borlase is the new Tony Buckley. Looking more and more like a bad buy, especially since people on MF.com are saying that Archer has had the scrum pretty solid when he's been on...

Two questions Ryan at 7? and Ryan is supposed to be in NZ

Risteard

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I'd have the same first 15 except I'd put Horan ahead of WDP.

I'd have Horan ahead of him as well.

I think he's done very well for us since coming back from injury. Though this seasonI'd like to see Hulrey, if he can stay fit, get some good gametime.

theKramer

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Two questions Ryan at 7? and Ryan is supposed to be in NZ

Meant Ronan Fixed original post.

buck65

At least with Borlase we can ship him off after this season IIRC?
Thought it was a 2 year deal with an option of a 3rd year if the IRFU liked him for the green jersey.

theKramer

Although, with our persistence with Buckley, I wouldnt be surprised if they extended his contract :pac:

With Jones out, hopefully Scanlon can step up to the plate. Murphy looks like a bit of a "meat and two veg" kinda fullback. Be interesting if this kid Scanlon can show a bit more.....

Question: Are TOD and POM primarily 6's or 7's??

POM was played at 8 as well in one of the preseason games, against Wasps, I think. Although Richie McCaw played at 8 in this first international (against Ireland, actually). Remember reading that somewhere a while back.

ormond lad

theKramer wrote: »

Although, with our persistence with Buckley, I wouldnt be surprised if they extended his contract :pac:

With Jones out, hopefully Scanlon can step up to the plate. Murphy looks like a bit of a "meat and two veg" kinda fullback. Be interesting if this kid Scanlon can show a bit more.....

Question: Are TOD and POM primarily 6's or 7's??

POM was played at 8 as well in one of the preseason games, against Wasps, I think. Although Richie McCaw played at 8 in this first international (against Ireland, actually). Remember reading that somewhere a while back.

Both primarily are 7s but POM played 8 a lot underage

GerM

Munster: J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; I Keatley, P Stringer; M Horan, M Shery, S Archer; B Holland, M O'Driscoll; P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, W Du Preez, J Hayes, D Foley, T O'Donnell, T O'Leary, S Deasy, S Zebo.
Referee: Stefano Penne
Asst Referees: David Wilkinson & Brian MacNiece(IRFU).
Citing Comm: Eugene Ryan (IRFU).
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU).

ormond lad

GerM wrote: »

Munster: J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; I Keatley, P Stringer; M Horan, M Shery, S Archer; B Holland, M O'Driscoll; P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Varley, W Du Preez, J Hayes, D Foley, T O'Donnell, T O'Leary, S Deasy, S Zebo.
Referee: Stefano Penne
Asst Referees: David Wilkinson & Brian MacNiece(IRFU).
Citing Comm: Eugene Ryan (IRFU).
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU).

pity paddy butler isnt involved, when he played u20 world cup in 2010 he didnt look too bad beside leinster duo of ryan and ruddock and now they much more experience at A and full provincial level and he still doesnt look fully ready physically for pro rugby
clearly kidney has dictated
1. Horan
7. Ronan
It would have been nice to see TOD and du preez start

Fireball07

ormond lad wrote: »

pity paddy butler isnt involved, when he played u20 world cup in 2010 he didnt look too bad beside leinster duo of ryan and ruddock and now they much more experience at A and full provincial level and he still doesnt look fully ready physically for pro rugby
clearly kidney has dictated
1. Horan
7. Ronan
It would have been nice to see TOD and du preez start

And maybe Zebo on the wing.

thomond2006

Munster:
J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; I Keatley, P Stringer;
M Horan, M Shery, S Archer; B Holland, M O'Driscoll; P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan.

Replacements: D Varley, W Du Preez, J Hayes, D Foley, T O'Donnell, T O'Leary, S Deasy, S Zebo.

DRAGONS:
15. Steffan Jones, 14. Adam Hughes, 13. Tom Riley, 12. Ashley Smith, 11. Mike Poole, 10. Jason Tovey, 9. Joe Bedford,
1. Phil Price, 2. Tom Willis, 3. Ben Castle, 4. Adam Jones, 5. Robert Sidoli, 6. Andrew Coombs, 7. Gavin Thomas, 8. Tom Brown.

Replacements
16. Rhys Buckley, 17. Nathan Williams, 18. Dan Way, 19. Jevon Groves, 20. Hugo Ellis, 21. Wayne Evans, 22. Pat Leach, 23. Martyn Thomas.

Happy enough with the team. Big chance for Murphy to step into Jones's shoes.

profitius

At least Archer, Sherry and POM are starting. I'd have also liked to see Scanlon starting at fullback.

theboss80

Has anybody heard is the commentary going to be in Irish on tg4? If so the I think I may watch it on the S4C red button in English.

phog

theboss80 wrote: »

Has anybody heard is the commentary going to be in Irish on tg4? If so the I think I may watch it on the S4C red button in English.

Haven't heard anything but based on their previous broadcasts it will be in Irish.

David900

I know O'Leary wasn't involved in all of the pre-season training but it doesn't bode well for him to be on the bench. I would have thought that this type of match would have been perfect for the up and coming players to start in. The Dragons aren't a certain win but players like Zebo should be starting here.

PhatPiggins

Bit harsh on Scanlon not even making the 22. How many times do we need to see Deasy to know he's not good enough?

thomond2006

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Bit harsh on Scanlon not even making the 22. How many times do we need to see Deasy to know he's not good enough?

Deasy has to be there to cover 10 though. Zebo is keeping Scanlon out of that lineup.

buck65

Zebo is worth his place though, remember last season he showed plenty. Scanlon has to earn it I would have thought.
Decent Munster side I reckon, considering.

thomond2006

buck65 wrote: »

Zebo is worth his place though, remember last season he showed plenty. Scanlon has to earn it I would have thought.
Decent Munster side I reckon, considering.

Never said he wasn't, I wanted him to start ahead of Hurley. At the moment Hurley is probably a more solid option but Zebo seems to have more going forward.

ormond lad

Duncan Williams has replaced Tomas O'Leary on the bench for tomorrows game. O'Leary continues to have lower back trouble and at this stage of the season management rightly believe it would be unwise to rush him back into action.
http://limerickrugby.ie/news-1756/Back-problem-rules-Tomas-O'Leary-out

Cpt_Blackbeard

Is Nagle injured? If memory serves he was in the original squad but, he also injured himself in the match last week.

phog

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Is Nagle injured? If memory serves he was in the original squad but, he also injured himself in the match last week.

He left the field injured last week, I thought I read that it was expected that he'd be fit enough for this game but dont know anthing more than that.

GerM

Nagle didn't recover in time and is out for this weekend with a minor shoulder injury. He'll be back next week.

Cpt_Blackbeard

Interesting to note that POM is in fact our captain for the match. It is a huge vote of confidence when you consider that he was picked ahead of MOD, Coughlan and Dougie. You have to feel that Foley is doing his best to help the young backrows.

Risteard

Cpt_Blackbeard wrote: »

Interesting to note that POM is in fact our captain for the match. It is a huge vote of confidence when you consider that he was picked ahead of MOD, Coughlan and Dougie. You have to feel that Foley is doing his best to help the young backrows.

I hadn't noticed that. That suggests to me that performances permitting he'll really be in the frame for the HC. Hopefully anyway.

durkadurka

TOL out again with back trouble

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/rugby/ojkfidsngbau/

Things are going from bad to worse for Tomás O'Leary who has been withdrawn from the Munster squad to face Newport-Gwent Dragons at Musgrave Park on Saturday (7.45pm) because he is still suffering from lower back trouble.

Having been unexpectedly omitted from Declan Kidney’s 30 man World Cup squad, O’Leary had readjust his focus on domestic rugby with Munster but the reoccurrence of his back problem means the scrumhalf will be out of action altogether this weekend.

The CBC graduate was initially named on the bench with Peter Stringer starting in the number 9 jersey but Duncan Williams will now be among the replacements as cover.

Coach Tony McGahan has stressed the importance of home victories as the defending champions open the new Celtic League Pro 12 campaign.

"Everything you do in pre-season (games) from our perspective is building towards the first game and then get a result,” he said today.

"We haven't been playing for points the last three weeks, this weekend we are. We've had a good start to our domestic campaigns over the last period of time.

"We're at home first up so you really need to be winning your home games and for us, that starts this weekend."

Dragons coach Darren Edwards has given debuts to new signings Tom Brown and Joe Bedford.

Roomic Cube

Glad the season is starting, need my fix of rugger to get me through the weeks!

I'd like to see Zebo get alot of game time, he has great potential as a replacement of Earls on the wings, I felt he could have done great things last season had he been given more of a chance, seen him play a bit in the munster academy team and he can really move.

Silverado

Yet another season of Rugbai Beo for Munster fans while Leinster fans get RTE 2 in English.

Do the powers that be in RTE think that all Munster fans are native Irish speakers or something? Perhaps they don't quite realise that the Gaeltacht areas in Munster are only in Kerry, West Cork and West Waterford. It is understandable that it is not always possible to have a slot on RTE 2 but why can't they do a two language commentary on TG4 like they do on S4C.

There is something unfair about this, I'm paying the same TV licence fee as the Leinster fans.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Silverado wrote: »

Yet another season of Rugbai Beo for Munster fans while Leinster fans get RTE 2 in English.

Do the powers that be in RTE think that all Munster fans are native Irish speakers or something? Perhaps they don't quite realise that the Gaeltacht areas in Munster are only in Kerry, West Cork and West Waterford. It is understandable that it is not always possible to have a slot on RTE 2 but why can't they do a two language commentary on TG4 like they do on S4C.

There is something unfair about this, I'm paying the same TV licence fee as the Leinster fans.

TG4 don't give a damn about anyhing other promoting the Irish language. They don't give a damn about anything else. Each station gets first pick on a certain of number of weeks and TG4 seem to prefer Munster on their weeks. RTE and TG4 are separate stations and no under the central control.

Saorview and UPC don't offer interactive functionality so TG4 don't offer dual language. If Saorview and UPC changed they might consider it. Don't blame TG4.

Its not like Leinster fans get it better, in the first five rounds Leinster have 1 RTE, 1 TG4, 3 untelevised. Munster have 2 TG4 1 RTE and 2 untelevised.

Anyway come on Munster.

Hagz

Silverado wrote: »

Yet another season of Rugbai Beo for Munster fans while Leinster fans get RTE 2 in English.

Do the powers that be in RTE think that all Munster fans are native Irish speakers or something? Perhaps they don't quite realise that the Gaeltacht areas in Munster are only in Kerry, West Cork and West Waterford. It is understandable that it is not always possible to have a slot on RTE 2 but why can't they do a two language commentary on TG4 like they do on S4C.

There is something unfair about this, I'm paying the same TV licence fee as the Leinster fans.

If you look at the Rabo site's fixture list, they have the channels the games will be shown on. From what I can see, RTE will be showing more Munster games than Leinster games. However, it only goes up to mid January, so I don't know the tv schedule beyond that. But I'd imagine it's a similar story.

TheHighRoad

Hagz wrote: »

If you look at the Rabo site's fixture list, they have the channels the games will be shown on. From what I can see, RTE will be showing more Munster games than Leinster games. However, it only goes up to mid January, so I don't know the tv schedule beyond that. But I'd imagine it's a similar story.

So basically Munster have MORE games on RTE than Leinster and have MORE games televised... Quess we'll have to add RTE to the never ending anti Munster conspiracy list

justsomebloke

Ok get back on the topic of the game and off the topic of the RTE, TG4 crap. Their will be infractions and bans for any more Leinster Munster waffle

also Thehighroad please be careful about your posting style of you will probably end up receiving bans pretty quickly

finatron

Silverado wrote: »

Yet another season of Rugbai Beo for Munster fans while Leinster fans get RTE 2 in English.

Do the powers that be in RTE think that all Munster fans are native Irish speakers or something? Perhaps they don't quite realise that the Gaeltacht areas in Munster are only in Kerry, West Cork and West Waterford. It is understandable that it is not always possible to have a slot on RTE 2 but why can't they do a two language commentary on TG4 like they do on S4C.

There is something unfair about this, I'm paying the same TV licence fee as the Leinster fans.

Learn some Irish and get over it !

thomond2006

C'mon da **** MUNSTER!!!!!!!!!!

durkadurka

Is that a new stand?

CIARAN_BOYLE

durkadurka wrote: »

Is that a new stand?

Yeah they put up a 'temporary' stand in musgrave park

http://www.mrsc.ie/News_Detail.aspx?rowid=54698

CIARAN_BOYLE

I hope that first scrum isn't an indication of how the scrum will go this season for Munster

SomeFool

waaahhh no english option on s4c

durkadurka

Lovely kick stringer. Have I ever said that before?

David900

SomeFool wrote: »

waaahhh no english option on s4c

Press the red button if you're watching on Sky.

thomond2006

Dragons number 11 looks very strong in attack.

trackguy

Very interested to see Keatley. Will be great if he steps up this season

durkadurka

What was the hooker at?

thomond2006

Poor penalty miss from Keatley. Looking good in general play though.

Fireball07

Poor kick from Keatley really.