HEC: Castres Olymique vs Munster, Sat 19 Nov 3:40pm; Pre/During/Post Match Thread

thomond2006

Munster Squad:
M Horan, J Ryan, W du Preez, BJ Botha, J Hayes, S Archer,
D Varley, D Fogarty,
D Ryan, P O’Connell, D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll, B Holland,
P O’Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan, D Leamy,

C Murray, T O’Leary, P Stringer, D Williams,
R O’Gara, I Keatley,
D Barnes, W Chambers, L Mafi
S Deasy, J Murphy, D Howlett, D Hurley.

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/9676.php

Same squad as last week, Horan expected to be fit.

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Varley, Botha, Ryan, Paulie, Leamy, Wallace 2.0, Cawlin;
Murray, ROG, Hurley, Mafi, Barnes, Dougie, Murphy

Bench: Fogarty, Horan, Bull, Donners, Ronan, TOL, Keatley, Chambers

According to the Munster site, only 10,000 tickets have been sold for this. I reckon Munster can take them, though it will be difficult if Teulet is playing, he kicks goals for fun.

Fireball07

Matt Williams

I think Munster can sneak this. The fact it's been moved to Toulouse is hujge I think that will give the edge to Munster. They'll need to play to the top of their game though...with a high intensity, try to get something going in the backline and most importantly, keep their discipline.

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

Same squad as last week, Horan expected to be fit.

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Varley, Botha, Ryan, Paulie, Leamy, Wallace 2.0, Cawlin;
Murray, ROG, Hurley, Mafi, Barnes, Dougie, Murphy

Bench: Fogarty, Horan, Bull, Donners, Ronan, TOL, Keatley, Chambers

According to the Munster site, only 10,000 tickets have been sold for this. I reckon Munster can take them, though it will be difficult if Teulet is playing, he kicks goals for fun.

Talk about pressure

irishbucsfan

Wonder if Ronan will finally get booted out of the team?

Podge_irl

Interesting one for Munster. I wouldn't go so far as saying the definitely need something from this, though it would certainly help. The problem is if they win Castres are out and may well roll over against NH, which will nullify the advantage.

GerM

thomond2006 wrote: »

According to the Munster site, only 10,000 tickets have been sold for this. I reckon Munster can take them, though it will be difficult if Teulet is playing, he kicks goals for fun.

Castres fans are boycotting it in large numbers due to the move to Toulouse which is 90 minutes away. I suspect Castres will only have 5-6k fans there with the remaining being a mix of Munster fans and locals having a look.

CatFromHue

Podge_irl wrote: »

Interesting one for Munster. I wouldn't go so far as saying the definitely need something from this, though it would certainly help. The problem is if they win Castres are out and may well roll over against NH, which will nullify the advantage.

I wouldn't want to be in a position to be going to Northampton on the last weekend and needing to win so I would be of the mentality that Munster need to win.

The home and away games against Lanelli are no certain matter either.

Podge_irl

CatFromHue wrote: »

I wouldn't want to be in a position to be going to Northampton on the last weekend and needing to win so I would be of the mentality that Munster need to win.

I'm not entirely sure Munster can avoid that though. I'd be almost certain that if Munster beat Castres away then NH will do likewise as Castres will be effectively out of the competition at that point. Actually, I'd possibly revise my earlier point to Munster probably definitely needing a win as NH have Castres first up at home. I think if they win that then they'll win the return leg too.

Pretty slippy game all round.

premierstone

Matt Williams

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Varley, Botha, Ryan, Paulie, Leamy, Wallace 2.0, Cawlin;
Murray, ROG, Hurley, Mafi, Barnes, Dougie, Murphy

Bench: Fogarty, Horan, Bull, Donners, Ronan, TOL, Keatley, Chambers.

Id agree with your 15 players but I would switch Hurley and Murphy, Hurley looks far more comfortable at FB than Murphy who is a better finisher, it would make more sense to me, Murphy gives me the impression he doesnt actually like playing FB and he doesnt have the Rugby brain for it, he looks lost at times.

TheJims

Matt Williams

Cant say i know much about Castres as of late, who are their danger men to watch out for, besides Teulet goalkicking?

GerM

TheJims wrote: »

Cant say i know much about Castres as of late, who are their danger men to watch out for, besides Teulet goalkicking?

Chris Masoe is still a class act in the back row. Ducalon at prop is a serious operator. They have lads like Bai and Evans in the backs but they weren't involved last weekend so assume they're injured. As a whole, though, Castres are a side that are greater than the sum of their parts. Vociferous home support (when they play there), well drilled pack and a good kicker. They're efficient but limited.

wixfjord

TheJims wrote: »

Cant say i know much about Castres as of late, who are their danger men to watch out for, besides Teulet goalkicking?

Strong pack with Dualacon, the French prop, the cornerstone. Former Toulon prop Taumoepeau is there aswell.

Good combative back row, including Masoe, Tekori, and Diarra, a flanker in the Ouderago mould.

They Saffer SH Kockett, who's a livewire and gets riled up very easily.

In the centres, they've former Clermont centre/FH Bai, and Scottish bosher Max Evans.

They've Marc Andreu on the wing. Small nippy French international, and Lakafia, a brother of the Biarritz 8 on the other wing, and then Teulet at Fullback to kick.

totallegend

Matt Williams

Why does McGahan bother naming all four scrum-halves in the squad every week?

If any of you Munster lads want your collective ego massaged, Castres management say:
"We don't have the capacity in Castres to host a certain type of team... hosting Munster is like hosting Real Madrid"
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2011/11/15/1215361-co-munster-on-a-besoin-de-se-sentir-soutenus.html

GerM

totallegend wrote: »

If any of you Munster lads want your collective ego massaged, Castres management say:
"We don't have the capacity in Castres to host a certain type of team... hosting Munster is like hosting Real Madrid"
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2011/11/15/1215361-co-munster-on-a-besoin-de-se-sentir-soutenus.html

THE FRENCH MEDIA ARE AT IT TOO?! :mad:

irishbucsfan

Max Evans is a bosher now?

CatFromHue

totallegend wrote: »

hosting Munster is like hosting Real Madrid"

That just means Leinster are Barcelona :cool:

:pac:

MaryKing

CatFromHue wrote: »

That just means Leinster are Barcelona :cool:

:pac:

I don't recall Barcelona having to move to a bigger stadium to accommodate Real Madrid when they play them at home

CatFromHue

MaryKing wrote: »

I don't recall Barcelona having to move to a bigger stadium to accommodate Real Madrid when they play them at home

You've got me there Mary, you got me good

darragh_haven

Munster win

CatFromHue wrote: »

MaryKing wrote: »

I don't recall Barcelona having to move to a bigger stadium to accommodate Real Madrid when they play them at home

You've got me there Mary, you got me good

That was a show stopper of a retort Mary! I don't think ill be trying to out wit you anytime soon

.ak

Yes. Infact, I think after that there's nothing else to be said really, we may as well lock the thread now. No one's going to better that.

PhatPiggins

Munster win

CatFromHue wrote: »

I wouldn't want to be in a position to be going to Northampton on the last weekend and needing to win so I would be of the mentality that Munster need to win.

The home and away games against Lanelli are no certain matter either.

In an ideal world Munster will win this game. The fury from the Castres supporters will be such that the other remaining games will be played in Castres in front of a baying crowd and Castres will hammer both the Scarlets and Northampton just to get off the pitch alive.

Oh yeah and they'll send the under 20's to Thomond and we win by 40.

We'll if your going to dream it might as well be big.

PhatPiggins

Munster win

thomond2006 wrote: »

Same squad as last week, Horan expected to be fit.

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Varley, Botha, Ryan, Paulie, Leamy, Wallace 2.0, Cawlin;
Murray, ROG, Hurley, Mafi, Barnes, Dougie, Murphy

Bench: Fogarty, Horan, Bull, Donners, Ronan, TOL, Keatley, Chambers

According to the Munster site, only 10,000 tickets have been sold for this. I reckon Munster can take them, though it will be difficult if Teulet is playing, he kicks goals for fun.

Thats a terrible comparison but there's always the chance your putting it in for divilment

CatFromHue

PhatPiggins wrote: »

In an ideal world Munster will win this game. The fury from the Castres supporters will be such that the other remaining games will be played in Castres in front of a baying crowd and Castres will hammer both the Scarlets and Northampton just to get off the pitch alive.

Oh yeah and they'll send the under 20's to Thomond and we win by 40.

We'll if your going to dream it might as well be big.

As far as I know in the UEFA Cup in football you're only allowed use one home ground for your home pool games. You can see why here.

PhatPiggins

Munster win

CatFromHue wrote: »

As far as I know in the UEFA Cup in football you're only allowed use one home ground for your home pool games. You can see why here.

Lucky for Castres they're not in the UEFA cup I guess, though I'd love to see Chris Masoe one on one with a goal keeper :pac:

Cpt_Blackbeard

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd like to see:
du Preez, Varley, Botha, Ryan, Paulie, Leamy, Wallace 2.0, Cawlin;
Murray, ROG, Hurley, Mafi, Barnes, Dougie, Murphy

Bench: Fogarty, Horan, Bull, Donners, Ronan, TOL, Keatley, Chambers

As much as I like Barnes, I think Chambers could be worth the start after his great cameo on Saturday. I think we have to stick with Mafi too, as he is looking like the player of 2 years ago again. While Barnes is an solid player in both attck and defense and will work his ass off, he doesn't have the same attacking flair of the two imports.

irishbucsfan

Would not be surprised at all to see something like

POC, DOC, Ryan, POM, Leamy

PhatPiggins

Munster win

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Would not be surprised at all to see something like

POC, DOC, Ryan, POM, Leamy

Can't see how it won't be the same back 5 as started the last game, they were all very effective. Coughlin will be under pressure to perform though.

irishbucsfan

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Can't see how it won't be the same back 5 as started the last game, they were all very effective. Coughlin will be under pressure to perform though.

I fear what Tekori and Masoe would do to Niall Ronan.

ciarriaithuaidh

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Can't see how it won't be the same back 5 as started the last game, they were all very effective. Coughlin will be under pressure to perform though.

Really? Ronan is just not good enough to me. He's not powerful enough to break tackles as a ball carrier and he has little or no effect in the tackle or breakdown areas either. Leamy has to start for me. Coughlan with Leamy and POM either side of him is what I'd go with. Hope he leaves Ryan in the team aswell.

castie

Matt Williams

Thommand why drop POM from the squad altogether?

Think McGahan gets enough stick for not picking the young guys.

CIARAN_BOYLE

castie wrote: »

Thommand why drop POM from the squad altogether?

Think McGahan gets enough stick for not picking the young guys.

Thomond has rechristened POM Walace 2.0

talk about pressure

castie

Matt Williams

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Thomond has rechristened POM Walace 2.0

talk about pressure

Whoops actually read that as DOC 2.0 haha

twinytwo

why no bonus point win thomond?

Being honest unless we pull the voodoo on NH in the gardens we are going to need a PB win in every game.

( if that did happen though and we spanked NH away, id sit and laugh at maylander losing the rag)

Fireball07

Matt Williams

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Thomond has rechristened POM Walace 2.0

talk about pressure

He reminds me a lot more of Quinlan tbh.

BionicRasher

Matt Williams

OK - 16.40 is local kick off time ya?
Is this on TV somewhere? Only says French TV on the ERC site

Sorry if this is asked before or is the wrong place

totallegend

Matt Williams

tui0hcg wrote: »

OK - 16.40 is local kick off time ya?
Is this on TV somewhere? Only says French TV on the ERC site

Sorry if this is asked before or is the wrong place

Yeah, it's 15.40 Irish time, on Sky Sports 1
http://www.skysports.com/tv_guide

thomond2006

Tekori, Masoe and Max Evans starts. Ducalcon and Teulet on the bench.

GerM

I know that Ducalon is carrying a slight knock but Teulet on the bench? With the game being in a somewhat neutral venue you would have to think advantage Munster big time now. Looks like Castres have decided on which tournament counts after coming away with nothing last week.

budhabob

Matt Williams

Cant fathom Niall Ronin, other than that to be expected really.

Munster: J Murphy; D Howlett, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley; R O'Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O'Connell capt; P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Fogarty, M Horan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, D Leamy, T O'Leary, I Keatley, W Chambers.

thomond2006

Can't understand how Leamy isn't starting. Does McGahan see him as an impact player?

Fireball07

Matt Williams

I wanted to see Leamy start ahead of Ronan but even still, I think Munster have a great chance to win it.

totallegend

Matt Williams

Fireball07 wrote: »

I wanted to see Leamy start ahead of Ronan but even still, I think Munster have a great chance to win it.

Munster have more than a great chance here, they should win; Castres at full strengh in their own ground would be a serious proposition, but this is a weakened selection at a venue that might not be neutral but is not far off it.

I was just thinking, if any Toulousains happen to wander along to see the game, will they get behind Munster? Can't see them cheering on their local rivals...

Brendan97

Matt Williams

munster to win
42 phase build up before a drop goal

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Can't understand how Leamy isn't starting. Does McGahan see him as an impact player?

he is an impact player to be fair.

Perhaps McGahan doesn't think he can get 80 minutes out of him, and instead wants to use 100% of Leamy for 20/30 minutes instead of him at 70% for the game?

profitius

Its a weakened Castres team but Munster are missing a fair few players too. You'd have to wonder about the Munster backs, if they can do anything of note this week.

Watching the 41 phases last week its a miracle they even made a chance for ROG. Munster didn't look like they knew what they were doing. Pass it to the nearest man etc. Watching Munster, there are too many players receiving passes while standing still. Compare with Leinster for example who always have men running onto the ball as well as having more options to pass to, better lines of running etc.

thomond2006

After Scarlets' win tonight, getting something out of this game is now even more important. We don't want to meet Scarlets at Thomond on 4 points with Scarlets on 9.

ed7890

thomond2006 wrote: »

After Scarlets' win tonight, getting something out of this game is now even more important. We don't want to meet Scarlets at Thomond on 4 points with Scarlets on 9.

We play them away first

wixfjord

thomond2006 wrote: »

After Scarlets' win tonight, getting something out of this game is now even more important. We don't want to meet Scarlets at Thomond on 4 points with Scarlets on 9.

Unless Round 3 is cancelled, that won't happen!

thomond2006

ed7890 wrote: »

We play them away first

Sorry you're right.

In fact that makes it even harder if we don't win in Castres. Scarlets would have a chance to get 8/9 points ahead of us.

Quint2010

I think last weekends win will give Munster great belief and they will win narrowly here

twinytwo

Quint2010 wrote: »

I think last weekends win will give Munster great belief and they will win narrowly here

i wouldnt underestimate the fact that castre is playing away from home with fans refusing to go.

Also the teams knows they need a PB. Hopefully last season wows will light a spark under them this time around.