Pro12: Munster vs Benetton Treviso, Fri 7 Sep 8pm; Live on TG4.

thomond2006

Munster:
Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett capt, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Luke O’Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams;
Wian du Preez, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Donncha O’Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Dave Foley, Paddy Butler, Peter Stringer, Scott Deasy, Ivan Dineen.

2 changes, DOC2.0 in for Paddy Butler and Archer in for BJ Botha. Botha is probably our most important player to keep fit so there's no need to overuse him in these games. A pretty settled side which is good to see.

Duncan Williams would want to seriously improve this weekend.

budhabob

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster:
Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett capt, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Luke O’Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams;
Wian du Preez, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Donncha O’Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Dave Foley, Paddy Butler, Peter Stringer, Scott Deasy, Ivan Dineen.

2 changes, DOC2.0 in for Paddy Butler and Archer in for BJ Botha. Botha is probably our most important player to keep fit so there's no need to overuse him in these games. A pretty settled side which is good to see.

Duncan Williams would want to seriously improve this weekend.

Happy with the two changes I must say. Was well impressed with DOC2.0 last season, and we need to see if archer has improved to be a capable back-up.

Tox56

Very interesting to see what Archer can do..

leakyboots

thomond2006 wrote: »

Duncan Williams would want to seriously improve this weekend.

Had a good second half, poor first half alright

Volvic12

Surprised Sean Scanlon has not got a look in yet. Thought he would be in the 23 man squad ahead of Dineen as Scanlon had quite a good pre-season by all accounts.
Is he injured or just hasn't been selected?

thomond2006

He got a run for the Munster As in the centre 2 weeks ago, so I assume he is available.

Danny Barnes looks like the big loser since the start of Penney's reign, at the start of last season he was a starter for the "Rabo team" and a bencher for the HEC. With Earls not yet allowed back and Johne Murphy to come back into contention, you'd wonder if Barnes will get a look in at all this year. 7 tries from 17 starts is quite a tally, Barnes definitely has talent and ability.

Benny Cake

thomond2006 wrote: »

Danny Barnes looks like the big loser since the start of Penney's reign, at the start of last season he was a starter for the "Rabo team" and a bencher for the HEC. With Earls not yet allowed back and Johne Murphy to come back into contention, you'd wonder if Barnes will get a look in at all this year.

Can't say I'm surprised, never been a fan of Barnes tbh...

Cpt_Blackbeard

Williams is a lucky boy to retain his jersey. Hopefully he will improve with a run of games. We know what Stringer can and can't do, so we don't learn much from playing him.

Very happy to see Killer retain his spot on the bench; hopefully he can cement that spot ahead of Horan for the season coming. I'd prefer to have seen Sherry starting, but he's probably being eased back in. Hopefully he'll be first choice by the time the HEC rolls around. All eyes will be on Archer though, as we've only a year left until Botha's contract expires. Huge improvement is both needed and expected from him.

Hopefully DOC2.0 is fit and makes a good impression. He looks to have bulked up a lot and I'd be hoping that he can make a POM-like breakthrough this year. It'd be great to see a DOC2.0/Butler/Dougal backrow for some period during the game. All three lads will be looking to earn a squad spot for the HEC, so it should be interesting to watch.

Hopefully we'll see further improvement on our gameplay.

profitius

Scanlon, Barnes etc will have to wait for their turn. Penney is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going. The players on the outside will get their chance.

Good to see DOC2 back. Also with LOD, hes my tip to have a good season.

profitius

Scanlon, Barnes etc will have to wait for their turn. Penney is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going. The players on the outside will get their chance.

Good to see DOC2 back. Also with LOD, hes my tip to have a good season.

profitius

Scanlon, Barnes etc will have to wait for their turn. Penney is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going. The players on the outside will get their chance.

Good to see DOC2 back. Also with LOD, hes my tip to have a good season.

profitius

EDIT Hope I've gotten my point across!

thomond2006

Quadruple post, niiiiiiice.

durkadurka

Doesn't get any better with multiple reads

irishbucsfan

profitius wrote: »

Scanlon, Barnes etc will have to wait for their turn. Penney is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going. The players on the outside will get their chance.

Good to see DOC2 back. Also with LOD, hes my tip to have a good season.

Hmmmm...

Kidney is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going.

EOS is correctly sticking to roughly the same team to keep the momentum going.

jm08

Rob Penney interview here.

http://www.tv3.ie/3player/show/3/52777/1/Sport-Updates

Singles out DOC & Sherry for special praise for last weekend.

profitius

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Hmmmm...

Different situation though. Kidney and EOS never changed the team. Penney is still trying to get the team playing his style. Once these start gelling I'm sure he'll start rotating the team more. Munster played some very good rugby against Edinburgh and momentum is now important.

thomond2006

Treviso:
15 Brendan Williams, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori,
8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Dean Budd, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Antonio Pavanello (capt), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Michele Rizzo.

Replacements: 16 Giovanni Maistri, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 19 Corniel Van Zyl, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Alessandro Zanni, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Kristopher Burton.

Treviso make a host of changes from the side that beat Ospreys.

phog

Setanta Ireland will be showing the match again on Saturday at 15:00hrs.

Aidric

jm08 wrote: »

Rob Penney interview here.

http://www.tv3.ie/3player/show/3/52777/1/Sport-Updates

Singles out DOC & Sherry for special praise for last weekend.

Hideous interviewer..I spose, I spose, I spose :rolleyes:

Anyways, I like what I hear from Penney every time he is interviewed, seems a very level headed guy.

leftleg

lads the tv guide says connacht game is on the same time as the Munster game; both on TG4 on Friday night; which one are they going to show??

leftleg

Ignore Rugbaí Beo is on from 6 till 10 so there obviously showing one live and the other is delayed full coverage i suppose. Correct me if i'm wrong by the way.

CatFromHue

To me it looks like the Zebre Connacht game kicks off at 6.05 irish time (it's listed as 19.05 on the Rabo website and last week the Treviso Ospreys game kicked off at 20.05 local time but kicked off at the same time Ulster v Glasgow which was 19.05 local time) and the Munster game kicks off at 20.00. So both will be live on TG4.

phog

leftleg wrote: »

lads the tv guide says connacht game is on the same time as the Munster game; both on TG4 on Friday night; which one are they going to show??

Connacht game is on in Italy and KO time is local time, which is an hour behind Ireland. TG4 will show both games

thomond2006

Munster:
Denis Hurley; Doug Howlett capt, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Luke O’Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams;
Wian du Preez, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Dave Foley, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Tommy O'Donnell, Paddy Butler, Peter Stringer, Scott Deasy, Ivan Dineen.

Donncha O'Callaghan won't feature tonight as his wife is about to give birth to their second child. Foley starts and TOD comes onto the bench.

Best of luck to the O'Callaghans!

Fireball07

Good luck to Donnacha and his wife!


In terms of the game, I think he's a bit of a loss, brings huge experience to the team. Foley's a promising player though.

budhabob

Great try off the lineout by Dougie. Good offload by DOC2.0 too.

thomond2006

Great try!!!

DOC2.0 with a nice ball to Dougie who goes under the posts, all from a lineout on the 22.

Fireball07

Very nice try. Good stuff from DOC2.0

molloyjh

Fla has obviously had a few....

Hagz

Am I the only one who just heard a wasted Jerry Flannery?

DDC1990

Haha did anyone hear Jerry Flannery there??

He sounds pissed :P Like really pissed.

.ak

Lovely stuff from Dougie, pure class.

Quint2010

Hagz wrote: »

Am I the only one who just heard a wasted Jerry Flannery?

No heard him too. He's definitely had a few..

thomond2006

Dougall, savage turnover.

Fireball07

That was a great turnover from Dougall. And LOD's line onto Laulala's pass was class.

DDC1990

Flah has sobered up or found a voice double :P

.ak

Haha. ref giving out to the water boy adding to his supposed duties. :P

DDC1990

Wahay, a bitta rough stuff. Du Preez smiling as he takes a few shots to the head :P

Fireball07

Encouraging scrum from Munster...with Archer in there it's good to see.

.ak

I like this ref tbh...

DDC1990

Downey, Dougall, Dougie.

Nice 1-2-3 punch.

Fireball07

I like what I'm seeing so far, pretty good performance.

DDC1990

Mixing some very good stuff with some sloppy mistakes.

Still Laulala looks savage. Keatley is doing well. Dougie is doing well. Good to see all round.

.ak

LOD looking to be simmering along nicely....

val_jester

.ak wrote: »

I like this ref tbh...

God , I love when the referee has a bit of common sense. Great way to calm down a fight, "You get the first one for free, next time there will be cards."

Fireball07

Been impressed with Keatley, playing very well.

Howlett and Laulala are both class, it's really great to see that that injury hasn't seemed to affect Howlett's performance.

Dougall seems really sharp too. Williams has done okay, but he really needs to cut out the crabbing, his pass is good enough when he focuses.

.ak

As one dimensional as Downey is, he's great at what he does.

Taco Corp

val_jester wrote: »

God , I love when the referee has a bit of common sense. Great way to calm down a fight, "You get the first one for free, next time there will be cards."

That might be the Scottish in him...

.ak

val_jester wrote: »

God , I love when the referee has a bit of common sense. Great way to calm down a fight, "You get the first one for free, next time there will be cards."

I also like the way he's constantly talking, especially to the front rows, atleast they have some instruction...

val_jester

Fireball07 wrote: »

Been impressed with Keatley, playing very well.

Howlett and Laulala are both class, it's really great to see that that injury hasn't seemed to affect Howlett's performance.

Dougall seems really sharp too. Williams has done okay, but he really needs to cut out the crabbing, his pass is good enough when he focuses.

Williams has been pretty poor again, imo. His passing his all over the place, he takes too much time and he is putting Keatley under unnecessary possession. Keatley is trying to hit the line at speed but he keeps having to stop, or reach behind him, to catch the pass. On a number of passes the receiver has had to jump, reach above their head for the ball which really is unacceptable.

Archer seems to have improved a lot.