H/Cup Rnd4. Saracens V Munster SS2 @ 15:00hrs

phog

So Saracens take on Munster for the 5th time in H/cup history, Munster the victors in all previous games but with a combined points difference of 10 points. Last week added 6 to that total, so they all have been close affairs. I've been to 3 of the four and hopefully will get to tomorrow's game as well.

Munster have been forced into a jersey change because Sky deemed our jersey were too alike the Sarries one and Sarries refused to wear their alternative jersey.



The Teams line out as follows:

Saracens Munster
Alex Goode 15 Felix Jones
Chris Ashton 14 Doug Howlett
Joel Tomkins 13 Casey Laulala
Brad Barritt 12 James Downey
David Strettle 11 Simon Zebo
Owen Farrell 10 Ronan O'Gara
Richard Wigglesworth 9 Conor Murray
Rhys Gill 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Schalk Brits 2 Mike Sherry
Matt Stevens 3 BJ Botha
Steve Borthwick 4 Donncha O'Callaghan
Mouritz Botha 5 Donnacha Ryan
George Kruis 6 Dave O'Callaghan
Will Fraser 7 Peter O'Mahony
Kelly Brown 8 James Coughlan

John Smit 16 Damien Varley
Mako Vunipola 17 Wian du Preez
Petrus du Plessis 18 Stephen Archer
Eoin Sheriff 19 Billy Holland
Ernst Joubert 20 Paddy Butler
Neil de Kock 21 Duncan Williams
Charlie Hodgson 22 Ian Keatley
Chris Wyles 23 Luke O'Dea



Match Officials:
Referee Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant Referee Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
Assistant Referee Sebastien Cloute (France)
Fourth Official Robin Goodliffe (England)

I just hope Munster play with the same intensity as they did last week and dont concede penalities like we did last week.

PS: I'd love to see LOD get 20mins under his belt.

LuckyLloyd

Big ask, but everything crossed. Will require a massive performance.

phog

There cant be a whitewash of Irish provinces this weekend, can there? :eek:

C'mon Munster,you've the 4 Proud Provinces on your shoulders. G'wan ROG.:D

thomond2006

Disaster weekend for Irish teams so far, up steps Mighty Munster.

Fireball07

Well...

It's going to be tough. Still don't agree that playing ROG is the right call, Keatley is much better suited for getting our backs moving...and they are talented. The loss of Earls is also a big blow, he was good last week, but at least we have a good replacement this year. Need a performance from Laulala.

The pack did superbly last week, they'll need to step up again...which I think they can. But we cannot afford to give away as many penalties as we did last week.

3 Irish teams have lost this weekend... we have to go away to a strong English side and come away with a win to salvage something. It's must-win if we want to qualify from the pool too. We're probably underdogs but I think we can do it.

irishbucsfan

At least we can blame the southerners for the whitewash if it happens

phog

irishbucsfan wrote: »

At least we can blame the southerners for the whitewash if it happens

I thought you were looking for favours from us.

irishbucsfan

phog wrote: »

I thought you were looking for favours from us.

Yes of course sorry :P

phog

Heading for Shannon for a flight to London shorthly so may as well start my day with a roar for Munster.

C'mon Munster

Fishooks13

Saracens looked very ordinary last week. If we can improve our discipline and be a bit more patient in attack I think we'll win

pappyodaniel

Just awake after doing the 12 pubs last night. I'm close to death but this match is a suitable distraction. Tell me how in Gods name did Ulster lose at home last night? I can understand how Clermont might have done a number on Leinster, but Ulster has me puzzled.

I honestly think we can win this game, I hate to say it but I think a lot depends on the referee and his interpretation of the breakdown. If we play to our strengths and we don't get penalised for the petty stuff we'll win.

Lelantos

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Saracens looked very ordinary last week. If we can improve our discipline and be a bit more patient in attack I think we'll win

+1

Judgement Day

It's a big ask but in this topsy-turvy HC anything is possible - I'm a believer!

C'MON MUNSTER!

durkadurka

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Saracens looked very ordinary last week. If we can improve our discipline and be a bit more patient in attack I think we'll win

Conversely, If they made their kicks they might have won.

Fishooks13

durkadurka wrote: »

Conversely, If they made their kicks they might have won.

lot of that was down to our poor discipline and some odd decisions at scrum time

Our defense was very good

MikeCork2009

Expecting a nail biter today - but Munster to just shade it.

To the brave and faithful, nothing is impossible - C'mon Munster!!!!

budhabob

This is the first Cup game this season I can thoroughly enjoy and not have to do assignments or study after.

Reckon its gonna be a belter, cant see anything but a munster win but that could just be blind faith. Sarries team this week is better than last weeks in my view.

Cant fricken wait.

Fireball07

I have an exam tomorrow but nerves for this game completely overshadow it atm. Need a big performance...I'd say it will be very very tight again. Hope we can do it.

Fishooks13

Fireball07 wrote: »

I have an exam tomorrow but nerves for this game completely overshadow it atm. Need a big performance...I'd say it will be very very tight again. Hope we can do it.

as do I, but historiography can wait!

Munster abu

thomond2006

Nervous as hell...

Lelantos

Killer out, duPreez to start

jamiedav2011

Lelantos wrote: »

Killer out, duPreez to start

He's got a case of the 'skutter' according to Twitter!
Not a huge loss for Munster though with Horan onto the bench.

Fishooks13

Lelantos wrote: »

Killer out, duPreez to start

feckkkk, huge loss. One of our best players last week

kilns

This could be a very bad day for Munster. Saracens are a better team with Farrell at 10, whereas Munster are now a much poorer team with ROG at 10. The Munster scrum could be overpowered and if they continue to give away stupid penalties, they will be punished today this time

Saracens by 15 I am afraid

budhabob

Lelantos wrote: »

Killer out, duPreez to start

****e. Whose to the bench. DuPreez hasn't been as solid this season.

thomond2006

A loss but thankfully du Preez is a good replacement. Imagine if it was Botha who cried off. :eek:

Fishooks13

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

He's got a case of the 'skutter' according to Twitter!
Not a huge loss for Munster though with Horan onto the bench.

Does not compute

Kilcoyne has been sensational lately, especially last week in the loose.

Tox56

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Does not compute

Kilcoyne has been sensational lately, especially last week in the loose.

Yes, but as Thomond says it could be worse, could be the other prop.

Fireball07

Big enough loss, Kilcoyne has been excellent in the HC.

Du Preez is solid, but his scrummaging has been questionable this season.

jamiedav2011

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Does not compute

Kilcoyne has been sensational lately, especially last week in the loose.

Really?
Haven't been watching too closely tbh, didn't think there was that much of a jump.

Horan will at least have the nous to handle Stevens if he comes on. Might give away a few penos but will make sure they do too as he's done to Ross a few times.

Sarries definitely have an ace with Vunipola coming on though.

Fishooks13

kilns wrote: »

This could be a very bad day for Munster. Saracens are a better team with Farrell at 10, whereas Munster are now a much poorer team with ROG at 10. The Munster scrum could be overpowered and if they continue to give away stupid penalties, they will be punished today this time

Saracens by 15 I am afraid

Jesus negative much?

Going on last week, and how average Saracens were with ball in hand, I can't see them winning by 15.

Lelantos

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Jesus negative much?

Going on last week, and how average Saracens were with ball in hand, I can't see them winning by 15.

They will be lucky to score 15

Fishooks13

Lelantos wrote: »

They will be lucky to score 15

The will. Didn't look like scoring a try last week

Fireball07

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Jesus negative much?

Going on last week, and how average Saracens were with ball in hand, I can't see them winning by 15.

All I know is that I am now approaching an almost panic-stricken state, so so nervous

Hope they do it...

kilns

My reasoning is that if Farrell had of brought his kicking boots Saracens would have won, combined that the match was in Thomand there could be a swing

and the fact that ROG is now a major liability

matthew8

Saracens lineout was a fiasco last week. Don't see a repeat of that.

pappyodaniel

Seriously, someone send me a stream!

Fishooks13

matthew8 wrote: »

Saracens lineout was a fiasco last week. Don't see a repeat of that.

We disrupted it very well, so hopefully we can put more pressure on Britz.

Key to the game is improving discipline and not forcing things out wide in terms of passes that aren't on.

Hope to see big games from ROG and C Lualala

budhabob

Ref was a little inappropriate there tweaking his nipples.

Mal-Adjusted

Christ, I forgot how ugly the Saracens jerseys were...

kilns

Good start from Munster, showing they wont back down

budhabob

Niggle already, gonna be an interesting match.

totallegend

Oh look, POM involved in handbags. Shocker.

kilns

I can never understand why people call POM a future Ireland captain, the guy is so immature gets involved in all handbags

budhabob

Sarries defense up really fast.

Fishooks13

totallegend wrote: »

Oh look, POM involved in handbags. Shocker.

Show an incident where he gets penalized for it and I'll start having a problem with it!

Good start

irishbucsfan

totallegend wrote: »

Oh look, POM involved in handbags. Shocker.

There's nothing wrong with handbags so long as it doesn't harm the team. Well that's my opinion anyway, I suppose it depends how you look at it

Spudmonkey

totallegend wrote: »

Oh look, POM involved in handbags. Shocker.

He knows Quinny is in the booth. Wants his approval.

kilns

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Show an incident where he gets penalized for it and I'll start having a problem with it!

Good start

He is too busy giving stupid breakdown penalties away

totallegend

irishbucsfan wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with handbags so long as it doesn't harm the team. Well that's my opinion anyway, I suppose it depends how you look at it

The way i look at is that it's inevitable that at some stage it will harm the team.

Fireball07

Murray throwing a couple of bad passes.


And not a great start in the scrum.