Pro12: Munster vs Cardiff Blues, Sat 5 Jan 7:30pm; Live on RTÉ2

thomond2006

Munster:
F Jones; D Howlett capt, K Earls, J Downey, J Murphy; R O’Gara, C Murray;
D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, S Archer; D Foley, D Ryan; T O’Donnell, S Dougall, J Coughlan.

Replacements: S Henry, W du Preez, BJ Botha, B Holland, CJ Stander, D Williams, I Keatley, C Laulala.

Cardiff team will probably be confirmed tomorrow.

This is a very winnable game considering how poor Cardiff Blues have become, however we probably thought Scarlets was a winnable game a few weeks ago and that didn't turn out so good. Still I would rate Scarlets as a considerably better team than Cardiff and their respective league positions would back that up.

In my opinion the Irish player management programme has played a part in the Munster lineup with some first choice players not appearing such as O'Callaghan, O'Mahony and Zebo. It's a big chance for Dave Foley who is selected ahead of Billy Holland at lock, this season Holland has been used as the replacement second row in the Heineken Cup. CJ Stander returns to the squad after injury but since he is not registered in the Heineken Cup squad Sean Dougall gets a start ahead of him.

Felix Jones returns to a starting position and Denis Hurley will feel aggreived to be dropped from the 23 altogether. Jones has yet to justify his selection over Hurley, the talent is there but one must wonder if successive injuries are taking their toll. The return of Keith Earls from injury is timely, Munster have lacked genuine pace in the centre with neither Downey nor Laulala impressing. If Downey isn't used effectively in attack then his selection is pointless, his defence has been suspect this season.

This game represents a big opportunity for Stephen Archer, he has been largely written off as a scrummaging prospect but has shown decent form over the last few games. Cardiff are not renowned for having a strong scrum so Archer should be expected to perform well in that area.

Fishooks13

O Callaghan will be some loss. Form Irish lock the last few weeks.

molloyjh

Fishooks13 wrote: »

O Callaghan will be some loss. Form Irish lock the last few weeks.

He really has impressed this season all right. After looking last year like he was at the end of his career, he just seems to have upped every aspect of his game this season.

Can't see past a Munster win here. Even without the full compliment of internationals they should have too much for Cardiff who have been dire this season. I believe Halfpenny and Roberts are due back for them though. Halfpenny will be a good addition for them, but I'm not sure about Roberts. Against Leinster he was so disinterested he may as well have stayed at home.

Munster by 9.

thomond2006

Roberts has barely played for Cardiff in the last two seasons, he is injury prone and his periods of fitness largely coincide with Wales duty. I don't think he is a big loss to Cardiff on that basis tbh.

Fireball07

POM rested again...maybe it's just me, but he seems to be rested more than the rest of them. Good to have Ryan back in the absence of DOC, who has been in excellent form. At least Dougall will get a chance to impress again, he did well at the start of the season tbf.

Elsewhere, well done to ROG for reaching that many appearances for the province, he is a legend. But slightly disappointed Keatley wasn't retained. In theory, the Downey-Earls centre partnership should suit him, he can use Downey for crashball and Earls can use his pace. It hasn't always worked like that though, Downey has been disappointing. I wanted to see JJ there but Penney doesn't seem to like him as much as we do.

Murphy over LOD? LOD injured or does he just want to give time to Murphy?
Henry over Varley again? Wasn't overly impressed with Varley last week.
Big chance for Foley to impress, chosen ahead of Holland. Doesn't look great for Nagle.
Great to see Stander back, pity we won't have him for the HC.

irishbucsfan

POM might be rested so much because he's at that age where injuries seem unavoidable. Maybe they're being extra careful with him

CIARAN_BOYLE

Fireball07 wrote: »

POM rested again...maybe it's just me, but he seems to be rested more than the rest of them. Good to have Ryan back in the absence of DOC, who has been in excellent form.

Speaking or Ryan and POM they have both had 7 starts for Munster this season. Rog has 8 starts while Zebo has 10 and DOC has 12 starts. I'm not going to mention Earls whose season has been disrupted by injury.

phog

After getting a right dose of the flu from the last game I considered giving this one a miss but as the game gets closer I'm convincing myself to head down. We're missing DOC and POM which will be a big loss but then we have Dougall and Earls back and CJ on the bench, really looking forward to seeing them back from injury. A win is a must and is certainly doable, hopefully, a bit more convincing than last week.

Nigel is the ref so well known to both teams.

phog

Cardiff team for tomorrow night.

15 Jason Tovey 14 Owen Williams 13 Richard Smith 12 Jamie Roberts 11 Harry Robinson 10 Rhys Patchell 9 Lewis Jones

8 Robin Copeland 7 Sam Warburton 6 Josh Navidi (c) 5 Lou Reed 4 Bradley Davies 3 Benoit Bourrust 2 Rhys Williams 1 Sam Hobbs

16 Kritian Dacey 17 Paetru Tamba 18 Scott Andrews 19 James Down 20 Luke Hamilton 21 Alex Walker 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Leigh Halfpenny

Not available for selection:Gavin Evans - Back problem
Alex Cuthbert - Facial injury (stitches in mouth)
Fau Filise - Hamstring injury return late January
Andi Kyriacou - Neck operation return in April
Andries Pretorius - Shoulder
Michael Paterson - Fractured little finger against Ospreys. Return late January.
Chris Czeckaj - Foot ligament injury. Return late January
Dan Fish - Suffered shoulder nerve palsy in match against Zebre. Return late January
Tom James - Fractured sesamoid (big toe). Surgery to remove pin on Wednesday 5th December, return late January

LONG TERMJake Cooper-Woolley - right knee ACL injury 4 months
Tom Davies - ACL knee reconstruction this week 4 months

totallegend

That is the most detailed and specific injury list I think I've ever seen. Almost invasion of privacy.

who_me

Fireball07 wrote: »

Elsewhere, well done to ROG for reaching that many appearances for the province, he is a legend. But slightly disappointed Keatley wasn't retained. In theory, the Downey-Earls centre partnership should suit him, he can use Downey for crashball and Earls can use his pace. It hasn't always worked like that though, Downey has been disappointing. I wanted to see JJ there but Penney doesn't seem to like him as much as we do.

Well, ROG presumably is 1st choice for the HEC (whether that's Penney's call or someone else's), so he probably had to start this game. Given his defensive abilities, perhaps they thought a big lump like Downey is a better pairing than Hanrahan. I don't know much about JJ's tackling, but as a small guy I'd be a bit wary of pairing him with ROG. So the 10/12 kinda pick themselves.

Pity, as I'd love to see Keatley, JJ, Earls given a shot.

Fireball07

Looking at the Cardiff team, I'd expect a handy win tbh. Though we made hard work of the last one, so we'll see.

phog

Fireball07 wrote: »

Looking at the Cardiff team, I'd expect a handy win tbh.

Not too handy if Warburton, Roberts, Smith, Patchell or Navidi click, they can be a bit of a handful.

Fireball07

phog wrote: »

Not too handy if Warburton, Roberts, Smith, Patchell or Navidi click, they can be a bit of a handful.

Have they clicked all season? I haven't seen Warburton play well in ages, same with Roberts. Navidi's decent enough but in general, we have better players out and Cardiff have been shocking, especially away from home.

thomond2006

Prince Harry's lookalike is a talented player. Biggar seems to be in a perpetual doghouse with Wales for some reason, so Patchell could be in with a shout of a Welsh spot.

val_jester

who_me wrote: »

Well, ROG presumably is 1st choice for the HEC (whether that's Penney's call or someone else's), so he probably had to start this game. Given his defensive abilities, perhaps they thought a big lump like Downey is a better pairing than Hanrahan. I don't know much about JJ's tackling, but as a small guy I'd be a bit wary of pairing him with ROG. So the 10/12 kinda pick themselves.

Pity, as I'd love to see Keatley, JJ, Earls given a shot.

JJ is around 6ft and 15stone, so he is not exactly a monster, but not small either. I wouldn't be surprised if Penney is just giving him a chance to get used to being with the senior squad this season, I'd expect him to get more time after the Six Nations, with a view to being very involved next season.

I still think that there is a high probability that Rog is being forced on Penney, because his style of play is at complete odds to what Penney is trying to do with the rest of the team. I expect tomorrow we will once again see Murray trying to avoid using Rog as first receiver and that Earls and Zebo will pop up in that position quite often.

Fireball07

Well, both Ulster and Leinster got bonus points...are we going to do the same?


It's not impossible, I'd have thought that Llanelli side was stronger than the Cardiff side coming to play us. Obviously Ulster are better, and have looked capable of scoring bonus points a lot this season...while we've often struggled.

Still...I do think it's within the realms of possibility. Obviously get the 4 points first, make sure of a win, can't afford another slip-up.

molloyjh

Fireball07 wrote: »

Well, both Ulster and Leinster got bonus points...are we going to do the same?


It's not impossible, I'd have thought that Llanelli side was stronger than the Cardiff side coming to play us. Obviously Ulster are better, and have looked capable of scoring bonus points a lot this season...while we've often struggled.

Still...I do think it's within the realms of possibility. Obviously get the 4 points first, make sure of a win, can't afford another slip-up.

I'd be confident enough that Munster will get the bonus. Cardiff have been awful this season so it should be very do-able.

durkadurka

Cardiff are absolute gash tbf.

Quint2010

val_jester wrote: »

JJ is around 6ft and 15stone, so he is not exactly a monster, but not small either. I wouldn't be surprised if Penney is just giving him a chance to get used to being with the senior squad this season, I'd expect him to get more time after the Six Nations, with a view to being very involved next season.

I still think that there is a high probability that Rog is being forced on Penney, because his style of play is at complete odds to what Penney is trying to do with the rest of the team. I expect tomorrow we will once again see Murray trying to avoid using Rog as first receiver and that Earls and Zebo will pop up in that position quite often.

He is in his backside.

CatFromHue

Quint2010 wrote: »

He is in his backside.

Breaking NEws: Quint2010 calls JJ a fatty

:pac::pac:

Fireball07

Quint2010 wrote: »

He is in his backside.

Munster site says he's 180cm (5'11) and 90kg (just over 14 stone).


It's hard to say from his appearances so far how good he is defensively. He hasn't been walked over, and his tackling technique seems decent enough but he'd have to start more games before you could judge.

CoDy1

TBP would be nice but not essential, more concerned about next week. Embra were v poor tonight, TBP is very achievable next week. Wonder what the extent of Visser's injury is?

Quint2010

Fireball07 wrote: »

Munster site says he's 180cm (5'11) and 90kg (just over 14 stone).


It's hard to say from his appearances so far how good he is defensively. He hasn't been walked over, and his tackling technique seems decent enough but he'd have to start more games before you could judge.

The same site that confidently proclaims ROG to be 6 ft tall?

durkadurka

Hurley in for Murphy according to the twitter.

thomond2006

That's unfortunate for Murphy, he has barely got a look in this season.

Fireball07

Not a big fan of Hurley on the wing...he'll do an okay job, but he's much much better at full-back. Wonder will Jones get moved across?

thomond2006

I'd be surprised if Jones was moved across, this is his first start for a while (due to injury - hamstring IIRC) and a clear indication that he is first choice at 15.

Dewey collins

just to ask for the future how much are tickets for games in musgrave park

thomond2006

Clareman

Dewey collins wrote: »

just to ask for the future how much are tickets for games in musgrave park

http://www.munsterrugbysales.com/events.aspx?section=eve

€40 for Cat A tickets, €30 for B and €20 for terrace

Higher

Leinster are idiots for not doing everything to try get Copeland to sign on. Especially considering their problems with second rows at the minute.

Lelantos

Felix looking lively already

budhabob

Some pace and covering by Ryan. Fair play.

thomond2006

Savage from Ryan to be back there to get Munster out of danger.

irishbucsfan

Good man Copeland!

ssaye

Could be 2 tries down need to wake up

CptMackey

Some sloppy play at the moment. Need to tighten up

shuffol

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Good man Copeland!

Stuck Earls on his backside early on too.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Just noticed the RTE graphic. there is 45 kilos of weight between the the two packs

ScissorPaperRock

Jesus Coughlan's a big dude

Scudges Da

Only in...what happened to Murray??

durkadurka

Pitch is worse than lansdowne...

irishbucsfan

Scudges Da wrote: »

Only in...what happened to Murray??

Got a knock on the head

budhabob

Scudges Da wrote: »

Only in...what happened to Murray??

Clash of heads, blood sub on.

Skill levels have improved a lot.

ScissorPaperRock

Scudges Da wrote: »

Only in...what happened to Murray??

Clashed heads with Hobbs, think he's just off to stop bleeding

durkadurka

Scudges Da wrote: »

Only in...what happened to Murray??

Clash of heads, facial injury

budhabob

Sherry gone off, henry on.

ScissorPaperRock

Where's Varley?

ssaye

Cant see Roberts making Lions bar miracle 6N from him

Lelantos

ScissorPaperRoc wrote: »

Where's Varley?

Being rested I believe