Gloucester vs Munster, Sat 11 Jan 6:00pm, Sky Sports

thomond2006

Gloucester:
15. Martyn Thomas, 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Jonny May, 12. Billy Twelvetrees (capt), 11. Shane Monahan, 10. Freddie Burns, 9. Dan Robson,
1. Yann Thomas, 2. Darren Dawiduik, 3. Sila Puafisi, 4. Elliot Stooke, 5. James Hudson, 6. Matt Cox, 7. Matt Kvesic, 8. Gareth Evans,

Replacements: 16. Huia Edmonds, 17. Dan Murphy, 18. Shaun Knight, 19. Tom Hicks, 20. Sione Kalafamoni, 21. Tavis Knoyle, 22. Rob Cook, 23. Ben Morgan,

Munster:
Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Dave Foley, Paul O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony (Capt.), Tommy O'Donnell, James Coughlan.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan, CJ Stander, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Simon Zebo.

Points (Tries Scored):

Munster 14 (11)
Gloucester 9 (7)
Edinburgh 8 (7)
Perpignan 7 (7)

Prediction: We'll batter them. They are an average English side that is out of form and pretty much gave up Europe in Round 2. Edinburgh did us a massive favour by beating them in Kingsholm in Round 4. I wouldn't expect a BP because of our poor backplay but if the pack continue in their rich vein of form then we can score 2 or 3 tries.

.ak

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

I'd be horrified if you don't pick up a BP. But Munster has given us all scares throughout the season. Last minute drop by JJ?

Dravokivich

.ak wrote: »

Last minute drop by JJ?

Hayes surely.

former legend

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

Munster to beat them up and down the park all night. I think a bonus point win is very achievable here.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

ah christ, people predicting an easy Munster win = hard slog and 5 point win

.ak

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

ah christ, people predicting an easy Munster win = hard slog and 5 point win

If you saw the Sarries game you'd find it hard not to bet on an easy Munster win.

thomond2006

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

ah christ, people predicting an easy Munster win = hard slog and 5 point win

The last easy win prediction went well: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=86953072&postcount=1949

matthew8

Gloucester are awful alright but that hasn't stopped Munster from making a close game of it away in the HEC recently. Wouldn't expect a BP win unless Glaws field a weakened team. But they should definitely get a win here.

I saw the Saracens game but I also saw the Ulster one. Munster looked incapable of scoring tries unless they got a penalty that put them right on the try line.

awec

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

ah christ, people predicting an easy Munster win = hard slog and 5 point win

Ah Ugo, ye need to be beating this lot well.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Just realised I'm an option in the poll. VOTE UGO

thomond2006

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Just realised I'm an option in the poll. VOTE UGO

Good to see you're backing yourself, best of luck tomorrow night.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

awec wrote: »

Ah Ugo, ye need to be beating this lot well.

I expect us to, easily. But I also expected us to easily beat them the first time around and Edinburgh

.ak

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

matthew8 wrote: »

Gloucester are awful alright but that hasn't stopped Munster from making a close game of it away in the HEC recently. Wouldn't expect a BP win unless Glaws field a weakened team. But they should definitely get a win here.

I'd actually expect the opposite. Glaws sent a weakened team to Thomond and actually gave them a fright in the first half. That always happens in sport though, because the fringe players are generally chomping at the bit to beat the bigger team, even if their management are not.

It was Glaws first team against Sarries and they were an embarrassment. If I was a Munster fan that's the team I'd want to play.

Rattlehead_ie

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

I'm unfortunately with Ugo here, no offense dude
I don't think this will be an easy win at all. To be fair I'm not even sure if we will win. Gloucester when playing well are no slouches and Im sure that smack to reality they got last week will have waken them up.

Close game -/+ 4 points

former legend

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

thomond2006 wrote: »

The last easy win prediction went well: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=86953072&postcount=1949

All the more reason for that not to happen tomorrow; Penney will be drilling it into them as to what can happen when you go into a game being strong favourites and expecting to win. Munster won't be complacent or unfocussed, I'd expect them to tear into Glaws and if they can just up their precision by a small amount, they'll take this handy enough.

A few early scores and Gloucester will throw their hat at I'd say so a good start is key.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

team named, Keatley starts..........

Foley too and Zebo on the bench

funtime93

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

team named, Keatley starts..........

Foley too and Zebo on the bench

Murray aswell.Dineen very unlucky IMO.

.ak

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

Murray to start? Excellent.

TheDoctor

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

We're going to give them an absolute fisting

Quint2010

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

JHC can't believe the hubris here. Have ye not learned your lesson from Edinburgh?

thomond2006

Quint2010 wrote: »

JHC can't believe the hubris here. Have ye not learned your lesson from Edinburgh?

They have, which means it will be fine.

Murray and Varley both available is a huge boost.

Quint2010

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

thomond2006 wrote: »

They have, which means it will be fine.

Murray and Varley both available is a huge boost.

Hope so. Munster can't afford to go away from home with that attitude again. Its such an easy group that even if Munster lost tomorrow they would still be favorites to win the group.

Rattlehead_ie

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

Munster:
Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Johne Murphy; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Dave Foley, Paul O'Connell; Peter O'Mahony (Capt.), Tommy O'Donnell, James Coughlan.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan, CJ Stander, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Simon Zebo.

That'll do, that'll do.
Happy with that. Good to see both Murray, JJ and Zebo in the Squad

DellyBelly

Munster should walk this one. Think we'll win by 15 points....

Swiwi.

Keatley should buy a Lotto ticket. Munster bench has some firepower though - Casey looked great v Ulster, Cronin, DOC, JJ, Zebo. That's very handy.

thomond2006

Gloucester:
15. Martyn Thomas, 14. Charlie Sharples, 13. Jonny May, 12. Billy Twelvetrees (capt), 11. Shane Monahan, 10. Freddie Burns, 9. Dan Robson,
1. Yann Thomas, 2. Darren Dawiduik, 3. Sila Puafisi, 4. Elliot Stooke, 5. James Hudson, 6. Matt Cox, 7. Matt Kvesic, 8. Gareth Evans,

Replacements: 16. Huia Edmonds, 17. Dan Murphy, 18. Shaun Knight, 19. Tom Hicks, 20. Sione Kalafamoni, 21. Tavis Knoyle, 22. Rob Cook, 23. Ben Morgan,

Not a bad backline at all but will they get good service? A 6-2 split on the bench as well.

darragh_haven

DellyBelly wrote: »

Munster should walk this one. Think we'll win by 15 points....

How do I un thank this.......I just keep thinking of the cluster fcuk in Edinburgh

Mahatma Geansai

With Murray back fit, there is little reason to not start Hanrahan. Keatley is clearly Penney's first choice and dropping him after last week's mare would have massively dented his confidence. Hopefully Zebo has a good cameo from the bench; he'll need to start next week to keep up the run of round 6 hattricks.

twinytwo

.ak wrote: »

Murray to start? Excellent.

there is a god....

[Jackass]

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

Munster should thump Gloucester, don't know how they managed to creep into the Heineken Cup, awful team. Same can be said for Perpingan and Edinburgh, all three of them languishing around the bottom of their respective leagues, anything less than a home quarter from that group would be a massive let down from Munster.

Some interesting calls in the lineup, Foly ahead of O'Callaghan being a positive one, Keatley ahead of JJ a not so positive one, Kilcoyne still holding off Cronin and Murphys form preventing Zebo from slotting straight back in.

donfers

Quint2010 wrote: »

JHC can't believe the hubris here. Have ye not learned your lesson from Edinburgh?

the so-called "hubris" is mainly eminating from non-Munster fans who insist that we should be hammering them

away games are always tough in the heineken cup - any win will do me

Rattlehead_ie

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

[Jackass] wrote: »

Foly ahead of O'Callaghan being a positive one, Keatley ahead of JJ a not so positive one, Kilcoyne still holding off Cronin and Murphys form preventing Zebo from slotting straight back in.

I'd agree with you there for the most part. I think Zebo might just be an ability to play for 80 minutes thing. A great replacement to come on with 30mins to go if needs be.

jamiedav2011

Great to see Dave Foley start, can't wait to see how he does.

On paper, that Munster team should have too much.

Really like the balance of the backrow too, TOD needs a big game here.

phog

A bit of a leveler here lads, we've Murray, Varley, Zebo, Earls all back form injury and Keatley carrying an injury and Leighton Hodges reffing.

If we play like we played last week this could turn out a to be two losses in two weeks.

The team (on paper) is strong enough to win and we shouldn't be waiting for a late score but as with sport the game is won/lost over 80 mins on the field rather than on paper.

Delighted to see Foley start, greta for him.

Grimebox

Dineen injured? Thought he was playing very well recently

thomond2006

Grimebox wrote: »

Dineen injured? Thought he was playing very well recently

He's not injured, he's at 13 for the As.

Great Bench

Cronin
Doc
Stander
JJ
Zebo

could all be sprung for something different and also boost the team.

Personally delighted to see Cronin and Kilcoyne really trading punches for that starting shirt too. Competition like that will lift them both very high.

thomond2006

Gloucester fans' thoughts here: http://gloucesterrugby.net/glos-rugby-forum/index.php?topic=4347.0

One common thought is Martyn Thomas being a defensive weakness.

jamiedav2011

You'd have to wonder had Glos sent a full strength team to Thomond whether this game would take on a lot more significance.

its_phil

Munster really should beat Gloucester easily but Kingsholm is a tough place and Id expect a backlash after last weeks hammering against Sarries.

It will be tight with Minster pulling another one out of the fire in last 10. JJ to kick a penalty in last 10 to make it an 8 point game is my call.

buck65

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

They wouldn't have beaten Munster, Munster were completely constipated that night because they were expected to win with a BP. Had Gloucester came looking to win Munster would have upped it significantly.
Remember Racing last season, Montauban, CLermont a few years back, Treviso - all niggly games where we underperformed while expecting to win easily.

Tomorrow will be a dogfight in Kingsholm, would not be sure of winning but a losing BP should be enough along with a win next week?

Regardless with our back play we are going nowhere.

awec

Even if Munster lose they'll probably still go through right as you have Edinburgh at Thomond next week? Just most likely as the 8th seed?

Digifriendly

Ugo Monye Spacecraft Experience

If Edinburgh can win at Kingsholm so can Munster and with a bit to spare.

thomond2006

buck65 wrote: »

Regardless with our back play we are going nowhere.

10 man up the jumper for 60 minutes and then spring on Stander, JJ and Zebo for a helter-skelter last 20 minutes. Sorted.

phog

awec wrote: »

Even if Munster lose they'll probably still go through right as you have Edinburgh at Thomond next week? Just most likely as the 8th seed?

So you reckon they'll be two teams from our group in the Q/finals?

phog

thomond2006 wrote: »

10 man up the jumper for 60 minutes and then spring on Stander, JJ and Zebo for a helter-skelter last 20 minutes. Sorted.

If we kick loose ball back to them and miss points like we did last week, then it could be game on for Gloucester.

awec

phog wrote: »

So you reckon they'll be two teams from our group in the Q/finals?

No, but I could be having a brain fart and totally mis calculating .

If Munster lose and Perpignan win, that'd be (probably):

Munster on 14
Gloucester on 13
Perpignan on 11
Edinburgh on 8

If Munster loes and Edinburgh win, that'd be (probably):

Munster 14
Gloucester on 13
Edinburgh on 12
Perpignan on 7

Gloucester have to go to Perpignan next week while Munster have Edinburgh at home. I can't see Munster losing to Edinburgh next week, so unless Gloucester win with a bonus point tonight and Munster get no losing bonus point then any sort of win next week would do?

If Munster get a LBP against Gloucester then any win against Edinburgh would do. If no losing bonus point then Gloucester getting a TBP next week would put them presumably level with Munster?

B0X

Date's wrong in the title btw.

thomond2006

phog wrote: »

If we kick loose ball back to them and miss points like we did last week, then it could be game on for Gloucester.

You don't say....

If Saracens can mince them, Munster can. We have a serious bench to put on in the last 20 minutes that can capitalise on a beaten opposition pack. I am super confident.

phog

awec wrote: »

No, but I could be having a brain fart and totally mis calculating .

If Munster lose and Perpignan win, that'd be (probably):

Munster on 14
Gloucester on 13
Perpignan on 11
Edinburgh on 8

If Munster loes and Edinburgh win, that'd be (probably):

Munster 14
Gloucester on 13
Edinburgh on 12
Perpignan on 7

Gloucester have to go to Perpignan next week while Munster have Edinburgh at home. I can't see Munster losing to Edinburgh next week, so unless Gloucester win with a bonus point tomorrow and Munster get no losing bonus point then any sort of win next week would do?

If two don't come out of our group and we top it with whatever points we have at worst we can only be 6th. The last two are made up of runners up.

awec

phog wrote: »

If two don't come out of our group and we top it with whatever points we have at worst we can only be 6th. The last two are made up of runners up.

Ah crap, yes, sorry. I was thinking it was just a straight ranking based on points total, forgot runners up are always 7 and 8.

Anyway, seems to be basically getting a LBP against Gloucester makes any sort of win against Edinburgh enough next week, except if Gloucester get a TBP.

If Gloucester get a TBP and-

1. Munster get a LBP tonight then you just need to equal or better their result next week.
2. Munster get no LBP tonight then you need to better their result.

I think.

Permutations are wrecking my head.