HC SF: Toulon V Munster/ 27th April /Stade Velodrome/ Sky Sports 2 15.30

twinytwo

Toulon:


15. Delon Armitage; 14. Drew Mitchell, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Matt Giteau, 11. Bryan Habana; 10. Jonny Wilkinson (c), 9. Sebastien Tillous-Borde; 1. Xavier Chiocci, 2. Craig Burden, 3. Carl Hayman, 4. Danie Rossouw, 5. Jocelino Suta, 6. Juan Smith, 7. Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 8. Steffon Armitage

16. Jean-Charles Orioli, 17. Alexandre Menini, 18. Martin Castrogiovanni, 19. Virgile Bruni, 20. David Smith, 21. Maxime Mermoz, 22. Michael Claassens, 23. Konstantine Mikautadze


Munster:


15. Felix Jones 14. Keith Earls 13. Casey Laulala 12. James Downey 11. Simon Zebo 10. Ian Keatley 9. Connor Murray 1. Dave Kilcoyne 2. Damien Varley (c) 3. BJ Botha 4. Dave Foley 5. Paul O' Connell 6. CJ Stander 7. Sean Dougall 8. James Coughlan


16. Duncan Casey 17. James Cronin 18. John Ryan 19. Donncha O' Callaghan 20. Tommy O'Donnell 21. Duncan Williams 22. JJ Hanrahan 23. Denis Hurley




So here we have it ladies and gents, the second of the two 2013/2014 Heinekin cup semi finals. Defending champions Toulon face off against the old war horse that is Munster. In this mornings Indo even the hookey monster gave Munster little to no chance in what is a massive ask for them. Looking at the teams is hard to disagree.


There was talk after Toulons quarter final win over Leinster of the return of two rugby stalwarts, Bakkies Botha and Ali Williams. Neither feature today with Rossouw and Suta forming the second row pairing. We also see the return of Habana to the left wing with Smith dropping to the bench a move that may be questioned by some as Smith has been playing excellent rugby. Wilkinson retains the 10 jersey after going off injured in the quarter final.


Munster have been forced to play without their injured captain Peter O Mahony, which means that Stander starts at blindside. Having been named man of the match against Toulouse many are hoping he can replicate that against Toulon. Penney has seen fit to drop O'Donnell to bench and start Dougall at openside, a massive ask considering who he is going up against. Many in Munster held their breath over the fitness of both Hanrahan and Laulala over the last two weeks, thankfully both passed fitness test and take their respective places in the team.


Form Thus Far


Since their dismantling of Leinster, Toulon have gone on to secure two away wins in the Top 14. Beating Bordeaux 22-20 and Perpignan 46-31. Munster have had mixed fortunes however, after their steam rolling of Toulouse they went away to Glasgow and got blown away 22-5 having fielded what many would consider a decent side. The following week they travelled west to Galway, winning 32-22


Form means little going into a game like this, even though Toulon are clear favourites.


Key Men

Toulon : Steffon Armitage- The younger of the two Armitage brothers needs no introduction an absolute warrior of a man, he dominated the breakdown against Leinster and will look to the same against Munster. It amazing that England will go to the World Cup without what is clearly their best backrow option. Also a destructive ball carrier Munster will need to stop him along with Bastareaud


Munster: Paul O'Connell - Cometh the hour, cometh the man as they say... you look at Munster the first name that comes to mind in O'Connell. O'Connell is the life blood of the team, if he plays well today Munster may well have a chance. He will need to dominate in the lineout and drive the Munster mauls. There is no better man for stepping up when he is needed the most.


Key Battles


Backrow V Backrow


The breakdown will be key to winning the game. In order to stop Toulon, Munster need to stop them getting the ball. How exactly they will do this is anyone's guess. Smith and Lobbe are highly experienced operators, having earned around 130 international caps between them. Throw in Steffon Armitage in with them and you have a very dynamic backrow that made mince meat of Leinster 3 weeks ago, not something one sees happen very often. Stopping Armitage in particular is key.


Facing off against these are Stander, Dougall and Coughlan. Fans would have preferred to see O'Mahony play today, unfortunately we were never going to be that lucky. Stander needs to replicate his form against Toulouse and for Dougall it really is a baptism by fire so to speak, as he really is going at the deep end. Vastly out experienced and out gunned the Munster backrow will need to play out of their skins for the entire 80 mins, anything less than parity could see the game end in a cricket score.


Giteau and Bastareaud V Downey and Laulala


Leinster fell off a lot of first up tackles, which allowed Toulon to build momentum. This is something Munster can simply not allow happen. Both Downey and Laulala will need to be in the game for the get go and stop Bastareaud first time, every time. Everyone knows the damage he and Giteau can do and if Toulon get in behind the defence, they will wreck havoc.


Laulala especially needs to look to try and unleash Zebo with his offloading. Love him or hate give him the ball in a bit of space and he will produce the goods.





Where can Munster win?

As I said after the Toulouse game, if Munster really want to win this game they to revert to type. Sunday will not be a day for throwing caution to wind. Stick it up the jumper as the saying goes. If Munster kick smart and use their maul, hold their own at the breakdown and most importantly make their tackles a victory, regardless of how slim may be on the cards.


On a side note, their approach to the ref is important. Everyone would have preferred Owen's to ref the game but alas it was not to be. Barnes does not take ****.. and while his refereeing of the breakdown is not to everyone's liking we need to keep in on our side.




Prediction
Never would I side against Munster, even though this is possibly one of the toughest Heineken cup games that they have ever had to play. Every man and his dog knows that in other to achieve victory Munster will have to throw everything at Toulon including the kitchen sink and the grandmother. But if there is a team that can do it, it is Munster. Thus im going for Munster by 3

phog

Fair play, I was wondering if we were going to see the usual match thread at all.

Head says Toulon, heart very much says Munster.

Great occasion for Munster fans and it absolutely fabulous to read their stories online and twitterland.

Molester Stallone

Ahhh! Let the games commence!

phog

Probably posted in the build up or Munster threads but here it goes aagain

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/matchdaytv/?play=media&id=18211

pc7

Best of luck lads, (very jealous) but really hope you do it.

stephen_n

I hope with all my heart Munster do it, but snowballs in satans backyard have more chance. Even a fully fit Munster squad would have struggled but without POM to take on Armitage and disrupt their ball, I can only see this going one way. Munster do have a habit of pulling off massive performances but this team is not the same as those in the past! Toulon by 10!

phog

For those lucky enough to have travelled.

From MRSCLondon

The travelling party have reached Marseille and will be handing out flags tomorrow in the following locations

Virage Nord North Stand - inside the first access point but before you enter the stadium

Rue Raymond Teissere access point - just outside the ticket check point

Ground opens 2 hours before kick and we will be there before that ‪#‎InvadeMarseille‬ ‪#‎SUAF

former legend

I think Munster will have the edge at the scrum and at line-out but not by much, I just can't get over the enormous gap in the back-rows and centres and I think Toulon are going to make serious hay there.

That said, it's not often Munster get hockeyed and if there's only a score coming into it in the last 15 minutes, who knows? Unfortunately, I think Toulon have so much experience and experience of winning that they won't panic like Clermont did if Munster can show a bit of fight.

thomond2006

Can't wait for tomorrow! I'll be with what looks like a large group of Munster supporters at the north end.

kub

phog wrote: »

Head says Toulon, heart very much says Munster.

Same here, unless luck pulls through for us.

Swiwi.

Nice write-up. My only quibble is Smith v Habana. I don't even think it's open for debate: one is an erratic winger who can swing from sublime to downright awful, and the other is among the 5 greatest wingers of the modern international era. Habana every time for me. Provided he's fit.

former legend

Swiwi. wrote: »

Nice write-up. My only quibble is Smith v Habana. I don't even think it's open for debate: one is an erratic winger who can swing from sublime to downright awful, and the other is among the 5 greatest wingers of the modern international era. Habana every time for me. Provided he's fit.

Well that's the question isn't it? Don't be surprised to see him doing the hamstring hop at some stage.

Fireball07

If we had POM, I'd give us a decent chance. Without him, will we live with them at the breakdown?

POC is obviously a big help; Varley, Foley and Stander bring physicality, but Toulon are incredible in that area.


Our set-piece needs to be top class, we can't afford any mistakes and we need a few of our big players to really turn in top class individual displays. Murray, POC, Earls, Zebo, Killer, etc. And we can't afford any sub-par performances, Downey and Jones need to justify their selections.

Yogosan

I have this awful feeling that if the match is a tight affair, the difference between the two sides will be James Downey. I'd nearly prefer if they just stook TOD in instead of him, but I havn't played alot of rugby myself so I don't really know what I'm talking about!

phog

The winner from tomorrow will have no great fear of Sarries in Cardiff. While they really outscored Clermont today I really can't see either Munster or Toulon letting them have so much space.

Swiwi.

I agree with FL, it's the backrow and midfield where there's daylight. I'm not sure keeping it tight will work, that Toulon pack is very impressive. It's like suggesting Ireland should take SA on in the forwards. Munster's main asset is the self-belief in what Munster stands for etc, but that can only get you so far. I'll be hoping for a Munster victory, but I'm not sure how it can be done.

CatFromHue

I don't know much about Toulon other than what I saw in the Leinster game but Munster's bench actually looks handy enough. Other than J.Ryan they've good options for the pack replacements.

thomond2006

phog wrote: »

The winner from tomorrow will have no great fear of Sarries in Cardiff. While they really outscored Clermont today I really can't see either Munster or Toulon letting them have so much space.

The biggest worry regarding Saracens is their defence. It's solid and players like Burger seem to lead with a high workrate.

phog

thomond2006 wrote: »

The biggest worry regarding Saracens is their defence. It's solid and players like Burger seem to lead with a high workrate.

I'm not knocking Saracens but a 14 man Ulster that had also lost Best could have won their Q/F, they're certainly beatable.

Micky Dolenz

It goes to show anything can happen on the day.

CatFromHue

Shane Jennings was pretty good/interesting on the Second Captains podcast this week.

He thinks it's going to be a close game and Munster could shade it even.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/second-captains

darragh_haven

I think it'll be a 1to 3 point Munster win. Or a 10 to 16 point toulon win. No reason for it. Just gut feeling

Grimebox

If Munster get an early score, they could definitely demoralise them and edge this. Wan the reds

WeegWarriors

Look at all these Munster homers, you're getting beat, you're a spent force.

If Toulon can't beat this Munster they should just give up.

24-14 Toulon.

Fireball07

Micky Dolenz

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save us Superman.

W00t, one more sleep to game time.

twinytwo

WeegWarriors wrote: »

Look at all these Munster homers, you're getting beat, you're a spent force.

If Toulon can't beat this Munster they should just give up.

24-14 Toulon.

People been banging on about that for years, yet here we are once again.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

WeegWarriors wrote: »

Look at all these Munster homers, you're getting beat, you're a spent force.

If Toulon can't beat this Munster they should just give up.

24-14 Toulon.

Lol

pickarooney

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save us Superman.

W00t, one more sleep to game time.

Are you going to the game?

Riskymove

Just logging in to say we have arrived in Marseille and can't wait for the game! !!

Munster Abù! !!!

Micky Dolenz

pickarooney wrote: »

Are you going to the game?

Sadly not. Foiled by John Paul's canonization. It's a long story.

kub

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Sadly not. Foiled by John Paul's canonization. It's a long story.

Perhaps St John Paul might do us a favour.

Micky Dolenz

kub wrote: »

Perhaps St John Paul might do us a favour.

It has been pointed out to me that we lost to Biarritz in a 1/4 the day after he passed away.

Today is a chance to right that wrong

armchaircoach

Munster have a chance, but realistically a lot has to go right for them.

Firstly target the lineout. Toulon are using their second string locks, who are 6'5 and 6'4. This weakness should be targeted leading to mauls deep in Toulon territory. From that you can hope to unleash stander on an explosive run.

Secondly play at pace and intensity for the whole game. The French don't like this. Don't give v them time to breath and hope that you can outlast them. Unfortunately I think the heat will work against you in this regard.

Lastly don't stand off them. Toulon made ground for fun against a very passive leinster defence(who only seemed bothered within their own 22) you will need to go in hard and low on guys like armitage and basareaud before they can build up momentum.

What should really worry fans is that munster have conceded over 20 points in each of v their last 4 games. They have managed to outscore the weaker two, but we're held to just one try and a couple of penalties (given against a much Weakened leinster front row) against stronger opposition. I can't see munster scoring 25+ points in Toulon, so defence, And much better defence than they have displayed recently, is key to staying in this game.

As an irish Rugby fan, good luck today, as a betting man, I think the sensible money is on a relativity comfortable Toulon victory.

Buer

Toulon's line out can be got at due to so many different players and a dodgy thrower. They've loads of options and height though so I wouldn't consider that a reason to go at them there. If Burden's throwing is solid, it's fine.

Their locks aren't that small either; 6'5 and 6'6. Then Smith is 6'5 too and Lobbe is a big bloke.

Burden is their weak link. Get up at the front and put pressure on the line out and he'll struggle.

19543261

As long as the scoreboard reflects who played the better rugby, I'm happy.

razorblunt

Head over heart on this one I'm afraid, bookies have Toulon -8 so I've jumped on that. I don't think our defence is good enough to withstand relentless assaults. Need some luck like a knock to Bastereud and / or SArmitage early and let confidence grow from there.
Hope Stander has one of those performances that indicates he's been locked in a darkened room in a cramped cage and poked with sticks be people wearing Toulon jerseys. At the very least #SUAF!!

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Clareman

Realistically the only area that Munster have an advantage is the second row, but that can be quite the advantage come line out time. Munster have to not make any errors, slow down their ball and make quick ball available for ourselves, easier said than done I'm afraid. I can see Munster win this though, Rabo form means nothing to Munster, I would prefer to have Ryan and PoM available but that can't be helped.

Munster by 8-15

Bleating Lamb

Love to see Munster win as they would do a job on Saracens on Cardiff,serious gulf in class between the two teams in Backrow,full back and centres.Toulon by 8+.

thomond2006

Big Munster crowd at the port. A lot of atmosphere and mingling between the supporters!

Micky Dolenz

Riskymove wrote: »

Just logging in to say we have arrived in Marseille and can't wait for the game! !!

Munster Abù! !!!

thomond2006 wrote: »

Big Munster crowd at the port. A lot of atmosphere and mingling between the supporters!

Keep us posted lads. You're our eyes on the ground

Mahatma Geansai

I've a 7,500 word report to have written for tomorrow, but I can't concentrate with the match so close. :mad:

.ak

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

I've a 7,500 word report to have written for tomorrow, but I can't concentrate with the match so close. :mad:

Just write 7,500 words about the game.

Rickwellwood

G'wan Munster

budhabob

Jaysus, only just copped kick off was 15.30 and not 16.30.....close call. Only 2 hours to wait though.....Gwan Munster!!!!

pickarooney

thomond2006 wrote: »

Big Munster crowd at the port. A lot of atmosphere and mingling between the supporters!

Great atmosphere. Just out of O'Malley's and having some grub with Toulon fans before heading up to the stadium.b

Micky Dolenz

pickarooney wrote: »

Great atmosphere. Just out of O'Malley's and having some grub with Toulon fans before heading up to the stadium.b

What's the word on the street from the Toulon crowd? How confident are they?

phog

Munster getting ready to head for the ground. My nerves are building up, hope the lads are calmer than me.

Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) tweeted at 1:36 PM on Sun, Apr 27, 2014:

Getting set to leave for #MunTou Build-up has started. Team meeting & we're off #SUAF #invademarseille See ... https://t.co/vHInGSPxLc

neilmulvey

toulon power and armitage at the breakdown. toulon by 11-15

Tomtom364

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

I've a 7,500 word report to have written for tomorrow, but I can't concentrate with the match so close. :mad:

I know that feel.

Dissertation on The effect of licensing hours on Crime due in tomorrow... balls.