Scarlets vs Munster, Sat 21 Feb 2:40pm; Sky Sports

thomond2006

Scarlets:
15 Jordan Williams, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Steven Shingler, 9 Aled Davies,
1 Phil John, 2 Ken Owens (capt.), 3 Peter Edwards, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 Johan Snyman, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 John Barclay

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Rob Evans, Jacobie Adriaanse, George Earle, Rob McCusker, Gareth Davies, Rhys Priestland, Adam Warren

Munster:
Felix Jones; Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Denis Hurley - capt., Luke O'Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams;
Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O'Byrne, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Eusebio Guinazu, John Ryan, BJ Botha, Jack O'Donoghue, Paddy Butler, Neil Cronin, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen.

Munster travel to a Scarlets side who put Connacht to the sword last weekend and may be looking not only to a Champions Cup spot but a Pro12 playoff position. This is the second in four consecutive matches against Irish provinces and if the Welsh region can pick up good results in this period then their favourable run-in gives them a great opportunity to sneak into the top four.

Leinster's shock home loss to the Dragons has given some breathing space to the top four sides and with Glasgow facing Ospreys this weekend Munster are presented with a chance to solidify their top four position. They played some rugby in their debut at the renovated De Indo Park and will be hopeful of getting some return from their trip to Wales.

I expect Shingler to have a good game while Earls is bound to be fired up for this.

If JJ comes off the bench with 10-15 minutes left I could see it making all the difference!

thomond2006

Now people have no excuse to post teams in the team talk thread.

Respect the match thread's authoritah!

accidentprone1

http://www.the42.ie/munster-pro12-hawk-eye-tmo-1949673-Feb2015/


I have no idea what this will be used for.

Riskymove

accidentprone1 wrote: »

I have no idea what this will be used for.

really??

I think it will be great for TMOs

Tomtom364

Killer and CJ traveled with the squad, Keatly and O'Byrne also.

John Ryan
archer
Killer
Bj

Guinazu
O'Byrne

DOC
Holland

O'Donoghue
O'Donnell
DOC 2.0
Cj
Butler

Williams
Cronin

Keatley
JJ

Dineen
Hurley
Earls

O'Mahony
O'Dea
Conway

Felix

They all traveled

Fireball07

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Tomtom364 wrote: »

Killer and CJ traveled with the squad, Keatly and O'Byrne also.

John Ryan
archer
Killer
Bj

Guinazu
O'Byrne

DOC
Holland

O'Donoghue
O'Donnell
DOC 2.0
Cj
Butler

Williams
Cronin

Keatley
JJ

Dineen
Hurley
Earls

O'Mahony
O'Dea
Conway

Felix

They all traveled

Casey? Shane Buckley?

thomond2006

I'd prefer to see Buckley get ahead of Butler now Butler is leaving. Dougall is different as we don't have a lot of cover at 7.

phog

Munster: Felix Jones; Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Denis Hurley - capt., Luke O'Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O'Byrne, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Eusebio Guinazu, John Ryan, BJ Botha, Jack O'Donoghue, Paddy Butler, Neil Cronin, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen.

thomond2006

I didn't think Stander would be back fit for this. Hopefully JOD gets some match time as he's a potential star in the making IMO.

It's awesome LOD is getting another start. I'm going to take this as a sign that he will be offered a new deal as otherwise someone like ROM or Sweetnam would start ahead of him.

Any reason why Neil Cronin is getting selected ahead of one of the academy players? Jack Cullen is with the Ireland U20s so he is fit.

Cookiemunster

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Fireball07 wrote: »

Casey? Shane Buckley?

Casey is injured. He rolled his ankle in Lanzarote. Out for another 3-4 weeks.

phog

Great to see CJ back, adds a lot to our back row and as a ball carrier.

.ak

Good to see LOD back.

total former

Justice for Matt O'Connor

15 Jordan Williams, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Steven Shingler, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Phil John, 2 Ken Owens (capt.), 3 Peter Edwards, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 5 Johan Snyman, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 James Davies, 8 John Barclay

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Rob Evans, Jacobie Adriaanse, George Earle, Rob McCusker, Gareth Davies, Rhys Priestland, Adam Warren

Unchanged from last week.

Should be a good match but Munster can win this.

thomond2006

.ak wrote: »

Good to see LOD back.

He actually played last week as well. It's great to see the management still have faith in him, if they didn't he wouldn't be involved late in the season.

leakyboots

LOD has always impressed me, struck me as more naturally talented than Ronan O'Mahoney (who has really taken his game to another level and is knocking on the door to be first choice wing) but has really been plagued by injuries. Would love to see him prove himself and bag a new contract and kick on.

Fireball07

Justice for Matt O'Connor

phog wrote: »

Munster: Felix Jones; Andrew Conway, Keith Earls, Denis Hurley - capt., Luke O'Dea; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O'Byrne, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Billy Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Eusebio Guinazu, John Ryan, BJ Botha, Jack O'Donoghue, Paddy Butler, Neil Cronin, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen.

Strong team. Interesting that LOD gets the nod to start, and Dineen for the bench ahead of ROM.

No real 2nd row cover on the bench, presume DOC2.0 is covering there, like to see JOD get a run. Wonder how fit Stander is.


Llanelli's team does look impressive too though, be a big test.

.ak

leakyboots wrote: »

LOD has always impressed me, struck me as more naturally talented than Ronan O'Mahoney (who has really taken his game to another level and is knocking on the door to be first choice wing) but has really been plagued by injuries. Would love to see him prove himself and bag a new contract and kick on.

Yep, he's electric, and has a great rugby mind for a winger. Might be a case of being a bit small at this level. He should perhaps look at losing a yard off his pace to put on a few kgs in the off season, might help him in the long run.

slingerz

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Stronger Munster team than I thought. Difficult away assignment but 4 points here would be great in be quest for a top 4 spot and a home semi final

accidentprone1

Riskymove wrote: »

really??

I think it will be great for TMOs

I was a little unclear, sorry. I should have said "I have no idea how this will be used.

For example, is it going to produce a 3D version of the ball and playing field, just like tennis? How does it deal with a pile of players on top of the ball at a grounding?

I think it's a fantastic addition, but am just unsure of the details of it so far.

.ak

accidentprone1 wrote: »

I was a little unclear, sorry. I should have said "I have no idea how this will be used.

For example, is it going to produce a 3D version of the ball and playing field, just like tennis? How does it deal with a pile of players on top of the ball at a grounding?

I think it's a fantastic addition, but am just unsure of the details of it so far.

I'm really not sure how it'll work. But I imagine it just means more camera views available to the TMO in real time. It's a bit vague tbh, but I don't believe it has any ball tracking technology like you've mentioned.

total former

Justice for Matt O'Connor

.ak wrote: »

I'm really not sure how it'll work. But I imagine it just means more camera views available to the TMO in real time. It's a bit vague tbh, but I don't believe it has any ball tracking technology like you've mentioned.

Sometimes you can see that the ball has been grounded but you're not sure if it's on the line or just short, or you can't tell if his foot went into touch before or after he grounded it. A 3D replay combining multiple camera angles might help in these instances.

If the ball is under five guys in a maul, not so much.

Fireball07

Justice for Matt O'Connor

One piece of hope for tomorrow is that while we are in the bottom half of teams for home record in the league, we have the best away record by quite a bit. In fact our away record is exactly the same as our home record. Perhaps we have some of the tougher ones to come, but still...

phog

Leinster's & Ulster's wins tonight mean we must win tomorrow to keep ahead of them.

slingerz

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Zebre almost denied the try bonus at the end. Strong munster team should get there really

Fireball07

Justice for Matt O'Connor

I expected Leinster to get a BP and Ulster to win and that did transpire; both were very close to upsets though. And while I like to see Irish sides do well, we also want Munster to be ahead of them, so that has to temper it slightly. We are in a good position but we can't lose tomorrow, as good as Llanelli have been recently.

CatFromHue

If Munster lose Connacht could be screwed.

This should be a good game though as Lanelli have only lost once at home this season in the Pro12 and HEC......to Toulon!

Goldstein

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Fireball07 wrote: »

One piece of hope for tomorrow is that while we are in the bottom half of teams for home record in the league, we have the best away record by quite a bit. In fact our away record is exactly the same as our home record. Perhaps we have some of the tougher ones to come, but still...

That away record is all the more impressive considering we left another 2 wins and 7 points behind in Scotstown/Sportsground having left 9 and 11 point leads slip.

I thought Ronan O'Mahony was a little unlucky to miss out as he had a very solid game against Cardiff last weekend. Looking forward to seeing O'Dea in action again too though.

Only 3 points (Ulster) have been taken away from Parc y Scarlets this year by 7 Pro 12 visitors. That'll have to change tomorrow if Munster have aspirations of a home semi final or topping the league. Feel positive about the rest of the season though despite the raft of injuries and missing players.

slingerz

Justice for Matt O'Connor

Goldstein wrote: »

That away record is all the more impressive considering we left another 2 wins and 7 points behind in Scotstown/Sportsground having left 9 and 11 point leads slip.

I thought Ronan O'Mahony was a little unlucky to miss out as he had a very solid game against Cardiff last weekend. Looking forward to seeing O'Dea in action again too though.

Only 3 points (Ulster) have been taken away from Parc y Scarlets this year by 7 Pro 12 visitors. That'll have to change tomorrow if Munster have aspirations of a home semi final or topping the league. Feel positive about the rest of the season though despite the raft of injuries and missing players.

It is a rather strong Munster side that has been named so there is a bit of hope there at least

thomond2006

Here we go...

LuckyGent88

I really like the munster Jersey no excuse for failing to find your own man with a pass anyway.

Weird attempt there. Who passed to Earls? They should have kicked themselves instead of forcing Earls at a worse angle (who then miss kicked).

matrim

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

I really like the munster Jersey no excuse for failing to find your own man with a pass anyway.

For me it's very close to the same colour of the refs. I'm surprised they didn't have the ref change.

.ak

That Munster Jersey makes me feel ill.

nc6000

.ak wrote: »

That Munster Jersey makes me feel ill.

You wouldn't get knocked down wearing that.

Mahatma Geansai

Frankie doing his best not to blame Archer for anything.

nc6000

Does anyone understand what Ieuan Evans says? I'm not talking about his accent, I mean the words he uses don't make sense. Its just waffle.

case885

Stander with some big carries already, great to have him back he's a massive player for us.
Whos the 'pack leader' Holland?

irishbucsfan

George Earle isn't a shabby replacement.

Scrums have been very solid from a Munster POV. Felt that the Scarletts penalty they got the 3 points from was a Munster penalty!

LuckyGent88

Scrums have been such a mess so far anyway.

Ian Keatley was a star, and Man of the Match vs Italy apparently.

- Frankie

Good covering from Jones after a very useful grubber.

irishbucsfan

A really nicely placed kick from Keatley but Munster let Llanelli through a bit easilly there, I guess they may not want to be overly aggressive in defense.

Flipper22

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

Frankie doing his best not to blame Archer for anything.

The commentary team in general are almost unbearable.

LuckyGent88

Good solid defence from scarlets. We were only going backwards there.

razorblunt

I've been lucky not to have had to listen to Frankie so far this season, but he's already wrecking my head.

Keatley has looked good moving with the ball. Quick and aggressive.

irishbucsfan

Keatley is playing excellently, his kicking is great and he looks dangerous with the ball.

A bit of a shame Williams is so limited, you'd like to see him bring in a bit more variety and open a bit more space out wide.

Mahatma Geansai

Dudley crumbling to pressure from the crowd.

Flipper22

Don't know how Dudley missed that