Stade Francais vs Munster, Sat 9th January 4:45 Irish time; Sky Sports

aimee1

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah Stade seem to be focusing on Europe this year, but Munster really should put them away handily enough. It's an incredibly soft group, the double header loss is a blip that should be rectified tomorrow.

Stade lose tomorrow and they will not be bothered later in the group then.

aimee1

Munster

aimee1 wrote: »

Stade lose tomorrow and they will not be bothered later in the group then.

Which will be the plan for Munster. Win tomorrow and it's easy street to the 1/4's.

stadedublinois

aimee1 wrote: »

Is that as strong as possible team from Stade? Decent props on the bench.

It's more or less the strongest 23 that is available. But at least five of the bench would be considered starters (the two props and Ross, Plisson and Danty).

Van der Merwe played practically the whole game on Sunday and Slimani came on much earlier than expected to fix the scrum. I would expect them both on early in second half especially if the scrum is suffering.

phog

I see the stupid poll is back

phog

Paul Warwick previews the game

thomond2006

phog wrote: »

I see the stupid poll is back

You're welcome!

vienne86

Jamie Heaslip

Stade have been awful this year. I'd fancy Munster for this one - tough, but it's a great opportunity.

phog

thomond2006 wrote: »

You're welcome!

I don't welcome it at all.

Interested Observer

thomond2006 wrote: »

You're welcome!

Can you change the third option to "Dave Kearney"?

thomond2006

Interested Observer wrote: »

Can you change the third option to "Dave Kearney"?

After his performance tonight, perhaps I should!

On another note, Macalou who is starting for Stade at flanker is the same player that scored a superb individual try against Ireland at U20 level.

molloyjh

thomond2006 wrote: »

After his performance tonight, perhaps I should!

On another note, Macalou who is starting for Stade at flanker is the same player that scored a superb individual try against Ireland at U20 level.

A he that massive unit? He is one to watch that guy. He was a total beast at that level. I wonder will it carry over.

thomond2006

molloyjh wrote: »

A he that massive unit? He is one to watch that guy. He was a total beast at that level. I wonder will it carry over.

Macalou signed from Massy in the summer (the same Parisian club that produced one Mathieu Bastareaud). He gets a chance due to injuries: Lakafia and Alberts are out.

Digifriendly

Munster

vienne86 wrote: »

Stade have been awful this year. I'd fancy Munster for this one - tough, but it's a great opportunity.

Stade have been poor in the Top 14 but they are still in with a shout for a quarter final place in ECC and they are difficult to beat at home in Europe.

kuang1

Just finished reading Ferris's autobiography...he repeatedly makes reference to Stade players and how unsporting they are compared to the rest of the french clubs.
(Or at least while he was playing anyway)

Having that fresh in my mind adds another extra edge to today...GWAN DE LADS!!!

CMOTDibbler

Digifriendly wrote: »

Stade have been poor in the Top 14 but they are still in with a shout for a quarter final place in ECC and they are difficult to beat at home in Europe.

As far as I can see, they've only lost two home games in the T14 to Bordeaux and Toulon. They were both LBP losses; by a point against Bordeaux.

former total

Jamie Heaslip

Have a good feeling about this. A weakened Stade side, Munster need to win - I think they'll do it.

Buer

Tend to agree. Munster had a big win last week to steady them and, most importantly, Keatley will take huge confidence into this game relative to recent weeks. SF are having a very sloppy season. People can point to their ECC form but the fact is that they're on 10 points from 3 games and all 10 have come from games against the worst team in Europe (they didn't even get a LBP at home to Zebre).

With the return of TOD and Munster knowing that anything but a win essentially eliminates them, I think they'll catch a Stade Francais side who lack that hunger.

stadedublinois

Apparently Munster "forgot" their black jerseys (that they were supposed to wear), so Stade have changed to white. French tv saying there will probably be a fine.

Yeah_Right

stadedublinois wrote: »

Apparently Munster "forgot" their black jerseys (that they were supposed to wear), so Stade have changed to white. French tv saying there will probably be a fine.

Traditionally it's the home team that changes jerseys. Is it different in the ERCC?

CMOTDibbler

stadedublinois wrote: »

Apparently Munster "forgot" their black jerseys (that they were supposed to wear), so Stade have changed to white. French tv saying there will probably be a fine.

I really don't understand this away jersey thing. How hard is it to distinguish red from pink? Back in the olden times of monochrome TV, there was a point to it all, but these days?

CMOTDibbler

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Traditionally it's the home team that changes jerseys. Is it different in the ERCC?

Leinster were in their away strip last night, so it happens in the Pro 12 too.

wp_rathead

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Traditionally it's the home team that changes jerseys. Is it different in the ERCC?

at international level yes, but club its always been away side I'm pretty sure

Mahatma Geansai

Stander has finally completely lost his jersey.

bilston

Fast start to the match.

Good start for Keatley with some nice kicks.

stadedublinois

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Traditionally it's the home team that changes jerseys. Is it different in the ERCC?

The EPCR had decided it would be pink v black

Stheno

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

Stander has finally completely lost his jersey.

Does he have a habit of doing so?

wp_rathead

Conway off

thomond2006

Conway off. Feck.

wp_rathead

and now BJ Botha off- feck

thomond2006

Now Botha off? Ugh.