Scarlets vs Munster , Sat 3rd Sept 3pm; Sky Sports 1

thomond2006

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Duncan Williams;
James Cronin, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Dave Foley, Billy Holland - capt.; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Kevin O'Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Jean Kleyn, Donnacha Ryan, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Cian Bohane.

irishbucsfan

15 Liam Williams, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Dylan Evans, 2 Ken Owens [c], 3 Werner Kruger, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Lewis Rawlins, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 John Barclay, 8 Josh Macleod

Replacements; Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, David Bulbring, Tadhg Beirne, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Jonathan Davies

Very strong lineup from the Scarlets. No question of resting their internationals anyway! Shows how the approach to Pro 12 Rugby is changing (for the better). This could be an absolute cracker.

Tadhg Beirne on the bench for Scarlets. Best of luck to him. Hopefully he comes off the bench and has an absolute stormer but Munster manage a win in spite of it.

aloooof

Very interested to see how Goggin gets on and hoping Tyler plays well, deserves his shot after all those injuries. Is Robin Copeland injured? Or just didn't make the bench?

phog

Scarlets have named a fine squad, Munster missing their Internationals and Saili and Chisholm. 14 of the starting 15 are Munster produced while we have only two NIQ in the 23.

mogwai81

Did John Madigan pick up an injury since pre-season or is he the fifth choice lock?

case885

mogwai81 wrote:

Did John Madigan pick up an injury since pre-season or is he the fifth choice lock?

The latter but I'd imagine he'll get game time in the next few games, himself and kleyn could do a serious amount of damage if they're paired together!

irishbucsfan

I'm actually quite excited for this game now. I think there's a decent chance Rassie could have an immediate impact if so, and if Scarlets play as good as their teamsheet suggests they should, then this should be the game of the weekend

irishbucsfan

HUGE TEAM NEWS UPDATE AHEAD OF THE GAME- YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT MUNSTER HAVE DONE

The team will not be as advertised:

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Duncan Williams;
James Cronin, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Dave Foley, Billy Holland - capt.; Dave O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Kevin O'Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Jean Kleyn, Donncha Ryan, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Cian Bohane.

Instead, Donncha Ryan will be wearing number 19 and Jean Kleyn will be wearing number 20. Amazing decision.

Source:

https://twitter.com/Munsterrugby/status/772064978362859520

Larbre34

Speaking of jersey switches, nice Leinster impression, down to the dayglo trim.

Somebody in IRFU should stay on top of these branding and co-ordination issues.

Adbrowne

this countdown needs to go. teams come out, lets play rugby. ffs

Mahatma Geansai

Good defense by Zebo there.

vienne86

Great effort by Zebo to save that try.

BBDBB

An ominous start, only 12% possession

BBDBB

We seem well organised defensively, mostly

Mahatma Geansai

Busy counter-rucking by Goggin wins a penalty.

lazybones32

Larbre34 wrote: »

Speaking of jersey switches, nice Leinster impression, down to the dayglo trim.

Somebody in IRFU should stay on top of these branding and co-ordination issues.

:rolleyes: Adidas would have a large say in the jersey and if it resembles any team, it'd be a NZ team called the Highlanders...

BBDBB

We've hardly had the ball and when we finally get it we kick it away for minimal territory

vienne86

Liam Williams playing a blinder so far.

Akrasia

****e

Akrasia

Every set piece has been terrible so far

BBDBB

We are absorbing and smothering a lot but this kind of drift and conceding the ball seems like we are inviting them onto us

ScrubsfanChris

Only positive is its still 0-0
Not much beyond that

vienne86

Munster defence has been mostly solid, in fairness.

Mahatma Geansai

Interesting to see Nienaber on the field as a waterboy.

Akrasia

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Only positive is its still 0-0
Not much beyond that

Dammit. There goes our attack

vienne86

Ah no...........Zebo in trouble.

awec

It's a bit like an attack v defence training session but the defence is good.

vienne86

Awful for Zebo. Hope it's not serious.

Akrasia

I spoke too soon. Gwan Cronin

irishbucsfan

That was a really good series of phases from Munster. Great between Wiliams and the forwards and some lovely clearing out (big Scannell with a great one)

awec

I'd yellow card that Scarlets player. No way he thought he was on his feet and he deliberately slowed it.