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

BBDBB

Akrasia wrote: »

Absolutely bucketing down now. Considering the weather that was a decent performance to start the season

You're right, I'm just venting my frustration at not being able to see out a good 2-3 minutes in their 22

thomond2006

Brilliant result!

The matches prior to Leinster in Dublin are very winnable:
Cardiff (H), Dragons (A), Edinburgh (H), Zebre (H)

5 wins from 5 going to Dublin is very achievable. Our squad might be stretched when the European games start so a cushion in the league would be great.

Edit: Oops, I thought that was a Munster penalty for some reason.

Neil3030

If the referee determines something is "totally unacceptable" why isn't he punishing either player?

vienne86

Missed the chance of a bonus point. Patchell has had a poor game.

BBDBB

Great result away from home
Performance was mixed, but we seem better organised defensively and although we had little ball we seemed more of a threat when we did attack

Akrasia

Neil3030 wrote: »

If the referee determines something is "totally unacceptable" why isn't he punishing either player?

Because it was just handbags. This is rugby not field hockey

thomond2006

13-23 FT. I look forward to watching the full game back! Considering the players to come back into the team that's an excellent season debut.

Akrasia

BBDBB wrote: »

Great result away from home
Performance was mixed, but we seem better organised defensively and although we had little ball we seemed more of a threat when we did attack

I'm pleased for Williams and keatley that they got off to a good start. Hopefully Zebo will be ok

ScrubsfanChris

Pros:
Great defense
Disrupting opposition lineout
The scrum
Very good team try for the first one

Cons:
Our own lineout, worst part of the game
maybe kicked position away a few too many times
3 or 4 too many penalties


Mixed to good performance overall, weather seemed to kill the second half a bit.

irishbucsfan

I'd say both teams played pretty poorly for stretches but Munster finished much stronger and Scarlets offered nothing going forward in the 2nd half. Munster have a lot of quality to come back as well.

Scarlets could do with blooding Dan Jones ASAP. That was a backline starring Parkes, Scott and Liam Williams, DTH Van Der Merwe and then Jonathan Davies and Patchell completely failed to use them, looked like Madigan in one of his poorer Leinster performances. If that is how they're going to play this season then they're a lot less dangerous than they look on paper.

BBDBB

Onto the Connacht game with the only regret being I should have bought more beer earlier

Akrasia

BBDBB wrote: »

Onto the Connacht game with the only regret being I should have bought more beer earlier

Mistakes are to be expected this early in the season

Really looking forward to this game. Connacht are far from a flash in the pan. They're gonna come out of the blocks fast

Neil3030

Akrasia wrote: »

Because it was just handbags. This is rugby not field hockey

Exactly so why say it was "totally unacceptable"?

BBDBB

Akrasia wrote: »

Mistakes are to be expected this early in the season

Really looking forward to this game. Connacht are far from a flash in the pan. They're gonna come out of the blocks fast

Not to a fella of my vast experience!

It should be a better contest, two good sides in form
The sun is shining and the black clouds are over the stand - yes folks it's Galway

case885

thomond2006 wrote:

5 wins from 5 going to Dublin is very achievable. Our squad might be stretched when the European games start so a cushion in the league would be great.

Will also be a big help in shifting tickets for our home games, would be great to get a sell out for Glasgow European game.

budhabob

Missed the game, howd Tyler go?

phog

Delighted with the result, very much unexpected. I thought I was optimistic in hoping for a LBP but we weathered the storm in the first 20mins, then scored the next time we got into their 22.

Only real negative for me was Zebo's injury and our lineouts.

I'm not too concerned about our missed tackles but we need to improve on that too.

phog

WTV's blog of the game

thomond2006

You could see Zebo react immediately in pain before recycling the ball. It didn't look good. If he's out then Taute might need to play 15 and not centre. I assume his arrival will happen shortly.

case885

thomond2006 wrote:

You could see Zebo react immediately in pain before recycling the ball. It didn't look good. If he's out then Taute might need to play 15 and not centre. I assume his arrival will happen shortly.

Conway at fullback with Taute at 13 is also an option.
We've some real quality ready to come back so Rassie will have a nice selection headache.

molloyjh

Just watched the replay of this on S4C. Scarlets were truly horrendous. Looks for all the world like they've taken their inspiration from Leinster of the season before last, and are struggling to be as effective! Munster didn't have to do very much at all. Saw almost nothing of their attacking game yet they were always comfortable. Scarlets never looked like winning despite having the majority of possession.

Munsters defence was excellent and they played very smart all the way through, but it's very hard to judge when the opposition were so bad.

Quintis

molloyjh wrote: »

Just watched the replay of this on S4C. Scarlets were truly horrendous. Looks for all the world like they've taken their inspiration from Leinster of the season before last, and are struggling to be as effective! Munster didn't have to do very much at all. Saw almost nothing of their attacking game yet they were always comfortable. Scarlets never looked like winning despite having the majority of possession.

Munsters defence was excellent and they played very smart all the way through, but it's very hard to judge when the opposition were so bad.

Thought Scarlets game plan was very obvious which in turn made it easy to defend, Scarlets need to alternate between a few other options than wide, wide, wide to keep the opposition defense guessing, as it is they are allowing the opposition defense rush up without any fear of getting caught out, imo

molloyjh

Quintis wrote: »

Thought Scarlets game plan was very obvious which in turn made it easy to defend, Scarlets need to alternate between a few other options than wide, wide, wide to keep the opposition defense guessing, as it is they are allowing the opposition defense rush up without any fear of getting caught out, imo

Exactly. The Welsh commentators thought Scarlets played "superbly" and "with great endeavour" in the opening quarter. All they did was ship the ball from one wing to the other making little to no ground in the process. The "you need to earn the right to go wide" cliche is a cliche for a reason. If you're not fixing defenders in the middle of the park the defensive line can just push across. It's what Leinster have been really guilty of a lot over the last few years.

Adbrowne

molloyjh wrote: »

Exactly. The Welsh commentators thought Scarlets played "superbly" and "with great endeavour" in the opening quarter. All they did was ship the ball from one wing to the other making little to no ground in the process. The "you need to earn the right to go wide" cliche is a cliche for a reason. If you're not fixing defenders in the middle of the park the defensive line can just push across. It's what Leinster have been really guilty of a lot over the last few years.

Scarlets just lined up across the field and shovelled the ball across and back. When Jon Davies came on he at least looked to fix defenders but the game was up by then. Leinster on friday looked to have better shape at times (hard to be sure from behind the goal and only 10 rows back) but the passing was terrible.

phog

Analysis: Encouraging signs for Munster as Erasmus' men make solid, simple start via The42

budhabob

phog wrote: »

Analysis: Encouraging signs for Munster as Erasmus' men make solid, simple start via The42

Really good analysis as always.