Racing 92 vs Munster, Sun 16 October 3:15 Irish time, Sky Sports

thomond2006

Racing:
15. Brice Dulin; 14. Joe Rokocoko, 13. Henry Chavancy, 12. Anthony Tuitavake, 11. Juan Imhoff; 10. Johannes Goosen,
9. Maxime Machenaud; 1. Eddy Ben Arous, 2. Camille Chat, 3. Ben Tameifuna, 4. Leone Nakarawa, 5. Manuel Carizza, 6. Wenceslas Lauret, 7. Yannick Nyanga, 8. Chris Masoe
16. Virgile Lacombe, 17. Viliamu Afatia, 18. Cedate Gomes Sa, 19. Francois van der Merwe, 20. Thibault Dubarry, 21. James Hart, 22. Remi Tales, 23. Albert Vulivuli

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Jaco Taute, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Tyler Bleyendaal, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland; Peter O'Mahony - capt., Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, Brian Scott, Stephen Archer, Robin Copeland, Jack O'Donoghue, Duncan Williams, Ian Keatley, Dan Goggin.

This will be a very tough assignment for Munster. Paddy Power has them as 14 point underdogs, I don't think I've seen a handicap like that for a Munster European game!

Earls is out so Jaco Taute starts at 13 with Dan Goggin on the bench. Kilcoyne replaces Cronin at loosehead with Brian Scott added to the bench. Otherwise it's as you were.

No Dan Carter for Racing but Johan Goosen was absolutely brilliant last season albeit at fullback. Great lineup all round really.

thomond2006

thomond2006

blackdog1

Think munster have a real chance of they go after racings line out. Chat is a great open field hooker but his darts aren't great.

Mahatma Geansai

Taute will add a lot of much-needed bulk to the Munster midfield. Bring in Earls for ROM, and the backline is starting to come along very nicely; with Saili/Arnold to come back and Farrell likely to arrive next season.

The secondrow and the fitness of the backrow are worries. Ryan is the only full-time lock in the squad and even he has spent a lot of time of blindside.

aloooof

Looking forward to this now. If it wasn't against Munster, I'd be looking forward to seeing Nakarawa play again, such a class player and always seemed to cause us problems when with Glasgow.

molloyjh

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

Taute will add a lot of much-needed bulk to the Munster midfield. Bring in Earls for ROM, and the backline is starting to come along very nicely; with Saili/Arnold to come back and Farrell likely to arrive next season.

The secondrow and the fitness of the backrow are worries. Ryan is the only full-time lock in the squad and even he has spent a lot of time of blindside.

It's not bulk Munster need though, it's good decision makers who run good lines etc. How many opportunities did Munster butcher last week by giving the pass when they should have run or running when they should have passed?

thomond2006

Conway playing for the A side. I'd prefer to see him ahead of ROM but perhaps it's down to match fitness.

Sad to say but I'm hoping for "not an embarrassment".

thomond2006

Deleted User wrote: »

Sad to say but I'm hoping for "not an embarrassment".

There's no doubt, Munster need a very big performance to get a return out of this. I hope Murray has exorcised his previous game against Racing in Paris.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

There's no doubt, Munster need a very big performance to get a return out of this. I hope Murray has exorcised his previous game against Racing in Paris.

I often base my thinking on how many of 1 team would make it into the other. I think maybe 2-3 Munster players would make the jump into the racing team but that's it.

Is Carter injured?

LostArt

Deleted User wrote: »

Sad to say but I'm hoping for "not an embarrassment".

Munster really don't do huge losses tbf, I doubt it'll be anything like our shambles against Wasps x2 last year. I'd say the bookies have it about right.

.ak

Deleted User wrote: »

Is Carter injured?

The team doc ran out of roids.

Cookiemunster

LostArt wrote: »

Munster really don't do huge losses tbf, I doubt it'll be anything like our shambles against Wasps x2 last year. I'd say the bookies have it about right.

You obviously didn't see our previous visit to Paris last January.

Felix Jones is God

Hard game to call, we could get tanked...or we could win by a score....going to be interesting to see how Taute goes in the centre, I really like what I've seen from him, he busts his balls in every game he's played

molloyjh

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

Hard game to call, we could get tanked...or we could win by a score....going to be interesting to see how Taute goes in the centre, I really like what I've seen from him, he busts his balls in every game he's played

So both games. One being against Zebre which required very little ball busting at all.

Felix Jones is God

molloyjh wrote: »

So both games. One being against Zebre which required very little ball busting at all.

You know, I never thought a reply of mine would ever have been thought too! subtle ....

Brief_Lives

If we get a losing bonus point out of this, it will be the greatest bonus point in the history of bonus points..

TOD better get his head together after last week's shambles. Staying on top of Nyanga is no easy task. POM fitness and craziness needed.

lazybones32

On paper, I'd say Racing will win but their results are pretty poor so far - maybe that's other teams emptying the tank, in order to beat the T14 Champs - yet I genuinely think Munster can pull it off.
We need to see more from D Ryan and use someone as well as CJ as ball carrier. I'm a bit iffy on ROM but he needs a big game - I'd be pretty confident about everyone else. We're underdogs who are expected to be beaten off the park...that's ideal imo.
Anyone hear a Parisian weather forecast?

Adbrowne

lazybones32 wrote: »

use someone as well as CJ as ball carrier.

I think Stander needs to be far cleverer with his carries too. Just running straight into heavy traffic isnt going to help Munster.

Bassfish

Remind me, is Jean Kleyn injured?

Felix Jones is God

Bassfish wrote: »

Remind me, is Jean Kleyn injured?

He is, won't be available for a few weeks

Akrasia

Bassfish wrote: »

Remind me, is Jean Kleyn injured?

Is. (insert random munster player.) injured. Answer is probably yes. We can't catch a break at all.