Munster v Leicester Tigers

former total

kooga wrote: »

please can we hang onto jaco taute!

Ulster says no!

razorblunt

kooga wrote: »

please can we hang onto jaco taute!

This.
Give him "diplimitic immoonitee".

case885

I think saili will have no problem playing the Taute roll when he is back, the biggest question will be his defence but he'll have time to work on that with Nienaber. Saili is better attacked than Taute so I'm looking forward to his return.
Taute has been some signing though, really bought in and gave it his all.

phog

WTV's Blog of the game


TRK's - The Wally Ratings :: Munster 38 Leicester Tigers 0

aloooof

Keith Earls' performance seems to have gone under the radar with the likes of Sweetnam, CJ, POM etc. (rightly) getting the plaudits, but I thought he was fantastic on Saturday. Looking forward to watching it back.

leakyboots

Earls did well but there was a couple of times he kicked the ball ahead with the chance of regathering and it didn't come off, thought he might have been better off taking it into contact. He did win a superb high ball (all our back three are very good in the air, especially Sweetnam) and always made ground with ball in hand. Nice competition in the back three with Conway and to a lesser extent ROM. Wootton is a guy I can see stepping up next, has a bit of gas about him.

I thought Zebo was wonderful at fullback, it's his best position. 4 defenders beaten, 1 clean break, made one very good covering tackle too.

I read somewhere that we made 83 of our 85 tackles and only gave away 5 penalties in the whole match

aloooof

leakyboots wrote: »

Earls did well but there was a couple of times he kicked the ball ahead with the chance of regathering and it didn't come off, thought he might have been better off taking it into contact. He did win a superb high ball (all our back three are very good in the air, especially Sweetnam) and always made ground with ball in hand. Nice competition in the back three with Conway and to a lesser extent ROM. Wootton is a guy I can see stepping up next, has a bit of gas about him.

I thought Zebo was wonderful at fullback, it's his best position. 4 defenders beaten, 1 clean break, made one very good covering tackle too.

I read somewhere that we made 83 of our 85 tackles and only gave away 5 penalties in the whole match

If Zebo continues to start at FB for us I can see him starting there for Ireland too come 6N time.

Lake1989

leakyboots wrote: »

I read somewhere that we made 83 of our 85 tackles and only gave away 5 penalties in the whole match

Yeah 5 penalties conceded, Leinster gave away 4 on friday. Ireland camp influence there

Bridge93

aloooof wrote: »

If Zebo continues to start at FB for us I can see him starting there for Ireland too come 6N time.

If Kearney is fit he'll start fullback for Ireland. Zebo will start on the wing. Kearney being fit is the doubt though with his recent record. He was brilliant before going off against Northampton.

Mahatma Geansai

aloooof wrote: »

If Zebo continues to start at FB for us I can see him starting there for Ireland too come 6N time.

The whole Munster back 3 could be starting for Ireland pretty soon, and that's something I don't think I would ever say.

Mahatma Geansai

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

The whole Munster back 3 could be starting for Ireland pretty soon, and that's something I don't think I would ever say.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Mahatma Geansai wrote: »

The whole Munster back 3 could be starting for Ireland pretty soon, and that's something I don't think I would ever say.

There was a stage where I never thought I would ever see that 6 of the Leinster pack starting for Ireland and another 3 on the bench. It comes and it goes at times.

ScrubsfanChris

Not to get ahead of ourselves here :P

But who would have thought looking at the teams when they were announced, that Glasgow v Munster could be the pool decider?

letowski

aloooof wrote: »

Keith Earls' performance seems to have gone under the radar with the likes of Sweetnam, CJ, POM etc. (rightly) getting the plaudits, but I thought he was fantastic on Saturday. Looking forward to watching it back.

Thought Donnacha Ryan too was immense too in the tight, drove back Leicester players, choke tackles, leading the maul, etc. I think its fair to say himsalf and POM were simply huge losses last year to the team. Can't easily replace the aggression and aptitude for work they bring to the team.

phog

letowski wrote: »

Thought Donnacha Ryan too was immense too in the tight, drove back Leicester players, choke tackles, leading the maul, etc. I think its fair to say himsalf and POM were simply huge losses last year to the team. Can't easily replace the aggression and aptitude for work they bring to the team.

He was excellent in the mauls too, gave away a silly penalty, can't remember was it a at a restart or lineout at one stage though, just remember being annoyed at him at the time. The penalty that they opted to kick but missed.

Lake1989

phog wrote: »

He was excellent in the mauls too, gave away a silly penalty, can't remember was it a at a restart or lineout at one stage though, just remember being annoyed at him at the time. The penalty that they opted to kick but missed.

he dragged an arm of his opposite number in a lineout.

leakyboots

DR was top tackler too, just ahead of Niall Scannell and TOD.

CJ had 18 carries

Earls 2 clean breaks, 4 defenders beaten, 2 offloads (Sweetnam had 3)

letowski

leakyboots wrote: »

DR was top tackler too, just ahead of Niall Scannell and TOD.

CJ had 18 carries

Earls 2 clean breaks, 4 defenders beaten, 2 offloads (Sweetnam had 3)

67 metres gained
3 defenders beaten
2 offloads
10 successful tackles
4 turnovers
1 MOTM award

Probably would be regarded as an average day for CJ nowadays.

lazybones32

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Not to get ahead of ourselves here :P

But who would have thought looking at the teams when they were announced, that Glasgow v Munster could be the pool decider?

Especially when you think that 3 months ago we were viewed as the 'eyetalians' of the pool...and here we sit on top with max. points.

Tigers at home are better than on the road but still beatable; they've been sloppy and ugly at times yet still delivered.
Racing don't have any major domestic game the week before/after our visit that might cause them to divide attention, so unless they lose all interest (assuming they lose in Scotstoun), they could be a tough cookie to crack.
Glasgow have come to the boil at the right time in the last few Seasons, so that will be our hardest away game imo.
Still, only a third of the way done so as you said, not to get ahead of ourselves.

Johngoose

lazybones32 wrote: »

Especially when you think that 3 months ago we were viewed as the 'eyetalians' of the pool...and here we sit on top with max. points.

Tigers at home are better than on the road but still beatable; they've been sloppy and ugly at times yet still delivered.
Racing don't have any major domestic game the week before/after our visit that might cause them to divide attention, so unless they lose all interest (assuming they lose in Scotstoun), they could be a tough cookie to crack.
Glasgow have come to the boil at the right time in the last few Seasons, so that will be our hardest away game imo.
Still, only a third of the way done so as you said, not to get ahead of ourselves.

Racing 92 seem like an unpredictable team.They haven't been great in European cup.Will Glasgow be as lucky against them again this weekend?Munster were spectacular at home.They will hardly keep the Tigers scoreless again this weekend.I still expect Munster to win by 5 points.

Felix Jones is God

I think I read a quote from Rassie a few months ago about the Champions cup ...he knew there would be a slightly softer team in the group who we would all look at as a 5 point possible team....he looked at the group and didn't see it ....until be realised we! were the soft touch in our group .

Lake1989

Johngoose wrote: »

Racing 92 seem like an unpredictable team.They haven't been great in European cup.Will Glasgow be as lucky against them again this weekend?Munster were spectacular at home.They will hardly keep the Tigers scoreless again this weekend.I still expect Munster to win by 5 points.

Leicester can hardly be as rubbish again. The stuff they can control was plain awful for this level so expect a lot of that to be much improved. Munsters half backs and backrow are just on a totally different level which is why I think Munster could get the 5 points.

roundymac

Next saturday's match, is it on Sky or BT?

Lake1989

roundymac wrote: »

Next saturday's match, is it on Sky or BT?

Leinster and Munster on BT

http://www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/fixtures_champions_cup.php

lazybones32

Johngoose wrote: »

Racing 92 seem like an unpredictable team.They haven't been great in European cup.Will Glasgow be as lucky against them again this weekend?Munster were spectacular at home.They will hardly keep the Tigers scoreless again this weekend.I still expect Munster to win by 5 points.

Racing have enough imports to negate the French thing about performing away from home but Glasgow on their own pitch will be a very big ask - they know the 4G pitch very well and it does offer an advantage.

I think we'll get the 4 points but Tigers will get a lbp. It will be a very tough game; after what was done to them Saturday, they have to show up in force. The ref for the game - Garces - wouldn't be my favourite by any stretch and I reckon there will be a lot of foul play...aside from Dan 60-degrees Cole obv.

Lake1989

lazybones32 wrote: »

Racing have enough imports to negate the French thing about performing away from home but Glasgow on their own pitch will be a very big ask - they know the 4G pitch very well and it does offer an advantage.

I think we'll get the 4 points but Tigers will get a lbp. It will be a very tough game; after what was done to them Saturday, they have to show up in force. The ref for the game - Garces - wouldn't be my favourite by any stretch and I reckon there will be a lot of foul play...aside from Dan 60-degrees Cole obv.

Veainu is a big loss for Leicester. Munsters kicking game was really good in the first half, got them great territory to force penalties to build a lead, but Leicester are a different team with him running the ball back. He suffered a bad head injury in November playing for Tonga and seems to have been stood down for a few weeks

phog

The one caution I have is that we have three away games still to play in this pool. Our position is based on two home games. Glasgow are one behind us based on two away games and one at home. Next week could change those pool positions.

thomond2006

phog wrote: »

The one caution I have is that we have three away games still to play in this pool. Our position is based on two home games. Glasgow are one behind us based on two away games and one at home. Next week could change those pool positions.

If Glasgow win this weekend then I expect at least 9 points vs Racing.

aloooof

thomond2006 wrote: »

If Glasgow win this weekend then I expect at least 9 points vs Racing.

Personally, I'd bite your hand off for 5 points against Racing right now. I think there could be a long way to go in this pool yet, but an awful lot of that hinges on this weekend. Particularly the Glasgow Racing result.

Johngoose

So another win for Munster,but by tight margins?