Ospreys vs Munster, Sat 16 Sep 3:15pm Sky Sports/TG4

thomond2006

Ospreys:

15 Dan Evans
14 Keelan Giles
13 Cory Allen
12 James Hook
11 Jeff Hassler
10 Sam Davies
9 Tom Habberfield
1 Paul James
2 Sam Parry
3 Ma’afu Fia
4 Bradley Davies
5 Lloyd Ashley
6 James King
7 Justin Tipuric (Capt)
8 Dan Baker

REPLACEMENTS

16 Scott Baldwin
17 Nicky Smith
18 Rhodri Jones
19 Adam Beard
20 Dan Lydiate
21 Matthew Aubrey
22 Dan Biggar
23 Kieron Fonotia

Munster:
Andrew Conway, Darren Sweetnam, Chris Farrell, Jaco Taute, Alex Wootton; Tyler Bleyendaal – capt., Duncan Williams;
Liam O’Connor, Rhys Marshall, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Sean O’Connor, Tommy O’Donnell, Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, John Ryan, Fineen Wycherley, Robin Copeland, James Hart, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo.

The returning internationals get another week on the bench. Bleyendaal returns to start having been rested last week. James Cronin makes his first appearance of the season after returning from injury. There's no word on Dave Kilcoyne who got a knock to his knee last week, hopefully that's not a bad sign.

Ospreys vs Munster is always a big fixture but it takes on extra significance as both teams are in Conference A. Ospreys have had a poor start to the season by scraping past Zebre at home and losing to Glasgow away. Meanwhile Munster have looked in good form albeit against two very poor opponents in Benetton and Cheetahs.

budhabob

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ospreys: TBA

Munster:
Andrew Conway, Darren Sweetnam, Chris Farrell, Jaco Taute, Alex Wootton; Tyler Bleyendaal – capt., Duncan Williams;
Liam O’Connor, Rhys Marshall, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Sean O’Connor, Tommy O’Donnell, Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, John Ryan, Fineen Wycherley, Robin Copeland, James Hart, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo.

The returning internationals get another week on the bench. Bleyendaal returns to start having been rested last week. James Cronin makes his first appearance of the season after returning from injury. There's no word on Dave Kilcoyne who got a knock to his knee last week, hopefully that's not a bad sign.

Ospreys vs Munster is always a big fixture but it takes on extra significance as both teams are in Conference A. Ospreys have had a poor start to the season by scraping past Zebre at home and losing to Glasgow away. Meanwhile Munster have looked in good form albeit against two very poor opponents in Benetton and Cheetahs.

Good to see this 15 being given another crack and against stronger opposition.

thomond2006

budhabob wrote: »

Good to see this 15 being given another crack and against stronger opposition.

I imagine we'll see the top XV minus Lions vs Glasgow. It's the tougher fixture.

molloyjh

Ospreys look like they are in trouble at the moment. They had a really poor end to last season and have followed it up with a poor start to this one. Munster should be well able to manage this one.

thomond2006

molloyjh wrote: »

Ospreys look like they are in trouble at the moment. They had a really poor end to last season and have followed it up with a poor start to this one. Munster should be well able to manage this one.

They were awful at the end of the season alright. Biggar is already leaving and it sounds like Webb is following him out of Wales too.

molloyjh

thomond2006 wrote: »

They were awful at the end of the season alright. Biggar is already leaving and it sounds like Webb is following him out of Wales too.

I might put some money on Wootton to score a try..... :P

thomond2006

molloyjh wrote: »

I might put some money on Wootton to score a try..... :P

I'm taking that .gif tbh, thanks Thomond.

On paper this should be a win for Munster. Don't rate Ospreys and agree with others here on their form.

That said, they do have a decent squad and they can get the hump at times at home and make it an extremely tough day out.

I expect it to be close til the last 15 or so minutes and I think Munster will turn the screw on them from there.

leakyboots

Delighted Boomer is getting another run, his scrummaging has been super so far (as has Archer's). And Wootton looks like he's showing the wider public what he's capable of, he's been very impressive for the As last couple of seasons

thomond2006

Gametime! Gwan.

Bazzo

Where did that jersey come out of?

Edit: ehh ignore this, I dunno wtf I thought I saw on the television.

LuckyGent88

Jaysus that was a bad miss

thomond2006

In another wrestling reference, Ospreys came out to HHH's entrance music!

Clegg

Tyler's having a shocker

thomond2006

Ah Bleyendaal. You can't be missing those.

determinations

0 from 2. Not a good start.

LuckyGent88

Ah ffs Tyler. Dominated but no points

ScrubsfanChris

Christ

thomond2006

How is it still 0-0?

razorblunt

Great heads up rugby by Williams.

A-Train

Easy enough kicks missed so far. Tyler needs to be hitting those

determinations

Munster should be 2 scores up, can't be wasting that many chances away from home.

Clegg

Go for the corner!

LuckyGent88

He better put this over

razorblunt

Lovell Rugby sponsoring Ospreys? Won't be able to move for their gear being flogged next April.

thomond2006

Total domination at the moment. Finally points on the board. Hopefully Munster can keep this up.

Stheno

3-0

ScrubsfanChris

Gotta stop reading here, Sky Sports mobile app is about 2 minutes behind live

thomond2006

Terrible from Chris Farrell. Opened the gap.

determinations

I've always loved Hook, its nice to see him back in Wales.

ScrubsfanChris

Pathetic

leakyboots

Thought the scramble defence should have done a bit better, poor from Farrell though

LuckyGent88

Ah stupid silly errors after such a bright start

thomond2006

Very good scrummaging performance so far.

leakyboots

Our scrum is obliterating opposition so far this season, great to see

thomond2006

Kleyn! What a monster.

LuckyGent88

That's more like it. Good response

determinations

The Munster pack are looking totally dominant so far.

A-Train

Good response good try for Munster

razorblunt

Kleyn again, great stuff.

thomond2006

Brilliant performance from the pack so far. Very good considering there's maybe 3 starters from the first choice pack out there.

leakyboots

Kleyn is unstoppable from 5m out!

TOD making a habit these days of ignoring ref instruction.

leakyboots

Tyler's bombs are on the money, and great workrate from Sweetnam

leakyboots

TOD is everywhere

thomond2006

Poor kick to touch from TB. DAT scrum though.

Poor darts so far

ScrubsfanChris

Ospreys closing the gap in the lineout eveeytime.

thomond2006

Oh yes.

Conway with a fantastic grab in the air after struggling with handling earlier. Great stuff from SOC in the buildup.

LuckyGent88

Lovely stuff. Great switch from the young prop

leakyboots

Great stuff from Farrell, made up for his earlier error. Conway played a big part too.