Munster vs Ospreys, Sat 2 Dec 5:30pm; Sky Sports

thomond2006

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Sam Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; Ian Keatley, James Hart;
Liam O’Connor, Rhys Marshall, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland (C); Jack O’Donoghue, Chris Cloete, Robin Copeland.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Brian Scott, Stephen Archer, Darren O’Shea, Sean O’Connor, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Calvin Nash.

Ospreys:
15 Dan Evans
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Kieron Fonotia
12 James Hook
11 Jeff Hassler
10 Sam Davies
9 Tom Habberfield

1 Gareth Thomas
2 Sam Parry
3 Dmitri Arhip
4 Lloyd Ashley
5 Bradley Davies (Capt)
6 Olly Cracknell
7 Will Jones
8 James King

REPLACEMENTS

16 Scott Baldwin
17 Rowan Jenkins
18 Ma’afu Fia
19 Rob McCusker
20 Guy Mercer
21 Reuben Morgan-Williams
22 Luke Price
23 Joe Thomas

Munster host Ospreys in a Conference A clash in Cork. The visiting side are looking to keep their season alive while Munster chase the high flying Glasgow, who subjected Ospreys to a hiding in Swansea last week. Steve Tandy has apparently received backing from the Ospreys higher ups and it remains to be seen if he resurrect the team's fortunes as they brace for high profile departures in the summer.

Simon Zebo starts for Munster, there will be a sigh of relief that he avoided injury last week. The major internationals are unsurprisingly rested. All eyes will be on Sam Arnold as he is set to play a key part in the European back-to-back against Leicester following the injury to Chris Farrell which adds to the other absentees at centre: Dan Goggin and Jaco Taute.

It's hard to see any other result than a Munster bonus point victory.

Former Former

That's a decent Ospreys team but the way things are going there, I'd be surprised if Munster don't run up a cricket score here.

budhabob

Former Former wrote: »

That's a decent Ospreys team but the way things are going there, I'd be surprised if Munster don't run up a cricket score here.

I'm not so sure. After last week they'll be hurting a lot. there may be a bit of a bounce back.

Burkie1203

Nay

budhabob wrote: »

I'm not so sure. After last week they'll be hurting a lot. there may be a bit of a bounce back.

They will bounce back when they have a new coach

molloyjh

Burkie1203 wrote: »

They will bounce back when they have a new coach

Yeah, there's some real rot there that they can't get over in a week.

aloooof

Looking forward to seeing Cloete for the first time. For the Zebre game, I couldn't find a stream pub that showed the match through legitimate means.

I'm sorry, but that Munster team under a new coach and at home are going to seriously embarrass Ospreys.

Calling it now - Tandy is not going to survive the severity of the hiding Munster are about to give his team.

Munster by 40+

Zzippy

On the bright side , thomond back doing match previews . On the other hand, 2 people voted yay to Mrs Browns Boys. WTF...

Anatidaephobia

Really excited to see how this backline plays today. I'd be surprised if we didn't get the BP.

Clegg

Doug Howlett cameo when the players were walking into the pitch.

vienne86

Some start by Scannell! Fabulous charge down.

Bazzo

Burkie1203 wrote: »

They will bounce back when they have a new coach

Apparently Ospreys' chairman, Roger Blyth, said they've carried out a thorough review and they're sticking by Tandy. He's contracted to them until 2020.

vienne86

Sam Davies having a nightmare so far!

budhabob

Cloete is certainly an angry man.....gotta admit I like it!

Bazzo

There'll be some people in bother here. Looked like a very forceful choke & throw on Cloete.

Anatidaephobia

Won't somebody please think of the children?!

vienne86

That was shocking......lucky it's only a yellow.

prawnsambo

Anatidaephobia wrote: »

Won't somebody please think of the children?!

Who seem to be finding it heartily amusing.

Larbre34

Hmm. Lucky boy.

Although perhaps he's unlucky in that he'll be back on the field with a big ole target on him for the next hour and Cloete looked a tad upset.

budhabob

Good man Arnold, delighted for him. He's had such bad luck with injuries I hope he takes his chance

vienne86

Hart is having a good game.

prawnsambo

Jamie Heaslip approves of Sammy Arnold's pre-scoring celebration.

vienne86

Sweetnam! This could be a rout!

budhabob

Very good awareness by keatley!

molloyjh

Ospreys are a terrible rugby team.

Bazzo

Keatley is having a great game.

vienne86

Bazzo wrote: »

Keatley is having a great game.

He sure is. Delighted for the guy.

budhabob

vienne86 wrote: »

He sure is. Delighted for the guy.

Absolutely thrilled for him!!! And delighted his decision to stay is working out for him.

budhabob

Cloete in? Smart powerful play from him.

Bazzo

Try for me. Great awareness by Cloete.

molloyjh

Smart stuff from Cloete. Davies having a mare. Ospreys are a total joke.

DDC1990

That is just brilliantly clever.

Ospreys really niggly. Wouldn't mind laying it on a bit.

prawnsambo

James Hart is a great addition.

budhabob

Munster lapse letting ospreys in.

vienne86

Decent try for Ospreys there - careless by Munster - but it might make a match of it.

kub

Where is Simon Zebo tonight?

DDC1990

Sweets extremely poor tonight.

That missed tackle must be his 4th or 5th error.

Anatidaephobia

DDC1990 wrote: »

Sweets extremely poor tonight.

That missed tackle must be his 4th or 5th error.

The only other mistake I noticed was an errant offload. Thought he looked really strong in attack.

Imo the ref two of the Munster tries wrong. The offload landed literally about 5m ahead of Cloete for one, and for the other he said there's no Ospreys player therefore no ruck which is just 100% incorrect. You need one player of either team over the tackled player to form a ruck, which we had, there were Munster players there forming a ruck. Cloete handled the ball from beyond the hindmost foot, he's offside.

aloooof

Egypt Clumsy Stance wrote: »

Imo the ref two of the Munster tries wrong. The offload landed literally about 5m ahead of Cloete for one, and for the other he said there's no Ospreys player therefore no ruck which is just 100% incorrect. You need one player of either team over the tackled player to form a ruck, which we had, there were Munster players there forming a ruck. Cloete handled the ball from beyond the hindmost foot, he's offside.

For the Cloete try, that's what I was wondering as well; is the rule change only one player, or specifically one defending player to form a ruck?

DDC1990

Anatidaephobia wrote:

The only other mistake I noticed was an errant offload. Thought he looked really strong in attack.

Maybe i'm being harsh on him, the chip dead and an earlier missed tackle are two that come to mind.

I suppose I just have much higher expectations for him given that he is now an Irish International.

Did well for the try to be fair.

Sephiral

It's one player of each team. Though I thought that whichever Osprey's player was performing a ruck inspection might have put a hand on one of the Munster players, which might technically count as forming a ruck?

The pass for the other try was backwards relative to the forward motion of Cloete.

Either way, opensides should push at the boundaries of the rules around ruck times.

aloooof

Sephiral wrote: »

It's one player of each team. Though I thought that whichever Osprey's player was performing a ruck inspection might have put a hand on one of the Munster players, which might technically count as forming a ruck?

Hasn't that been changed tho, after Italy's tactics against England in the 6 Nations?

aloooof

aloooof wrote: »

For the Cloete try, that's what I was wondering as well; is the rule change only one player, or specifically one defending player to form a ruck?

Sephiral wrote: »

It's one player of each team.

It is not one player of each team.

It's any player. From the IRFU site:

A ruck commences when at least one player is on their feet and over the ball which is on the ground (tackled player, tackler).

Anatidaephobia

Zebo injured?

sydthebeat

aloooof wrote: »

Hasn't that been changed tho, after Italy's tactics against England in the 6 Nations?

The pick up is still allowed though.

But the refs explanation was wrong.

Law 16

A ruck commences when at least one player is on their feet and over the ball which is on the ground (tackled player, tackler). At this point the offside lines are created. Players on their feet may use their hands to pick up the ball as long as this is immediate. As soon as an opposition player arrives, no hands can be used

DDC1990

Brilliant back play from Munster. Wooten and Scan.

BP in the bag

Anyway the laws talk is incidental because Munster are obviously far better than the Ospreys here but must say it's troubling that a ref has just gotten that fundamentally wrong.

budhabob

Liam O Connor looks badly hurt. Didn't see what happened him.

aloooof

Marshall embracing his inner Keith Wood, there.

Bazzo

Egypt Clumsy Stance wrote: »

Imo the ref two of the Munster tries wrong. The offload landed literally about 5m ahead of Cloete for one, and for the other he said there's no Ospreys player therefore no ruck which is just 100% incorrect. You need one player of either team over the tackled player to form a ruck, which we had, there were Munster players there forming a ruck. Cloete handled the ball from beyond the hindmost foot, he's offside.

Looked like Cloete pretty clearly threw the ball backwards to me tbh. It bounced forward after it hit the ground. Nothing wrong with Cloete's try either, sydthebeat has already quoted the relevant law.