Leicester Tigers vs Munster; Sunday 17th Dec 5:30pm

thomond2006

Leicester Tigers (v Munster Rugby, Welford Road, Sunday 5.30pm)

15 Mathew Tait
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Matt Toomua
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford
9 Ben Youngs

1 Kyle Traynor
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Mike Fitzgerald
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Valentino Mapapalangi
7 Mike Williams
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements

16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Logovi’i Mulipola
18 Chris Baumann
19 Dom Barrow
20 Luke Hamilton
21 Sam Harrison
22 Joe Ford
23 Nick Malouf

Munster:
15 Simon Zebo; 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Alex Wootton; 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray;
1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Kevin O’Byrne, 3 Stephen Archer; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Billy Holland; 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 7 Chris Cloete, 8 CJ Stander.

Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Brian Scott, 18 John Ryan, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Jack O’Donoghue, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Keith Earls.

Manu Tuilagi and Matt Toomua return to start in midfield for Leicester as they look to bounce back from an awful display in Limerick.

Munster's bench sees the addition of Niall Scannell and Keith Earls as they return from their own injuries. Tommy O'Donnell doesn't receive a callup despite getting through a B&I Cup appearance last weekend. Rhys Marshall and Andrew Conway miss out due to concussion.

We saw last season that a heavy win in Limerick gives Munster no guarantees of success in Welford Road. Hopefully we will have more success this year. A win would put Munster in a strong position to secure a quarter-final berth.

budhabob

Scrambled

Is this KOB's first Champions cup start? to be fair, he seems like a solid choice, nothing flashy but cant remember him ever being shown up at any stage.

Great to see Earls back in the fold, he offers some spark from the bench for sure.

Thankfully our centres are powerful defenders because theyre going to have some bulk running hard at them from the off.

phog

No Marshall, huge loss. Great to see Earls back tho.

aloooof

I've serious reservations here. There's no option for poached in the poll.

That's a strong looking Leicester midfield, tho. Big test for Sammie Arnold.

thomond2006

aloooof wrote: »

I've serious reservations here. There's no option for poached in the poll.

Going to be a real test but Munsters class and superior fitness to shine through and a comfortable win in the end.

Munster by 8+

Buer

aloooof wrote: »

That's a strong looking Leicester midfield, tho. Big test for Sammie Arnold.

Tuilagi has played one game of rugby in a year. Toomua hasn't played in almost 2 months. They've pedigree but no way they've any fitness.

Leicester are in panic mode and throwing two lads in who have barely ever set foot on a pitch together for a competitive match.

I would imagine a hard fought win for Munster will be the outcome.

leakyboots

Heading over to this, can't wait. Always a great trip, Leicester fans are amongst the soundest you'll meet.

We lost by the last kick of the ball last year and we played woefully, while I think Leicester might be slightly better this time around, we surely won't play as poorly again. Think we'll take them. History is against us, I read somewhere that Leicester have never lost back to back in Europe.

slingerz

Scrambled

leakyboots wrote: »

Heading over to this, can't wait. Always a great trip, Leicester fans are amongst the soundest you'll meet.

We lost by the last kick of the ball last year and we played woefully, while I think Leicester might be slightly better this time around, we surely won't play as poorly again. Think we'll take them. History is against us, I read somewhere that Leicester have never lost back to back in Europe.

i hate stats like that, theres a sense of foreboding for the away team but also a law of averages scenario for the home side!

Buer

leakyboots wrote: »

I read somewhere that Leicester have never lost back to back in Europe.

Aside from in Munster's pool last season? :pac:

slingerz

Scrambled

Buer wrote: »

Aside from in Munster's pool last season? :pac:

i think he meant the back to back fixtures

Burkie1203

Buer wrote: »

Aside from in Munster's pool last season? :pac:

They won one, lost one last season

leakyboots

Lads, it was something I read on the internetz so it's TRUE

Buer

slingerz wrote: »

i think he meant the back to back fixtures

Ah. The double header, yes that makes sense. I'd imagine there are a few teams in that position though?

ScrubsfanChris

Ben Youngs being interviewed in the middle of the warm up, don't think I've ever seen that :pac:

And here .. we .. go ..

Good to see the Waterboy on the sidelines as usual!

kuang1

Hard to see Scannell and Arnold getting the better of Toomua and Tuilagi...

Tough, tough game ahead.

Cloete and Kleyn to shine!

ScrubsfanChris

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Ben Youngs being interviewed in the middle of the warm up, don't think I've ever seen that :pac:

I utterly hate this nonsense. Leave the players and coaches do their jobs. Plenty of time after the game to get their thoughts. Chances of them telling you anything interesting is almost zero.

Poor start from Munster. 45 seconds in and two errors mean it should be 3-0 before anything's really happened!

ScrubsfanChris

Poor decision by Scannel, had plenty of time to boot that away.

DDC1990

****ty start.

Brain dead by Scannell and O'Mahoney.

Do the basics right!

some kick

DDC1990

Some balls from Keatley. Brilliant

razorblunt

No way is that Leicester line onside.

They also committed about 3 futher offences after the initial Youngs infringement.

DDC1990

Youngs knew exactly what he was doing. Very cynical.

budhabob

Scrambled

DDC1990 wrote: »

Youngs knew exactly what he was doing. Very cynical.

Surprised ref didn't have a word.

KOB confident with his throws.

PTH2009

nalls

Holding a player in the ruck should be a penalty

Awful defending.

Tait looked pretty good there. Glides passed O'Mahoney and Kilcoyne with ease

DDC1990

Davis Nutty Pilgrim wrote:

Holding a player in the ruck should be a penalty

So blatant as well. Poor refereeing. Holland needs to land the right side though.

****ing easy try there for Leicester.

.ak

POM looking off the pace.

Leicester 10 - 3 Munster

14 mins gone

DDC1990

.ak wrote:

POM looking off the pace.

POM and Killer vs Tait is a toyla mismatch.

Murray should have closed him off IMO.

Don Kiddick

.ak wrote: »

POM looking off the pace.

No way he was going to get there for that..he was covering the player who made the pass

Sweetnam again, total liability in defence.

razorblunt

His knee was down before the maul was called?

budhabob

Scrambled

Deleted User wrote: »

Sweetnam again, total liability in defence.

Sweetnam should have trusted Murray out wide

PTH2009

tigers have turned up here

future challenges in this cup for Munster are not easy

DDC1990

Piss poor refereeing.

Jesus knees clearly down.

Lots of stuff going well for Leicester so far. Nice touch from Ford

razorblunt

I hate that, Coles tried to collapse that maul, then grabbed the ball carrier, saw the penalty was given so just stayed there.
Its 3 offences back to back.

kuang1

Ball carriers knee hits the ground the ground and it can't be a maul I thought?

Love DOC talking about the AIL on BT Sport 2.

Guarantee the other lads and the vast vast majority of viewers haven't a breeze what he's talking about.

Clegg

That's so poor from Wootton. Aimless grubber 20 metres from Leicester's line.

ScrubsfanChris

Lots of panic out there. Only 7 points down lads.

Granny15

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Sweetnam again, total liability in defence.

It wasn't sweetnam for the try that was Conor murray out on the wing. Calling sweetnam a defensive liability is nonsense

Clegg

Clegg wrote: »

That's so poor from Wootton. Aimless grubber 20 metres from Leicester's line.

kicked it with both feet too

Don Kiddick

Once we puncture that Tigers defence once the floodgates will open.

razorblunt

That defensive line is definitely offside, surely the coaches will spot that and get instructions on to Murray and Keatley.