Edinburgh vs Munster, Fri 16 Mar 7:35pm; BBC Scotland / TG4

thomond2006

Edinburgh team to face Munster in the Guinness PRO14 at BT Murrayfield on Friday 16 March (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on BBC Two Scotland.

15. Dougie Fife (100)
14. Jason Harries (8)
13. Mark Bennett (5)
12. Chris Dean (60)
11. Duhan van der Merwe (11)
10. Jaco van der Walt (11)
9. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (103)

1. Jordan Lay (5)
2. Neil Cochrane (69)
3. Murray McCallum (36)
4. Fraser McKenzie (98) CAPTAIN
5. Ben Toolis (82)
6. Magnus Bradbury (46)
7. John Hardie (27)
8. Bill Mata (31)

Replacements: 16. Cameron Fenton (9); 17. Rory Sutherland (60); 18. Simon Berghan (42); 19. Lewis Carmichael (26); 20. Cornell du Preez (98); 21. Nathan Fowles (53); 22. Duncan Weir (28); 23. Junior Rasolea (25)

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; JJ Hanrahan, James Hart;
James Cronin, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland (C); Jack O’Donoghue, Conor Oliver, Robin Copeland.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Darren O’Shea, Tommy O’Donnell, Jack Stafford, Bill Johnston, Dan Goggin.

Big game for Munster. A win here could seal second place. Edinburgh are 10 points shy of Scarlets at second and 5 points clear of Ulster at fourth so this is a huge game for them also. I haven't seen any official confirmation of Duncan Williams' injury but Jack Stafford's selection on the bench suggests that Williams is indeed unavailable. James Hart now has an opportunity to get an extended run in the first choice 23.

I think Edinburgh will edge this with Munster taking home a losing bonus.

Buer

I'd like to think Munster have enough quality in the likes of Zebo, Scannell, Kleyn etc. to sneak the win here. The halfbacks need to do something though and lift themselves beyond what we've seen this season to date.

Edinburgh have a little bit of impact on the bench too with guys like Berghan and CDP .

case885

No Scannell and Marshall playing for the A's is unusual.
Strong 23 think we should be winning this.

Cookiemunster

case885 wrote: »

No Scannell and Marshall playing for the A's is unusual.
Strong 23 think we should be winning this.

Scannell is still injured. From this weeks injury update - Niall Scannell is continuing his return from a rib injury and will be monitored as the week progresses.

My question is where is Tyler?

phog

No Tyler

Edit - just saw CMs post

Edinburgh gave Leinster plenty of chances to put the game away a few weeks back but we struggled. Their forwards are quite quick off the line and our 9 / 10 were under pressure as a result.

JJ is going to have to show a lot more than he has so far to navigate this pressure and produce enough territory for Munster to pick up some scores.

Definitely a tough game to call but I think Munster by less than 7. Edinburgh won't pack it in at home.

Henry Ford III

JJ's lack of form has to be a worry. If he doesn't perform we'll lose I think.

Fingers crossed.

I have faith that Munster and Ireland can do the double

thomond2006

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Scannell is still injured. From this weeks injury update - Niall Scannell is continuing his return from a rib injury and will be monitored as the week progresses.

My question is where is Tyler?

phog wrote: »

No Tyler

Edit - just saw CMs post

My positive spin/guess on this is they don't want TB making three consecutive appearances and he will start against Scarlets and Toulon.

thomond2006

Mike Sherry starting this ahead of KOB is a bit out of the blue. It will be his first start since April 2016. I don't think he will be at Munster next season so I hope he can put himself in the shop window.

aloooof

thomond2006 wrote: »

My positive spin/guess on this is they don't want TB making three consecutive appearances and he will start against Scarlets and Toulon.

Ahead of Keatley, ya reckon? I would've thought Keatley was our first choice 10? I suppose we don't really have an indication yet of who JVG sees has his first choice 10.

ScrubsfanChris

Was there a reason this game is back in Murrayfield?

ScrubsfanChris

BBC commentary need to dust off their rule book. Obvious penalty for me.
Great defensive set on our own line

The Lost Sheep

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Was there a reason this game is back in Murrayfield?

Edinburgh felt switching between other ground and Murrayfield regularly enough wasnt suiting the team so have moved back to Murrayfield for rest of the season. Will look at other options including SRU looking at giving one of the back pitches in Murrayfield a bigger capacity of 5000+ to allow Edinburgh play there

thomond2006

Kleyn will be very happy that was overturned!

Akrasia

Fairly grim stuff so far

leakyboots

'Kicked it out under zero pressure' and he's pinned to the touchline with a defender on top of him... gas man Whitehouse

leakyboots

We're slipping off some amount of tackles

ScrubsfanChris

Hart doing nothing to improve his popularity here

leakyboots

Awful from that maul, was Hart not in front of his man when it split and he took the ball off him... then launched it into the 22 for an easy mark. How Whitehouse didn't spot that is beyond me

ScrubsfanChris

These turnovers are criminal, no ruck protection to speak of

leakyboots

Did they lube up the ball beforehand or something? Both sides are atrocious at holding onto it

ScrubsfanChris

Very stop start, apart from on our try line, not much is going past 5 phases or so

thomond2006

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

aloooof

Out penalty count has seemed fairly high so far, albeit in their half of the field.

thomond2006

Ah here. Chance wasted. That had to be scored, Edinburgh were on the ropes.

ScrubsfanChris

Skip pass ruined that, no need and cost a try probably.

Bazzo

Oops, didn't realise there was a thread for this. The most interesting part of the match for me so far is how utterly abysmal the BBC Scotland commentary is. I'm not sure if I could produce commentary that blatantly biased if I actively tried.

ScrubsfanChris

Pathetic

thomond2006

Shambolic defence.

Bazzo

thomond2006 wrote: »

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

Seemed to run off fine.. very strange.

sioda

Shocking bad return for all the possession

Akrasia

Are Embra wearing lube on their shirts? How many tackles did he slip through there?

ScrubsfanChris

The game plan must be give Edinburgh the ball, abysmal retention even when we don't kick it away

Akrasia

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

The game plan must be give Edinburgh the ball, abysmal retention even when we don't kick it away

Ulster fans must be going spare watching this. They need us to get a result here

thomond2006

Some good stuff but some utter dross as well. Rory Scannell will be getting an earful on Monday for that attempt on Dougie Fife.

BBDBB

Scotland are great

Yeah, how great?


Really really great

Yeah


Yeah

ScrubsfanChris

Finally on the front foot and we kick the ball away.

Chex LeMeneux

Munster lucky with the defensive maul there. Few joinings that were never from hindmost foot

Bazzo

BBDBB wrote: »

Scotland are great

Yeah, how great?


Really really great

Yeah


Yeah

And remember that try that got disallowed in the first half for a clear offside? Could you try to blag a makey uppy law or something for us to make it look like we were robbed for the audience at home?

That'll have to be a red.

bloodless_coup

He didn't crouch that much

Akrasia

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That'll have to be a red.

Definite red. Ben Whitehouse should have pulled the trigger there

Akrasia

Akrasia wrote: »

Definite red. Ben Whitehouse should have pulled the trigger there

Red is the accepted norm. The fact that he was really trying to wrap maybe mitigated it to a yellow. No intent, but it was reckless and to the head.

BBDBB

What height is Copeland? 6’4?

The “duck” was about 6 inches at most, that was still a high hit

Akrasia

BBDBB wrote: »

What height is Copeland? 6’4?

The “duck” was about 6 inches at most, that was still a high hit

Every player ducks a little when taking a ball like that. He led with his shoulder to the head. Definite red.

Former Former

Sweetnam had to do better there.

LuckyGent88

God we are just awful. What has happened to Sweetnam. Can’t tackle at all.

budhabob

Just switched this on, might be time to switch it off again.

Akrasia

Munster shouldn't be conceding tries against 14 men. I can't see them winning this game from here

ScrubsfanChris

budhabob wrote: »

Just switched this on, might be time to switch it off again.

You should