Cardiff Blues vs Munster, Fri 21st Sept 7:35pm; Eir Sport

Akrasia

it's still good. We can still win.....

thomond2006

razorblunt wrote: »

The decision to continually carry it tight is pathetic. Williams and Carberry should have dragged that ball out of there. Williams was too happy to run into the space for his runners or watch the forwards take it for negative carries.

Williams is an experienced 9. He's got to boss those situations. Killer not to score.

Tigerandahalf

Munster are like a copy of SA. Bash it up continuously, have a rest with the ball at the bacl of the ruck and go again. What is Felix Jones coaching them as you never see any backline moves either.

Anyone else's stream going down?

Clegg

Munster should not be losing with this team out. Like they just have a problem with underperforming when they've a strong side out. It's happened too often in the last few seasons.

thomond2006

Why are they taking the points?!

razorblunt

That’s a hell of a an advantage.

razorblunt

razorblunt wrote: »

The decision to continually carry it tight is pathetic. .

I don't know how you can watch what these lads do, even when they do it badly and consider it 'pathetic'. I'd reserve a description like that for when someone badly loses the head, not just for when they are losing the game.

Tigerandahalf

Munster's hand skills are so poor especially in the pack. Cronin, Sherry and Archer are just going nowhere - constant unforced errors.

razorblunt

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why are they taking the points?!

Because e they’re a poor enough team that really don’t know what they’re doing either. They’ve just been out ****housed by Munster this evening.

Buer

Anscombe has been very good. Not just goal kicking but the territorial kicking. He has moved Cardiff down into Munster areas a few times with good kicks, finding grass. JJH is not a good positional 15....allows a lot of space back there to aim at.

Akrasia

nothing is working for them tonight.

It's like a repeat of last year. Horrible away form.

razorblunt

I thought Kilcoyne got hit by a massive no arms shoulder earlier for the turnover.

I don’t think it would have made a difference at all but the officials have been awful.

OldRio

Good grief this is not good.

c.p.w.g.w

razorblunt wrote: »

I thought Kilcoyne got hit by a massive no arms shoulder earlier for the turnover.

I don’t think it would have made a difference at all but the officials have been awful.

The ref has missed so much, that no arm hit on kilcoyne was blatant

budhabob

The ref may have been poor, but it'd made little or no difference to the score, Munster has been woeful tonight!

Clegg

Munster are a poorly coached side. Talent all throughout the side but no pattern of play. Jones and Van Graan have spoken about developing the skills of the players over the last 12 months but that isn't evidenced by what we see on the pitch.

Buer

That sums it up.

thomond2006

Two awful performances away from home. The wins have come against the Cheetahs and Ospreys B. Worrying.

OldRio

Deary deary me. That was dreadful. Woeful.

razorblunt

What a way to end.

evolving tipperary

The time for form is not now - i never trust the beginning of the Pro14 form. Yes, that was woeful. But a long season yet. Not worried just yet.

Pepp1989

evolving tipperary wrote:

The time for form is not now - i never trust the beginning of the Pro14 form. Yes, that was woeful. But a long season yet. Not worried just yet.

I don't know how you could have watched that performance and not be worried. It's as poor as I've seen them in a long time. They picked a strong team and were embarrassed.

Henry Ford III

Henry Ford III wrote:

Cardiff will be hurting after 3 narrow losses. A home win is vital for them. They are a decent team and are at full strength too. Good centres.

I should be in the papers rivalling Mystic Meg.

Tigerandahalf

evolving tipperary wrote: »

The time for form is not now - i never trust the beginning of the Pro14 form. Yes, that was woeful. But a long season yet. Not worried just yet.

That is true. You only have to look at Glasgow last season who started brilliantly and then went nowhere.

But the bigger issue for Munster is their style of play and their skills level. They are still very reliant on one out receivers and rucking the ball up, going through multiple phases. It works fine if you bring aggression and accuracy but it is difficult to do it week after week. They really need to start letting the backline have a cut.

I am not hugely convinced by Scannell at 12. Joey Carberry definitely has that bit of spark but he still has his fair share of mistakes in him. Conway looks very good and with Earls and Sweetmam they could make up the back 3.

They still have some passengers in Sherry, Archer, Cronin and Duncan Williams at 9. I think Botha will come into the backrow for Cloete as POM and Stander could do a lot of the turnover work but in fairness Botha would have more of an impact off the bench. Outside of Kilcoyne and Beirne there isn't a huge amount of pace in that pack.

evolving tipperary

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

That is true. You only have to look at Glasgow last season who started brilliantly and then went nowhere.

But the bigger issue for Munster is their style of play and their skills level. They are still very reliant on one out receivers and rucking the ball up, going through multiple phases. It works fine if you bring aggression and accuracy but it is difficult to do it week after week. They really need to start letting the backline have a cut.

I am not hugely convinced by Scannell at 12. Joey Carberry definitely has that bit of spark but he still has his fair share of mistakes in him. Conway looks very good and with Earls and Sweetmam they could make up the back 3.

They still have some passengers in Sherry, Archer, Cronin and Duncan Williams at 9. I think Botha will come into the backrow for Cloete as POM and Stander could do a lot of the turnover work but in fairness Botha would have more of an impact off the bench. Outside of Kilcoyne and Beirne there isn't a huge amount of pace in that pack.

Yes, tonight's performance also points towards the HUGE importance of Murray. He is Munster's best player by some distance. One of the best in the world.

shootermacg

Blues didn't blow us away on the wing, didn't beat us on the overlap, didn't do anything special. They beat us because we missed tackles. Not going to name names, but falling off tackles on 1st phase just isn't good enough.

Tigerandahalf

Cardiff looked good tonight in fairness. It highlights how much the Italians have stepped up.

Their scrumhalf looked pretty good and with Anscombe at 10 they look solid there. They have a decent pack and Arhip is a solid TH who will be there all season. Navidi, Jenkins (who captained Wales in Argentima) and Nick Williams is a very solid backrow. Good centres and their back 3 have tries in them.

Interested Observer

I only saw the second half but could really believe how poor Munster were. It was a strong team selected as well.

kuang1

thomond2006 wrote: »

Two awful performances away from home. The wins have come against the Cheetahs and Ospreys B. Worrying.

You're the right man to ask....
I didn't get to see the game last night. I'm surprised at the scoreline tbh.
What went wrong in your opinion?

twinytwo

Ill never understand how pro players can play so badly. Even under 12's could manage to put some back plays together....uCloete looked to be the only one trying.