Munster vs Leinster, Sat 28th Dec 6pm, EirSport

thomond2006

Ah ****, here we go again.

The conference leaders face off in Thomond Park. Lineups TBA today.

sydthebeat

Another stroll in the park for Leinsters kids...

sioda

Munster: Mike Haley; Dan Goggin, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly; JJ Hanrahan, Nick McCarthy; Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland (C); Tommy O’Donnell, Chris Cloete, Jack O’Donoghue.

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Jeremy Loughman, Keynan Knox, Darren O’Shea, Jack O’Sullivan, Neil Cronin, Joey Carbery, Calvin Nash.

Nice to see Joey back if just bench warming

lotmc

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):

15. Hugo Keenan (11)
14. Adam Byrne (56)
13. Jimmy O’Brien (13)
12. Conor O’Brien (21)
11. James Lowe (38)
10. Ross Byrne (81)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (82)
1. Ed Byrne (50)
2. James Tracy (103)
3. Andrew Porter (59)
4. Devin Toner (241)
5. Scott Fardy (53) CAPTAIN
6. Josh Murphy (29)
7. Will Connors (11)
8. Caelan Doris (25)

16. Seán Cronin (174)
17. Peter Dooley (69)
18. Jack Aungier (2)
19. Ross Molony (89)
20. Scott Penny (10)
21. Rowan Osborne (2)
22. Ciarán Frawley (18)
23. Tommy O’Brien (1)

Clegg

Awec

Strange teams there. Not like two years ago when Leinster sent the kids to a fully loaded Munster and spanked them. Nor is it like last year's when fullish strength sides went at it. But disappointing to see two shadow sides.

At a neutral venue I'd say Leinster would be favourites. The level of coaching they receive is incredible and I've seen patchwork teams go out there and put 40 on the opposition. Everyone knows what they're doing. But Munster at home will always have the advantage.

sydthebeat

Have Neil and Sean ever played against each other before??

Former Former

While we knew this was coming, I'm very annoyed by those teams. It's a joke at this point.

Buer

Leinster have the fractionally better line up but home advantage and sympathy should swing it for Munster.

Venjur

Awec

Hopefully Munster can back up their silverware from last season with a dominant performance tomorrow.

sydthebeat

Former Former wrote: »

While we knew this was coming, I'm very annoyed by those teams. It's a joke at this point.

Especially when you look at the teams Edinburgh and Glasgow are putting out.

molloyjh

sydthebeat wrote: »

Especially when you look at the teams Edinburgh and Glasgow are putting out.

In fairness, would you rather support Ireland + an Irish province or Scotland + Glasgow/Edinburgh? I get what people are upset about, but the player welfare thing is working really well for us overall, both at provincial level and national level. If the cost of that is under understrength interpros from time to time I'd rather pay that price than have ful strength derbies with feck all to cheer for when it really matters.

sydthebeat

molloyjh wrote: »

In fairness, would you rather support Ireland + an Irish province or Scotland + Glasgow/Edinburgh? I get what people are upset about, but the player welfare thing is working really well for us overall, both at provincial level and national level. If the cost of that is under understrength interpros from time to time I'd rather pay that price than have ful strength derbies with feck all to cheer for when it really matters.

I dunno.. Leinster and munster are going to p!ss it easy to home semis in the Pro14... They both could afford to rest their big dogs for practically any of their league games this season.

The value of weakened sides at this time of year is completely negligible in my opinion, other than keeping the internationals sweet with a sun holiday.

stephen_n

Well we knew there would be no internationals involved, so it’s as strong as you could expect with what’s left. For all the giving out, the game is a sell out, so the selections don’t seem to deter that. I’d expect it to be a good game given the teams.

tototoe

molloyjh wrote: »

I get what people are upset about, but the player welfare thing is working really well for us overall, both at provincial level and national level. .

Not sure I'd agree tbh. The world cup was a disaster, last 6 nations pretty similar. It's keeping some players in the country but that's about all. Wrapping the likes of sexton and Murray in bubble wrap hasn't achieved much recently imo. It does devalue the pro14 and one of the reasons most of the general public are completely uninterested in the league.

sydthebeat

stephen_n wrote: »

Well we knew there would be no internationals involved, so it’s as strong as you could expect with what’s left. For all the giving out, the game is a sell out, so the selections don’t seem to deter that. I’d expect it to be a good game given the teams.

It would sell out with the u14s playing.... It's an event for fans, the teams and the result count for sh!t.

As long as that remains, things won't change.

But "one of the biggest rivalries in the story" is a load of bollix to be fair.

budhabob

Buer wrote: »

Leinster have the fractionally better line up but home advantage and sympathy should swing it for Munster.

Really, I thought Munster had a better team

yerrahbah

Haven't seen much of Sam Arnold this season, a great chance for him to make an impact

thomond2006

Leinster

Goggin on the wing is an odd call, considering Nash was available.

Big game for Sam Arnold, he's in a contract year. Wycherley too gets an opportunity to push for a spot in the 23.

molloyjh

tototoe wrote: »

Not sure I'd agree tbh. The world cup was a disaster, last 6 nations pretty similar. It's keeping some players in the country but that's about all. Wrapping the likes of sexton and Murray in bubble wrap hasn't achieved much recently imo. It does devalue the pro14 and one of the reasons most of the general public are completely uninterested in the league.

This is the very definition of short term. The last 15 or so years has been by far the most successful in Irelands history. We've competed with great consistency against teams we couldnt buy wins against for decades. We're incomparable to the team we were. And we're still on that upward trajectory as we continue to develop depth across the park. Games like this have a big part to play in that.

molloyjh

budhabob wrote: »

Really, I thought Munster had a better team

Really? The Leinster front 5, half backs and the back 3 is strong. The only real area of concern for Leinster would be the centres. The back row is young but has performed very well this season. And even considering the third string centres, both performed really well away to a strong Glasgow side. I definitely think the Leinster line-up has a slight edge on paper.

phog

Best team we could have hoped for the way the IRFU insisted that the W/Cup payers needed 2 consecutive weeks off, thankfully, we got a win last week as I think we could lose this game and again in Belfast next week.

Strange to see Goggin on the wing as I can't recall seeing him start there for us before.

Frank Murphy is the ref again, something I'm not too happy with but with it being an Irish ref then I then I think we probably got the best of the lot.

thomond2006

Leinster

Pity that Sexton won't be playing, since he's scared of Wycherley.

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

I dunno.. Leinster and munster are going to p!ss it easy to home semis in the Pro14... They both could afford to rest their big dogs for practically any of their league games this season.

The value of weakened sides at this time of year is completely negligible in my opinion, other than keeping the internationals sweet with a sun holiday.

If results go a certain way over the next week or so Munster could find themselves in 4th place in their conference so I wouldn't say a home semi is anywhere near a formality for them.

You know what last week's Leinster v Ulster game was a lot of fun, but it's not what these games should be about.

I'm quietly hopeful we will get 1st choice teams next week...certainly the Ulster v Munster game is set up that way. With the greatest respect to Connacht, Leinster probably don't need to go full strength against them.

sydthebeat

bilston wrote: »

If results go a certain way over the next week or so Munster could find themselves in 4th place in their conference so I wouldn't say a home semi is anywhere near a formality for them.

You know what last week's Leinster v Ulster game was a lot of fun, but it's not what these games should be about.

I'm quietly hopeful we will get 1st choice teams next week...certainly the Ulster v Munster game is set up that way. With the greatest respect to Connacht, Leinster probably don't need to go full strength against them.

Munster are 2/9 to win conference B.

It doesn't really matter how the next few weeks go, munster are going to romp home on top of conference B.

Scarlets only look good because the rest of the Welsh are muck. Treviso have been incredibly disappointing this year, the narrow score games are going against them, rather than for them like last year.
Connacht are inconsistent at best, about 5 players shy of challenging for top honours.

It would be a much greater indication of the strength of munster / leinster / ulster's squads to put out the seconds at home to their conf challengers.

Putting out shadow sides against each other at this time of year does nothing only give the test players holiday time.

tototoe

molloyjh wrote: »

This is the very definition of short term. The last 15 or so years has been by far the most successful in Irelands history. We've competed with great consistency against teams we couldnt buy wins against for decades. We're incomparable to the team we were. And we're still on that upward trajectory as we continue to develop depth across the park. Games like this have a big part to play in that.

Not sure i see that upward trajectory this year but lets see what farrell brings to the table and how we go in the 6n. We have had a good run for sure but the wc tells its own story too.

Richie_Rich89

Awec

I'd say only seven or eight of that Munster team would make the Leinster XV that's been named.

thomond2006

Leinster

salmocab

I’m not bothered by these selections really, bragging rights are nice but in the grand scheme the points on offer are the same as any other match. If Irish teams are in the mix at the end of the season and the 6nations goes well then it’s a small price.

Buer

If Munster's performance is at the level of Thomond's banter, they're f*cked.

thomond2006

Leinster

Buer wrote: »

If Munster's performance is at the level of Thomond's banter, they're f*cked.

Feck off Buer.

stephen_n