Scarlets vs Munster, Sat 3rd Oct 3pm; Eir Sport & TG4

thomond2006

Scarlets:

15 Leigh Halfpenny; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Steff Hughes, 11 Steff Evans; 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens (capt), 3 Werner Kruger, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Josh Macleod, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Phil Price, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 James Davies, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Tyler Morgan.

Unavailable because of injury:

Liam Williams (foot), Rob Evans (neck), Johnny McNicholl (ankle), Samson Lee (head), Josh Helps (ribs), Daf Hughes (knee), Alex Jeffries (elbow), Tomi Lewis (knee), Steff Thomas (knee), Aaron Shingler.

Munster:
Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Darren Sweetnam; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey;
James Cronin, Rhys Marshall, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Jeremy Loughman, Stephen Archer, Fineen Wycherley, Gavin Coombes, Neil Cronin, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Very interesting lineup. Niall Scannell missing out after poor form last season. It's a big game for that back five as it's an area Munster have struggled in and a few youngsters are pushing for spots. The backrow of POM-CJ-JOD is retained and they need a big game as that trio has tended to struggle, though Stander has been in impressive nick since the restart. We do have youth on the bench in the back five with Wycherley and Coombes selected ahead of veterans like Holland and TOD.

Casey at 9 is a no-brainer. JJ probably keeps Healy out due to it being a tricky away game but Healy is pushing hard. Shane Daly is injured and Sweetnam comes onto the wing. Rory Scannell is preferred as a bench option over a Nash or Coombes.

It's a tricky game to call. Scarlets are missing a few big names.

Boscoirl

its good to see Healy named on the bench rather going with Scannell as cover.

Looking forward to seeing what Casey can do from the start, hopefully he'll be allowed inject the pace he brings to the game, and not made box kick incessantly. i dont think i can go through another year of that

thomond2006

The weather forecast is biblical. Casey will likely have a day in the trenches.

yerrahbah

Plenty of Jackals in that side.

Cronin, Beirne, POM and Stander are very good over the ball.

With the weather conditions it will probably be an arm wrestle with DDA and Farrell running hard lines in midfield

We probably wont see much expansive gameplay

Loughman, Whycherley and Coombes offer good impact off the bench

Delighted to see Sweetnam back playing, a fine player who has had bad luck with injuries lately

lawrencesummers

Weather is brutal here.
Good chance of an error strewn 80 mins.

Burkie1203

Wtf was that from Casey

ScrubsfanChris

Have TG4 intentionally blocked viewing the online player because of Eir?

Grand on the tv obviously but web and apps are "not available in your region"
What region? Ireland?

And before anyone asks, no its not a VPN issue

razorblunt

Ball just going to lie there I guess.

awec

Was POM genuinely trying to argue he wasn’t off his feet there? :pac:

He had practically mounted the guy on the ground at one point.

awec

awec wrote: »

Was POM genuinely trying to argue he wasn’t off his feet there? :pac:

He had practically mounted the guy on the ground at one point.

He grabbed the guy from the ground then after

lawrencesummers

Another ref with his own take on the breakdown.
Rolling away very optional.


Gonna be a long day of box kicking by the looks of it

Burkie1203

awec wrote: »

Was POM genuinely trying to argue he wasn’t off his feet there? :pac:

He had practically mounted the guy on the ground at one point.

Yeah bizarre
He practically scrambled across the top of the Scarlets player.

Munster devoid of any creativity so far

Clegg

Munster have been dreadful.

First meaningful attack they had was box kicked from one metre outside Scarlets 22.

budhabob

Messy display from Munster so far. Gonna be a long day at this rate

Clegg

POM's lack of discipline is telling. Not started the game well at all.

Clegg

Feck was that from JOD? Told multiple times by the ref to get ouyr of that maul and instead pulls it down in front of the ref.

awec

Good grief, pulling the maul down right in front of the ref.

ScrubsfanChris

Another brain dead penalty

razorblunt

No excuses for JOD, just brainless stuff.

Pretty physical contest.

Munster need the next score though

ScrubsfanChris

Talk about taking the long way around

Scarletts asleep

Dwarf.Shortage

Absolute J1 rugby try

Not that it was low quality, clinical by Munster but jaysis was very scrappy.

Clegg

Owens made a meal of that block.

Kleyn is allowed continue his line back too.

razorblunt

Lovely try.

Not sure how Scarlets claimed the ball in the floor but the tackler deliberately rolled into the direction of the Munster forwards.

Akrasia

Great movement all create by Haley's offload in the tackle

ScrubsfanChris

Clegg wrote: »

Owens made a meal of that block.

Kleyn is allowed continue his line back too.

Wasn't expecting to see a dive like that until Match of the Day

lawrencesummers

Scarlets doing a great job of not rolling away at every second breakdown. Won’t be long before someone decides to use the boot if the ref won’t use the whistle.

Akrasia

razorblunt wrote: »

Lovely try.

Not sure how Scarlets claimed the ball in the floor but the tackler deliberately rolled into the direction of the Munster forwards.

yeah there were a couple of blatant infringements in that breakdown by the scarlets. Munster are lucky the ref didn't see them

lawrencesummers

Nothing wrong with that handoff between 8-7 at the scrum.

This ref is living up to the billing of every PRO14 ref.

Clegg

I'd feel a bit aggrieved by that call if I were a Scarlets fan. Didn't look like their 7 was in front of the 8 for that pass.

Clegg

Just give Blade Thompson motm now

ScrubsfanChris

Shambolic couple of phases there

Clegg

Scarlets have Munster spooked at the lineout.

Squidgy Black

Really poor miss from JJ there unfortunately

Clegg

Poor conditions are playing their part, but Munster are still very poor at building an attack. Their try was a counter from their own half. Everything else is a simple carry from a forward into a set defence.

kingofthekong

What a surprise Jj Hanrahan still can’t kick , not sure how long you can persist with a journeyman flyhalf who can’t get the clutch kicks, even if Healy was missing these he’s only 20 and there’s room for improvement ....jj isn’t going to get any better

yerrahbah

Frustrating half.

Box kicking in their 22
A kick from Haley blocked giving up 70m and eventually 3 points.
Silly YC for O'Mahony
One or two blown lineouts
JJ missing a getable penalty just before HT

Still in it but will have to improve

eigrod

Ffs JJ

Burkie1203

JJH 🙄

Akrasia

feck

eigrod

This is a horror show from Munster. Awful stuff

Akrasia

Not rolling away?? very very soft penalty

Burkie1203

Akrasia wrote: »

Not rolling away?? very very soft penalty

He gave very similar one against Scarlets 5 min ago.

Utah_Saint

The Scarlets 10 spun the ball on the ground before kick off. I'm assuming so it was wet and harder to catch...?!

ScrubsfanChris

Missing penalties and giving them away too, great skill

Burkie1203

Utah_Saint wrote: »

The Scarlets 10 spun the ball on the ground before kick off. I'm assuming so it was wet and harder to catch...?!

Yeah get some wet grass on the ball too

degsie

Munster discipline in sh1t!

Clegg

JOD isn't a 7. He's a blindside that's shoehorned into the side because Munster dont want to drop POM even though his performances deserve it.

Burkie1203

JvG needs to get Healy on

lawrencesummers

Jonathan Davies turnover could be given the other way for not releasing as the tackler.