Monday Night Rugby: Munster vs Cardiff Blues, Monday 26th October 8:15pm

thomond2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-AlmNdESg

Rugby on a Monday!

Munster:
Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Darren Sweetnam; Ben Healy, Craig Casey;
James Cronin, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland ©; Jack O’Donoghue, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Rhys Marshall, Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Jean Kleyn, Chris Cloete, Nick McCarthy, JJ Hanrahan, Damian de Allende.

Cardiff Blues:
M Morgan; A Summerhill, R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo, H Amos; J Evans, L Williams (capt);
C Domachowski, K Dacey, D Arhip, B Murphy, R Thornton, J Ratti, J Botham, O Robinson.

Replacements: E Lewis, B Thyer, S Andrews, S Moore, A Lawrence, L Jones, J Tovey, G Smith

Limerick hosts a top of the table Conference B clash with both sides winning their opening two games. Munster emerge unscathed after two tricky opening games against Scarlets and Edinburgh. Cardiff made hard work of Zebre in Parma before putting Connacht to the sword on home soil.

shootermacg

Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Darren Sweetnam; Ben Healy, Craig Casey; James Cronin, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland ©; Jack O’Donoghue, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Rhys Marshall, Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Jean Kleyn, Chris Cloete, Nick McCarthy, JJ Hanrahan, Damian de Allende.

thomond2006

Cardiff Blues: M Morgan; A Summerhill, R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo, H Amos; J Evans, L Williams (capt); C Domachowski, K Dacey, D Arhip, B Murphy, R Thornton, J Ratti, J Botham, O Robinson.

Replacements: E Lewis, B Thyer, S Andrews, S Moore, A Lawrence, L Jones, J Tovey, G Smith

yerrahbah

Josh Wycherley will be looking to make his debut from the bench

R.Scannell ahead of DDA? Perhaps for an extra kicking option to help out Healy

Coombes at 8 is an interesting one, don't think he has started there before

Average age of our 6,7,8,9 and 10 is 22.

Two sub props are aged 22 and 21

14 of the 15 starting are "home grown"


The two Cardiff centres have caused us plenty of trouble in the past, Healy, Scannell and Goggin will need to be sharp defensively

mogwai81

I always saw O’Donoghue as an 8 that didn’t get much game time there due to CJ, but with Coombes ( a natural 6) starting at 8 on Monday I guess O’Donoghue is no longer seen as an 8. He seemed like a skilful 8 when he first broke through.

TomsOnTheRoof

I really don't understand why Scannell is starting ahead of DDA. A centre pairing of DDA and Goggin would be much more likely to cause Cardiff trouble. Rory is a hard worker but jesus the gap between himself and de Allende is night and day.

shootermacg

mogwai81 wrote: »

I always saw O’Donoghue as an 8 that didn’t get much game time there due to CJ, but with Coombes ( a natural 6) starting at 8 on Monday I guess O’Donoghue is no longer seen as an 8. He seemed like a skilful 8 when he first broke through.

Coombes is a very strong ball carrier. JoD is pretty much a six these days.

Paul Smeenus

Impressively young team. Great to see such faith being shown in them - a solid win here would do massive amounts for their confidence. Might find the Blues tricky though - they seem to be rebuilding well themselves.

thomond2006

I'm not as confident as the bookmakers giving Munster an 11 point advantage but the bench does have big names. I'm looking forward to seeing Wycherley and Salanoa on. Once we hit December all of Cronin, Kilcoyne, Archer and Ryan will be 30+ and the future without some/all of them isn't far away.

thomond2006

https://www.munsterrugby.ie/2020/10/26/match-programme-munster-v-cardiff-blues/

The digital match programme is published here.

thomond2006

Not the best start. The last pass for the try looked marginal.

thomond2006

That's as clear a yellow as you'll see.

theVersatile

Now THAT'S an attempted trip

The Lost Sheep

thomond2006 wrote: »

That's as clear a yellow as you'll see.

Completely idiotic.

And try for Coombes.

aloooof

Some nice passing phases in the build up to that.

Buer

The lack of consistency is maddening in terms of the new rules. This is like a different sport with how much is being let go at the breakdown.

budhabob

Don't understand the apparent hate for R. scannell. He has been a very solid centre for us for some time but used in a limited system. He has all the skills so Im looking forward to seeing him play with a little more freedom.

randomname2005

What was that penalty for?

sioda

Not supporting weight seemingly

thomond2006

budhabob wrote: »

Don't understand the apparent hate for R. scannell. He has been a very solid centre for us for some time but used in a limited system. He has all the skills so Im looking forward to seeing him play with a little more freedom.

Playing with little freedom has been an issue. He tends to play like a bosher when he isn't one.

randomname2005

sioda wrote: »

Not supporting weight seemingly

Will be expecting that level of consistency all night

budhabob

thomond2006 wrote: »

Playing with little freedom has been an issue. He tends to play like a bosher when he isn't one.

But that's like calling out Murray for the box kick, it was the system they were playing in. He has a lovely pass and kick and reasonable pace / strength.

thomond2006

budhabob wrote: »

But that's like calling out Murray for the box kick, it was the system they were playing in. He has a lovely pass and kick and reasonable pace / strength.

Agreed.

sioda

budhabob wrote: »

Don't understand the apparent hate for R. scannell. He has been a very solid centre for us for some time but used in a limited system. He has all the skills so Im looking forward to seeing him play with a little more freedom.

It's the moustache I'd say. Im like yourself think he's excellent for us and reliable with a cannon of a boot

randomname2005

Nice try!

budhabob

Coombes should have driven for the line there off the first drive. Does he have much aggression? He's a physical monster in any case.

thomond2006

Some night for Wesht Cork bai.

ScrubsfanChris

What’s Holland supposed to do there? Morgan falls forward head first onto Holland’s arm.....

razorblunt

Morgan lost his footing right in front of Holland whilst sprinting. Holland can’t make himself disappear.

Akrasia

Liam Toland just says such a mountain of nonsense

I suppose it’s a good simulation of sitting beside that blowhard at the bar who thinks he knows better than everyone else

randomname2005

razorblunt wrote: »

Morgan lost his footing right in front of Holland whilst sprinting. Holland can’t make himself disappear.

Nope but works both ways, will see it many times before they go back to something more sensible

leakyboots

Liam Toland is hard work

budhabob

Some decent pace and passing from the Munster pack. Good to see.

thomond2006

Some great rugby being played.

ScrubsfanChris

Dubious high shot penalty, but that evens it out now

leakyboots

budhabob wrote: »

Don't understand the apparent hate for R. scannell. He has been a very solid centre for us for some time but used in a limited system. He has all the skills so Im looking forward to seeing him play with a little more freedom.

sioda wrote: »

It's the moustache I'd say. Im like yourself think he's excellent for us and reliable with a cannon of a boot

Same, think he's a fine player for us. Having a good game tonight

Locke_Lamora

I doubted whether Hodnett's carrying would be effective at this level (especially not this soon) as he looked like he was punching above his weight even at u20 level, but he's certainly been handy so far.

leakyboots

Great to see us trying to keep the ball alive in the tackle, Coombes is having a big game at 8 and Hodnett also

OldRio

Letting Cardiff back into the game with poor discipline. Very frustrating.

yerrahbah

Defense really poor for the Blues try.

Cronin having a fine game.

Great to see the team put some width on the ball, offloads, tip-on passes

2nd Coombes try was dubious...

A lot of the blues kicking seems aimless

aloooof

It’s been pretty encouraging, even more so as a lot of it is coming from the young lads in the forwards. Wycherley, Hodnett and Coombes all with offloads so far I think. Healy with a couple of lovely skip passes. Even 2 pop passes from the deck.

sioda

Cronin is all over their break down excellent play

leakyboots

Is that James Cronin's third turnover on the deck? He's been popping up with distribution too, having a good game

thomond2006

James Cronin is MOTM so far.

leakyboots

A very sexy maul

razorblunt

Locke_Lamora wrote: »

I doubted whether Hodnett's carrying would be effective at this level (especially not this soon) as he looked like he was punching above his weight even at u20 level, but he's certainly been handy so far.

He runs hard, he runs fast and more often than not he runs at space. There’s always room for players like that .

Akrasia

thomond2006 wrote: »

James Cronin is MOTM so far.

Great maul try

thomond2006

KOB scores the try his haircut deserves.

leakyboots

Scannell and Haley very poor there

sioda

Soft try to give away

Buer

I didn't realise Mike Haley has been training with Stockdale?