Munster vs Toulouse, Sat 3rd April 3:00pm; BT Sport 3

Saturday 3rd April 2021
3.00pm
Heineken Champions Cup - Round 5 - Round of 16
Thomond Park

Munster|

-

|Toulouse
Haley|

15

|Medard
Conway|

14

|Kolbe
Farrell|

13

|Holmes
De Allende|

12

|Ahki
Earls|

11

|Lebel
Carbery|

10

|Ntamack
Murray|

9

|Dupont
Stander (c)|

8

|Kaino
O'Donoghue|

7

|Tolofua
Coombes|

6

|Cros
Beirne|

5

|Ri. Arnold
Kleyn|

4

|Ro. Arnold
Archer|

3

|Faumuina
Scannell|

2

|Marchand
Kilcoyne|

1

|Baille
-|

-

|-
O'Byrne|

16

|Mauvaka
Cronin|

17

|Castets
Ryan|

18

|Aldegheri
Holland|

19

|Tekori
Wycherley|

20

|Flament
Casey|

21

|Placines
Hanrahan|

22

|Germain
Cloete|

23

|Delibes


Ref: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assis Ref 1: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Assis Ref 2: Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)

Head-to-Head Record
Munster|

Draws

|Toulouse
4|

0

|2

yerrahbah

Killer in for Cronin was to be expected
Archer in for Ryan is much of a muchness
JOD in for POM due to injury
Great to see Wycherley back after what could have been a really nasty injury

6-2 split on the bench possible due to the workload Beirne and Stander have had the last few weeks, possibly because they are expecting a big forward performance from Toulouse.

Earls will have his hands full with Kolbe.

Not overly optimistic, Toulouse are a fantastic side, but we should see some sort of response from the players after last weeks performance

theVersatile

TOULOUSE SECOND ROWS
Richie Arnold: 2.08 m, 127 kg
Rory Arnold: 2.08 m, 120 kg
Joe Tekori: 1.98 m, 131 kg

Holy mother of God.

hahashake

Identical twin second row, that's unique.

Jeez that's a good Toulouse side.

2smiggy

Munster 13/10 at home to a French team. A bit surprised to see that. I'd still be fairly confident in Munster winning.

thomond2006

There was never going to be crazy surgery on the lineup. That needs to happen in the Rainbow Cup. Great to see Wycherley back after that worrying injury against Benetton.

I'm happy with the 6-2 split as putting Rory Scannell on the bench for token minutes only never made sense to me.

Dave_The_Sheep

That's it. Rub it in.

Oh look at us, we have a Champions Cup game, oooh.

thomond2006

https://twitter.com/neil_treacy/status/1377981773263540228

An interesting tidbit!

PTH2009

Munster will have to be at our very best to win tomorrow

Akrasia

I don't have a good feeling about this

We'll have to punch above our weight tomorrow to win this

Ntamack, Kolbe and Dupont, 3 of the most talented and on form players in their positions in the world against Carberry, Conway and Murray... None of these players are at the top of their game

PTH2009

Akrasia wrote: »

I don't have a good feeling about this

We'll have to punch above our weight tomorrow to win this

Ntamack, Kolbe and Dupont, 3 of the most talented and on form players in their positions in the world against Carberry, Conway and Murray... None of these players are at the top of their game

JVG will come under enormous pressure if we get a hammering tomorrow i feel

ElisaAtWar

Is there a reason why any Munster fan might expect a win tomorrow. And really if you did think so, on what basis would you think so. Is there something to suggest such an outcome. If so I have not seen it.

There was a lashback after Axel but that fire has died. And Van Graan is a complete waste of space. The ability is there, but the slow distribution is killing any life in this team.

Murray, for the first time in recent history, challenged the Leinster line last week. I was in utter shock.

It would break your heart watching the break down breaking down because of this guy's slow play. And Munster is defined by this nonsense these days

Akrasia

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Is there a reason why any Munster fan might expect a win tomorrow. And really if you did think so, on what basis would you think so. Is there something to suggest such an outcome. If so I have not seen it.

There was a lashback after Axel but that fire has died. And Van Graan is a complete waste of space. The ability is there, but the slow distribution is killing any life in this team.

Murray, for the first time in recent history, challenged the Leinster line last week. I was in utter shock.

It would break your heart watching the break down breaking down because of this guy's slow play. And Munster is defined by this nonsense these days

I’m guessing you’re not a Munster fan yourself and haven’t watched any Munster games apart from last week

Munster have had a really good season and one match away from home in awful conditions against the best team in the league where half the team had just returned from international duty may not be enough to fully judge our capabilities

sebdavis

Akrasia wrote: »

I’m guessing you’re not a Munster fan yourself and haven’t watched any Munster games apart from last week

Munster have had a really good season and one match away from home in awful conditions against the best team in the league where half the team had just returned from international duty may not be enough to fully judge our capabilities

Have they had a really good season?

In Pro14 they didn't really put a fight v Leinster. In Europe they stumbled against a fairly poor Quins team. The Clermont game was a great win I do agree but after getting hammered for the first few mins it was like Clermont turned off

Their season will be deemed good or bad based on this result today. If they lose I don't think anyone could claim this as a good season for Munster. Maybe I am wrong?

Akrasia

sebdavis wrote: »

Have they had a really good season?

In Pro14 they didn't really put a fight v Leinster. In Europe they stumbled against a fairly poor Quins team. The Clermont game was a great win I do agree but after getting hammered for the first few mins it was like Clermont turned off

Their season will be deemed good or bad based on this result today. If they lose I don't think anyone could claim this as a good season for Munster. Maybe I am wrong?

We lost 3 games all season including losing to Leinster in the final last week

Beating Clermont away from home in that manner was a classic Munster performance and if we can show that today we do have a chance at home to Toulouse today

sebdavis

Akrasia wrote: »

We lost 3 games all season including losing to Leinster in the final last week

Beating Clermont away from home in that manner was a classic Munster performance and if we can show that today we do have a chance at home to Toulouse today

The Pro final quality is hardly the highest quality

If leinster lose next week the season will be seen as a failure. I am not sure how you can say it is a success if Munster lose today. Hopefully they don't

yosser hughes

Akrasia wrote: »

We lost 3 games all season including losing to Leinster in the final last week

Beating Clermont away from home in that manner was a classic Munster performance and if we can show that today we do have a chance at home to Toulouse today

I agree, the Clermont match shows what Munster are capable of and should surely give them some belief.

Akrasia

sebdavis wrote: »

The Pro final quality is hardly the highest quality

If leinster lose next week the season will be seen as a failure. I am not sure how you can say it is a success if Munster lose today. Hopefully they don't

You asked if There was any reason Munster fans think we can win today. I replied that we have had a good season so far, obviously it would be a major downer to get eliminated from Europe at the Last 16 stage, but we do have a reason to believe we can win today and we can judge if the season was successful after all the results are in

We topped our conference in the league, won all our pool games in Europe and now it’s the business end of the season

thomond2006

Dupont and Ntamack were part of a French horror show against Scotland. A similar showing today and Munster can certainly win.

Former Former Former

yosser hughes wrote: »

I agree, the Clermont match shows what Munster are capable of and should surely give them some belief.

It did require a shocking implosion from Clermont and it's hard to see Toulouse doing likewise if they get a big lead.

But they won't, Munster will win today.

thomond2006

Former Former Former wrote: »

But they won't, Munster will win today.

theVersatile

Winner plays Clermont

thomond2006

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Is there a reason why any Munster fan might expect a win tomorrow. And really if you did think so, on what basis would you think so. Is there something to suggest such an outcome. If so I have not seen it.

There was a lashback after Axel but that fire has died. And Van Graan is a complete waste of space. The ability is there, but the slow distribution is killing any life in this team.

Murray, for the first time in recent history, challenged the Leinster line last week. I was in utter shock.

It would break your heart watching the break down breaking down because of this guy's slow play. And Munster is defined by this nonsense these days

#4amtakes

Dubinusa

Munster can win this. There's no reason why they can't. They certainly have the ability and after last week, they must surely have a stick up their ass. I predict a 3 point Munster win. Come on the Boggers and boks.

molloyjh

Akrasia wrote: »

I’m guessing you’re not a Munster fan yourself and haven’t watched any Munster games apart from last week

Munster have had a really good season and one match away from home in awful conditions against the best team in the league where half the team had just returned from international duty may not be enough to fully judge our capabilities

Awful conditions? The conditions weren't ideal, but neither were they awful. Far from it. And both teams had to play the same conditions. Half the team back from international duty? You had 6 of 23 back from international duty compared to Leinster who had 15 of 23 back from international duty. Even if you look at the starting 15s it's 6 for Munster and 10 for Leinster.

Whatever about the merits of either point above, those seem to be 2 very odd factors to call out about last week. Munster are up against a team in the same calibre as the one they faced last week. The Clermont game can give them hope that they can compete, but if anything your point about 1 game rings true here. What other game this season have Munster gone up against top class opposition and won?

Eod100

Hon Munster! Looks like a cracker of a day in Limerick

Faugheen

Dupont and Ntamack are ridiculous.

The Inbetween is mine

As long as Barnes is consistent with penalties and cards, that's ok

The absolute state of that. Win a turnover on their 10 and you ****ing box kick it.

Burkie1203

Box kicking on the oppo 22

W

T

F

Dave_The_Sheep

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

As long as Barnes is consistent with penalties and cards, that's ok

You're lining this one up a bit early, aren't you?

Faugheen

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

As long as Barnes is consistent with penalties and cards, that's ok

Giving away three penalties in quick succession in the red zone is as stonewall a card that you will ever see.

Larbre34

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

As long as Barnes is consistent with penalties and cards, that's ok

If Munster keep killing the ball deep in their own 22, he'll keep carding them.

Faugheen

Why are Munster actively choosing not to kick the ball out of play?

It makes no sense to me.

The Inbetween is mine

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

You're lining this one up a bit early, aren't you?

Well Coombes got penalised there for nothing

Burkie1203

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Well Coombes got penalised there for nothing

He was off his feet

The Inbetween is mine

Well done from Barnes there, way too often those tackling the wrong man incidents are given as crossing.

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Well Coombes got penalised there for nothing

He was basically horizontal.

AlfaZen

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Well Coombes got penalised there for nothing

Barnes said it was for not releasing the tackle a bit harsh and similar to the peno Toulouse won a few mins earlier.

The Inbetween is mine

Maddux Little Giant wrote: »

Well done from Barnes there, way too often those tackling the wrong man incidents are given as crossing.



He was basically horizontal.

Ref said be didn't release, he clearly did,

Dave_The_Sheep

Munster will be well happy with 3-3 after that yellow card period.

budhabob

AlfaZen wrote: »

Barnes said it was for not releasing the tackle a bit harsh and similar to the peno Toulouse won a few mins earlier.

Fair enough refs annoy us but don't BS it for a fair call

leakyboots

Did well during those last phases. Would be great to be level after they yellow

Faugheen

The Inbetween is mine wrote: »

Well Coombes got penalised there for nothing

F*ck me Munster never do anything wrong according to you.

He was very clearly off his feet. That was completely obvious in the replay.

theVersatile

Faugheen wrote: »

Why are Munster actively choosing not to kick the ball out of play?

It makes no sense to me.

Say we value our kick transition defense more than our set piece defense. Better off kicking to them - having a set thirteen man defence against four or five backfield attackers ; instead of a 6 v 7 in the backs off the line out. Especially considering we'll be doing well to disrupt any line out ball today

Clegg

Munster are very, very lucky that Barnes didn't card them again there.

Murray never rolled away after tackling and slowed Toulouse's ball illegally.

The Inbetween is mine

Faugheen wrote: »

F*ck me Munster never do anything wrong according to you.

He was very clearly off his feet. That was completely obvious in the replay.

He clearly let go of the player...

Larbre34

Should have been Yeller for Murray all day.

thomond2006

I've no idea how that wasn't a card.

Former Former Former

Murray should have been carded there.

Fao Munster : don't kick it back to them.

Burkie1203

That's a stone wall YC

Unreal from Ntmac, Toulouse asleep though.