HCC Round 3 - Castres vs Munster - Friday, Jan 14th @ 8.00pm - BT Sport 3

Munster

1. Dave Kilcoyne
2. Niall Scannell
3. Stephen Archer
4. Fineen Wycherley
5. Tadhg Beirne
6. Peter O’Mahony (C)
7. Jack O’Donoghue
8. Gavin Coombes
9. Conor Murray
10. Jack Crowley
11. Keith Earls
12. Rory Scannell
13. Chris Farrell
14. Andrew Conway
15. Mike Haley

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, John Hodnett, Craig Casey, Jake Flannery, Shane Daly.

Castres

https://twitter.com/CastresRugby/status/1481596895202004999/photo/1

Officials

Ref: Luke Pearce (England)

Assis Ref 1: Hamish Smales (England) 

Assis Ref 2: Paul Dix (England) 

TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

Castres have only won one of their last 10 games against the Irish province, losing eight, although that victory came the last time they hosted the Irish province in 2018/19, when they edged home 13-12.

This will be the 18th clash between Munster Rugby and Castres Olympique in the Heineken Champions Cup, the most played fixture in the history of the competition.

UAEguy2020

The weird part of this fixture it seems when they play in France the Irish team tends to do nearly everything in their power to lose the game through stupid errors and sloppiness. The cancelation of the fixtures in RD 2 is huge for Munster as it means Toulouse now can only get a maximum of 17 points so its in Munster's hands to finish 1st now although it will be a shootout with Quins but doable.

UAEguy2020

What a typical VG selection, you have a great young 7 in Hodnett who has been going well...what does he do? Shoehorn a 6/8 into 7... and ofcourse no Ahern...never change VG, never change...

theVersatile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Crowley starts at ten with Flannery on the bench, Hodnett in ahead of O'Sullivan/Cloete/etc for a CHAMPIONS CUP GAME and you choose to bitch about another selection.

Never change UAE, never change ...

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Yawn

RichieRich_89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Maybe O'Donoghue will be playing blindside. The 7 is the blindside in South Africa.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466854#Comment_118466854

More subtle than usual, Richie.

aloooof

Looking forward to this one (with some Friday evening IPA's) and excited to see how Crowley goes. Wondering what Kockott will do off the bench. Cos he'll definitely do... something.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466854#Comment_118466854

This isnt South Africa.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466845#Comment_118466845

Crowley and Flannery are the only 10s available.... I guess I have to give him some credit for not trying to shoehorn Scannell into 10...

Hodnett is ahead of O'Sullivan in the pecking order and Cloete hasnt played a game this side of the international window. Clutching at straws there.

phog

Every thread destroyed

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466949#Comment_118466949

Still trying to ostracise me? My points are valid, when people wonder why Munster's youngsters have such little minutes compared to their equivalent at other provinces well this conservatism is the reason why.

theVersatile

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466977#Comment_118466977

Former Former Former

I'm a bit out of touch with Top 14 but that is very much not a full strength Castres team I think?

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466977#Comment_118466977

I know you were banned on here for the last Munster match just 5 days ago, but I didn't think that precluded you from seeing it elsewhere.

Anyways, I'm taking theVersatile's gif as instructive advice.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467018#Comment_118467018

Nkosi is the only player retained from their win over La Rochelle.

thomond2006

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466861#Comment_118466861

Stop bloody biting!

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467058#Comment_118467058

Ya, sorry thomond; first time making use of the ignore list so good from here on out.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467042#Comment_118467042

When you have mods like AWEC that loves to abuse his power that can happen. I did see the Munster game, it doesnt explain why we finally have a good natural 7 at last and yet we drop him in favour of a 6/8, away in France having a natural 7 at 7 could be vital as could having a player of O'Donoghue's experience and quality in the final 20-30 minutes. You know for a fact if Leinster were in this predicament they would have backed Hodnett at 7 and put Ahern on the bench but sadly Munster are more worried about **** up then succeeding and it show's in their selection.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467058#Comment_118467058

Biting what? Basically I have to agree with every Munster selection and any sort of criticism = being a troll?

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467315#Comment_118467315

No. You can disagree.

But you have 8 posts out of 19 in this thread and they are all just moaning. That's what ruins threads.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467315#Comment_118467315

You've made your point now. Move on.

aloooof

For those that are interested, the average age of Munster's starting 15's this season is 27.6. The average age of Leinster's starting 15 is 27.2.

The difference isn't anywhere near as significant as is often made out.

arsebiscuits1

Man it was such a quiet 2 weeks....

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467336#Comment_118467336

I had 1 post and I immediately have 3 condescending comments made against me… maybe if I was treated with a little respect for a change maybe I wouldn’t be spamming the tread with responses to these comments.

Oh how I wish the person that opens a thread could ban a user from posting.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467379#Comment_118467379

Let’s see the Leinster selection tomorrow and compare, we’ll see who has the younger starting XV, I predict only 1 winner in that.

These are the games where players like Hodnett and Ahern come to the fore and show they are ready for test rugby. I’m excited for next season to see how many players deemed not test standard this season magically become test standard under a new coach.

Does Zebo not make a full strength 23 these days or where is he?

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467767#Comment_118467767

Is this a Wind Up or are you so out of touch that you'v missed the fact that Zebo has only 15 minutes of rugby to his name since before Munster's ill-fated trip to SA.

Once he got carded last week the only way he'd be included for tomorrow's game would be if we had a run of injuries in the back 3. It was only yesterday evening that word came through that he was clear to play so Munster would have been planning without him anyway.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467829#Comment_118467829

It's the latter, I am so out of touch that I haven't tracked every minute Zebo has played since he came back to Munster. Can you believe it? I'll start a spreadsheet.

Did Zebo can any match bans for the red card?

Massive test for Crowley, goes without saying. Really hope he can make a decent run at it.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118468401#Comment_118468401

mmmmmh I'm beginning to think it may well have been the former.

thomond2006

It's difficult to know where Zebo fits but he's not a starter ahead of any of the back three players for me.

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466872#Comment_118466872

Mouth off mostly.

Thats the only aspect of his game thats consistent.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118468749#Comment_118468749

Well he'll need game time to try and get ahead of them but anyone surprised by his omission for tomorrow night's game is in another planet.

Former Former Former

I'll bet Zebo was surprised by his own omission.

TRC10

Dropping Hodnett and playing JOD at 7 is a bit of a baffling one to be honest. That selection, as well as Murray at 9 ahead of Casey, says a lot about how Munster will go about this game.

Think Ahern can feel very hard done by to not be in the 23. He was excellent last week. Likewise Barron who has been impressive of late.

Good to see Crowley get another shot (albeit injury enforced). He had a rough night v Ulster but you can see the talent is there. Hopefully he goes well.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118468505#Comment_118468505

It was a simple, genuine question. I don't know what your problem is.

aloooof

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118469691#Comment_118469691

I might've gone for Hodnett as well, but I don't think he's playing so significantly better than JOD as to make the decision "baffling". And against a team like Castres, I think JOD brings more power, so can understand it in that regard.

Our maul D hasn't been great of late either, especially at the times when Kleyn wasn't on the pitch, so I think that is probably a consideration in JOD's selection over Hodnett too.

And Barron is in the 23 (tho to be fair, I think you've probably just phrased that poorly).

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118469883#Comment_118469883

It is baffling as Hodnett is actually an open side flanker... If both are in the 23 then play the player best suited to a position in his position, if we need power in the final 30 minutes we can always bring on O'Donoghue.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118469717#Comment_118469717

Now you know how I feel.

theVersatile

The idea of fixed jersey positions is kind of archaic at this stage. Pigeon holing guys into certain categories of "he's a seven" or others is, as far as I can tell, a hangover effect from the "fetcher sevens" of the past. Is Pete capable of playing seven? Andy Farrell thinks so, even if he doesn't into some people traditional mould of an openside flanker. Tadhg Beirne plays six and the row, which is he "for real" though?

As aloof indicates, is based off tactics. An article recently about Levani Botia resigning for La Rochelle, he's playing both flanker and centre. How he's deployed week on week likely depends on what ROG needs from him. It's not just a case of "he's a bish bosh 12 so play him at 12".

I know TRK is a controversial figure here, but this is something he rants about once in a while and he's 100% correct in that context. Pick the players to fit the system, not the stereotype

Akrasia

I think JVG is planning on kicking for territory and hoping to steal a few lineouts, 4 of the players in the lineout are capable of being targets or disrupting opposition lineouts.

Scannell is a good lineout operator too

Conway, Haley and Earls are all excellent at fielding. And we all know what Murray is known for.

We might not have enough power to score directly from lineout mauls so I would expect to see some strike moves off the linout during the game

With POM and Beirne both starting, we should have the leadership we need to ride out the inevitable slog fest that Castres will try to create in the opening quarter

Luke Pearce is a good referee, hopefully weather the conditions will be good

Any win would be good, a LBP would be acceptable and a TBP would be an incredibly positive result for Munster

leakyboots

Complaining that a complete newbie on the European stage is not starting ahead of... JOD who has the most defenders beaten, most try assists, 4th most tackles and 3rd most offloads in the league this season for us, he's having a super season so far. Hodnett has caught the eye but JOD's lineout work and maul defence will be important for this game. Hodnett's day will come, the bench is the right call for this one.

Zebo played a full match on Sep 25, 21 mins as a sub on Oct 2, 80 v Connacht on Oct 16 and 14 mins the last day. It's mid-January and he's hardly played all season, we haven't really seen his level yet to be honest. Whether he's first team or dirtracker I think he'll be a great addition to the squad. Him Earls and Conway are our only out and out finishers. I've love to see more of Calvin Nash also as the season goes on, he's got a bit about him.

Very excited to see how Crowley goes, I'd love to see Rory Scannell being used to try hit a few 50:20s if it opens up a bit

ROG would have LOVED this new rule.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118471260#Comment_118471260

JOD is fantastic, I've nothing against him starting my issue is us going into an important game away in France with no out and out 7 in the starting line up. If anything I would rather someone with O'Donoghue's experience & leadership to come off the bench to really add impact in the final 30 minutes. We dont know what the final 30 minutes will bring, no matter what we need off the bench O'Donoghue has it but maybe we will need calm heads which is questionable if we will get it with a 23 year old only making his 3rd CC appearance will add.

RichieRich_89

I would say O'Donoghue is a 4 or 5 out of 10 openside, a 7/10 no. 8 and an 8/10 blindside.

I like him as a 6. I reckon he could have more international caps in him in that position.

stephen_n

Really hope Crowley goes well. Great opportunity for him and I hope he seizes it. Munster need to put up a few points early so Castres lose interest. They don’t want to lose at home but clearly are not prioritizing this fixture.

Teferi

Just the 6 new positive cases in the Castres squad.

Of course, the game is going ahead all the same.

Poorside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118471493#Comment_118471493

We don't need an out and out 7 when we have Beirne and Pom in the team.

UAEguy2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118473551#Comment_118473551

We do as its a 7's natural job to turn the ball over, its great having Pom and Beirne there to do it but they have other roles to fufil on the field. Imagine having them and then throwing in Hodnett, we would have the breakdown pretty much sown up.