Edinburgh vs Munster, Fri 16 Mar 7:35pm; BBC Scotland / TG4

thomond2006 · 15-03-2018 01:01PM #1

Edinburgh team to face Munster in the Guinness PRO14 at BT Murrayfield on Friday 16 March (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on BBC Two Scotland.

15. Dougie Fife (100)
14. Jason Harries (8)
13. Mark Bennett (5)
12. Chris Dean (60)
11. Duhan van der Merwe (11)
10. Jaco van der Walt (11)
9. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (103)

1. Jordan Lay (5)
2. Neil Cochrane (69)
3. Murray McCallum (36)
4. Fraser McKenzie (98) CAPTAIN
5. Ben Toolis (82)
6. Magnus Bradbury (46)
7. John Hardie (27)
8. Bill Mata (31)

Replacements: 16. Cameron Fenton (9); 17. Rory Sutherland (60); 18. Simon Berghan (42); 19. Lewis Carmichael (26); 20. Cornell du Preez (98); 21. Nathan Fowles (53); 22. Duncan Weir (28); 23. Junior Rasolea (25)

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Darren Sweetnam, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; JJ Hanrahan, James Hart;
James Cronin, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland (C); Jack O’Donoghue, Conor Oliver, Robin Copeland.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Darren O’Shea, Tommy O’Donnell, Jack Stafford, Bill Johnston, Dan Goggin.

Big game for Munster. A win here could seal second place. Edinburgh are 10 points shy of Scarlets at second and 5 points clear of Ulster at fourth so this is a huge game for them also. I haven't seen any official confirmation of Duncan Williams' injury but Jack Stafford's selection on the bench suggests that Williams is indeed unavailable. James Hart now has an opportunity to get an extended run in the first choice 23.

I think Edinburgh will edge this with Munster taking home a losing bonus.

Buer · 15-03-2018 01:09PM

I'd like to think Munster have enough quality in the likes of Zebo, Scannell, Kleyn etc. to sneak the win here. The halfbacks need to do something though and lift themselves beyond what we've seen this season to date.

Edinburgh have a little bit of impact on the bench too with guys like Berghan and CDP .

case885 · 15-03-2018 01:12PM

No Scannell and Marshall playing for the A's is unusual.
Strong 23 think we should be winning this.

Cookiemunster · 15-03-2018 01:18PM

case885 wrote: »

No Scannell and Marshall playing for the A's is unusual.
Strong 23 think we should be winning this.

Scannell is still injured. From this weeks injury update - Niall Scannell is continuing his return from a rib injury and will be monitored as the week progresses.

My question is where is Tyler?

phog · 15-03-2018 01:29PM

No Tyler

Edit - just saw CMs post

15-03-2018 01:44PM

Edinburgh gave Leinster plenty of chances to put the game away a few weeks back but we struggled. Their forwards are quite quick off the line and our 9 / 10 were under pressure as a result.

JJ is going to have to show a lot more than he has so far to navigate this pressure and produce enough territory for Munster to pick up some scores.

Definitely a tough game to call but I think Munster by less than 7. Edinburgh won't pack it in at home.

Henry Ford III · 15-03-2018 01:58PM

JJ's lack of form has to be a worry. If he doesn't perform we'll lose I think.

Fingers crossed.

15-03-2018 02:05PM

I have faith that Munster and Ireland can do the double

thomond2006 · 15-03-2018 02:46PM

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Scannell is still injured. From this weeks injury update - Niall Scannell is continuing his return from a rib injury and will be monitored as the week progresses.

My question is where is Tyler?

phog wrote: »

No Tyler

Edit - just saw CMs post

My positive spin/guess on this is they don't want TB making three consecutive appearances and he will start against Scarlets and Toulon.

thomond2006 · 15-03-2018 02:54PM

Mike Sherry starting this ahead of KOB is a bit out of the blue. It will be his first start since April 2016. I don't think he will be at Munster next season so I hope he can put himself in the shop window.

aloooof · 15-03-2018 03:06PM

thomond2006 wrote: »

My positive spin/guess on this is they don't want TB making three consecutive appearances and he will start against Scarlets and Toulon.

Ahead of Keatley, ya reckon? I would've thought Keatley was our first choice 10? I suppose we don't really have an indication yet of who JVG sees has his first choice 10.

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 08:36PM

Was there a reason this game is back in Murrayfield?

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 08:43PM

BBC commentary need to dust off their rule book. Obvious penalty for me.
Great defensive set on our own line

The Lost Sheep · 16-03-2018 08:43PM

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Was there a reason this game is back in Murrayfield?

Edinburgh felt switching between other ground and Murrayfield regularly enough wasnt suiting the team so have moved back to Murrayfield for rest of the season. Will look at other options including SRU looking at giving one of the back pitches in Murrayfield a bigger capacity of 5000+ to allow Edinburgh play there

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 08:44PM

Kleyn will be very happy that was overturned!

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 08:51PM

Fairly grim stuff so far

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 08:52PM

'Kicked it out under zero pressure' and he's pinned to the touchline with a defender on top of him... gas man Whitehouse

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 08:54PM

We're slipping off some amount of tackles

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 08:56PM

Hart doing nothing to improve his popularity here

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 08:57PM

Awful from that maul, was Hart not in front of his man when it split and he took the ball off him... then launched it into the 22 for an easy mark. How Whitehouse didn't spot that is beyond me

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 09:02PM

These turnovers are criminal, no ruck protection to speak of

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 09:08PM

Did they lube up the ball beforehand or something? Both sides are atrocious at holding onto it

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 09:12PM

Very stop start, apart from on our try line, not much is going past 5 phases or so

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 09:14PM

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

aloooof · 16-03-2018 09:15PM

Out penalty count has seemed fairly high so far, albeit in their half of the field.

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 09:15PM

Ah here. Chance wasted. That had to be scored, Edinburgh were on the ropes.

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 09:16PM

Skip pass ruined that, no need and cost a try probably.

Bazzo · 16-03-2018 09:16PM

Oops, didn't realise there was a thread for this. The most interesting part of the match for me so far is how utterly abysmal the BBC Scotland commentary is. I'm not sure if I could produce commentary that blatantly biased if I actively tried.

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 09:18PM

Pathetic

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 09:18PM

Shambolic defence.

Bazzo · 16-03-2018 09:19PM

thomond2006 wrote: »

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

Seemed to run off fine.. very strange.

Edinburgh vs Munster, Fri 16 Mar 7:35pm; BBC Scotland / TG4

Comments