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

thomond2006 · 15-03-2018 1:01pm #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 1:09pm

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 1:12pm

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

Cookiemunster · 15-03-2018 1:18pm

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 1:29pm

No Tyler

Edit - just saw CMs post

15-03-2018 1:44pm

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 1:58pm

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 2:05pm

I have faith that Munster and Ireland can do the double

thomond2006 · 15-03-2018 2:46pm

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 2:54pm

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 3:06pm

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 8:36pm

Was there a reason this game is back in Murrayfield?

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 8:43pm

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 8:43pm

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 8:44pm

Kleyn will be very happy that was overturned!

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 8:51pm

Fairly grim stuff so far

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 8:52pm

'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 8:54pm

We're slipping off some amount of tackles

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 8:56pm

Hart doing nothing to improve his popularity here

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 8:57pm

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 9:02pm

These turnovers are criminal, no ruck protection to speak of

leakyboots · 16-03-2018 9:08pm

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

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 9:12pm

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

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 9:14pm

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

aloooof · 16-03-2018 9:15pm

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

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 9:15pm

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

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 9:16pm

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

Bazzo · 16-03-2018 9:16pm

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 9:18pm

Pathetic

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 9:18pm

Shambolic defence.

Bazzo · 16-03-2018 9:19pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

I see Wootton has gone off. Injured?

Seemed to run off fine.. very strange.

sioda · 16-03-2018 9:19pm

Shocking bad return for all the possession

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 9:20pm

Are Embra wearing lube on their shirts? How many tackles did he slip through there?

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 9:22pm

The game plan must be give Edinburgh the ball, abysmal retention even when we don't kick it away

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 9:23pm

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

The game plan must be give Edinburgh the ball, abysmal retention even when we don't kick it away

Ulster fans must be going spare watching this. They need us to get a result here

thomond2006 · 16-03-2018 9:23pm

Some good stuff but some utter dross as well. Rory Scannell will be getting an earful on Monday for that attempt on Dougie Fife.

BBDBB · 16-03-2018 9:36pm

Scotland are great

Yeah, how great?

Really really great

Yeah

Yeah

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 9:41pm

Finally on the front foot and we kick the ball away.

Chex LeMeneux · 16-03-2018 9:42pm

Munster lucky with the defensive maul there. Few joinings that were never from hindmost foot

Bazzo · 16-03-2018 9:45pm

BBDBB wrote: »

Scotland are great

Yeah, how great?

Really really great

Yeah

Yeah

And remember that try that got disallowed in the first half for a clear offside? Could you try to blag a makey uppy law or something for us to make it look like we were robbed for the audience at home?

16-03-2018 9:50pm

That'll have to be a red.

bloodless_coup · 16-03-2018 9:51pm

He didn't crouch that much

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 9:51pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That'll have to be a red.

Definite red. Ben Whitehouse should have pulled the trigger there

16-03-2018 9:53pm

Akrasia wrote: »

Definite red. Ben Whitehouse should have pulled the trigger there

Red is the accepted norm. The fact that he was really trying to wrap maybe mitigated it to a yellow. No intent, but it was reckless and to the head.

BBDBB · 16-03-2018 9:54pm

What height is Copeland? 6’4?

The “duck” was about 6 inches at most, that was still a high hit

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 9:56pm

BBDBB wrote: »

What height is Copeland? 6’4?

The “duck” was about 6 inches at most, that was still a high hit

Every player ducks a little when taking a ball like that. He led with his shoulder to the head. Definite red.

Former Former · 16-03-2018 9:59pm

Sweetnam had to do better there.

LuckyGent88 · 16-03-2018 9:59pm

God we are just awful. What has happened to Sweetnam. Can’t tackle at all.

budhabob · 16-03-2018 10:00pm

Just switched this on, might be time to switch it off again.

Akrasia · 16-03-2018 10:00pm

Munster shouldn't be conceding tries against 14 men. I can't see them winning this game from here

ScrubsfanChris · 16-03-2018 10:03pm

budhabob wrote: »

Just switched this on, might be time to switch it off again.

You should

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

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