Munster vs Toulon, ERCC QF, Sat 30th March 3:15pm; Sky Sports Action

thomond2006 · 30-03-2018 12:04pm #1

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Andrew Conway, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Rhys Marshall, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, John Ryan, Gerbrandt Grobler, Robin Copeland, James Hart, JJ Hanrahan, Darren Sweetnam.

Toulon:
15. Chris Ashton; 14. Josua Tuisova, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 11. Semi Radradra; 10. Francois Trinh-Duc, 9. Eric Escande;
1. Florian Fresia, 2. Guilhem Guirado, 3. Marcel Van Der Merwe, 4. Juandre Kruger, 5. Dave Attwood, 6. Raphael Lakafia, 7. Facundo Isa, 8. Duane Vermeulen
16. Anthony Etrillard, 17. Xavier Chiocci, 18. Emerick Setiano, 19. Romain Taofifenua, 20. Anthony Belleau, 21. Malakai Fekitoa, 22. Alby Mathewson, 23. Samu Manoa

Munster are able to name Conway and Zebo in their back three and it's just as well. Toulon's back three will be absolutely lethal going forward. Chris Ashton, like so many names that arrive in Toulon in the autumn of their careers, has had a renaissance in the south of France. Tuisova is dangerous with ball in hand and Radradra has been one of the finds of the season since arriving from the NRL. I think their halfbacks of Escande and FTD can be gotten at. The pack put out is far from the Toulon pack of old with legendary names like Hayman, Botha and Fernandez Lobbe (in his prime).

Munster to edge it. The internationals will be relied upon to produce as Munster's form without them has been patchy.

Dbu · 30-03-2018 12:15pm

Reggie Corrigan

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Andrew Conway, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Rhys Marshall, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, John Ryan, Gerbrandt Grobler, Robin Copeland, James Hart, JJ Hanrahan, Darren Sweetnam.

Toulon:
15. Chris Ashton; 14. Josua Tuisova, 13. Mathieu Bastareaud, 12. Ma'a Nonu, 11. Semi Radradra; 10. Francois Trinh-Duc, 9. Eric Escande;
1. Florian Fresia, 2. Guilhem Guirado, 3. Marcel Van Der Merwe, 4. Juandre Kruger, 5. Dave Attwood, 6. Raphael Lakafia, 7. Facundo Isa, 8. Duane Vermeulen
16. Anthony Etrillard, 17. Xavier Chiocci, 18. Emerick Setiano, 19. Romain Taofifenua, 20. Anthony Belleau, 21. Malakai Fekitoa, 22. Alby Mathewson, 23. Samu Manoa

Munster are able to name Conway and Zebo in their back three and it's just as well. Toulon's back three will be absolutely lethal going forward. Chris Ashton, like so many names that arrive in Toulon in the autumn of their careers, has had a renaissance in the south of France. Tuisova is dangerous with ball in hand and Radradra has been one of the finds of the season since arriving from the NRL. I think their halfbacks of Escande and FTD can be gotten at. The pack put out is far from the Toulon pack of old with legendary names like Hayman, Botha and Fernandez Lobbe (in his prime).

All we can do is pray to Jesus.:eek:

thomond2006 · 30-03-2018 12:17pm

Toulon

Toulon:
15 Delon Armitage, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jonny Wilkinson (c), 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde;
1 Xavier Chiocci, 2 Craig Burden, 3 Carl Hayman, 4 Danie Rossouw, 5 Jocelino Suta, 6 Juan Smith, 7 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 8 Steffon Armitage.

Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Virgile Bruni, 20 David Smith, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Michael Claassens, 23 Konstantine Mikautadze.

Munster:
15 Felix Jones, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 James Downey, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray;
1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Damien Varley (c), 3 BJ Botha, 4 Dave Foley, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 CJ Stander, 7 Sean Dougall, 8 James Coughlan.

Replacements: 16 Duncan Casey, 17 James Cronin, 18 John Ryan, 19 Donncha O'Callaghan, 20 Tommy O'Donnell, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Denis Hurley.

The survivors from the 2014 SF in bold. A few of the above are injured: Suta, Tillous-Borde, Fernandez Lobbe and Habana for Toulon with Earls, Williams and TOD out for Munster.

AdamD · 30-03-2018 12:23pm

Ashton at full back?! Surely a weakness there

Interested Observer · 30-03-2018 12:26pm

AdamD wrote: »

Ashton at full back?! Surely a weakness there

He's been playing fullback a lot for Toulon.

thomond2006 · 30-03-2018 12:26pm

Toulon

AdamD wrote: »

Ashton at full back?! Surely a weakness there

He's been prone to a howler or two but he's already broken the Top14 try scoring record in a single season.

Interested Observer · 30-03-2018 12:40pm

The fact he had 15 on his back is incidental but this will never be not funny.

http://www.punditarena.com/rugby/bbarry/chris-ashton-gift-bath-try/

Buer · 30-03-2018 12:44pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

AdamD wrote: »

Ashton at full back?! Surely a weakness there

He's been prone to a howler or two but he's already broken the Top14 try scoring record in a single season.

Tied, no?

I never know what to make of Toulon's selections. Dave Atwood?

The bench certainly doesn't scare me too much in the forwards. That said, outside of the front row, that's about as weak a bench as I can remember Munster having in Europe.

thomond2006 · 30-03-2018 12:54pm

Toulon

Buer wrote: »

Tied, no?

I never know what to make of Toulon's selections. Dave Atwood?

The bench certainly doesn't scare me too much in the forwards. That said, outside of the front row, that's about as weak a bench as I can remember Munster having in Europe.

Oops, tied.

Attwood is a medical joker for Joe Suta. Taofifenua is injured as well I think. Edit: Missed him on the bench...

[Deleted User] · 30-03-2018 12:55pm

Good luck lads, will be cheering for ye.

Think it's going to be a massive test but hopefully the Thomond crowd will steer ye home.

letowski · 30-03-2018 1:21pm

Munster have a decent bench, the replacement forwards certainly can bring power and size.

Mc Love · 30-03-2018 1:28pm

If Keatley plays well, we'll win! But saying that, he didnt have a good game against Scarlets and we won, so who knows

Akrasia · 30-03-2018 1:39pm

Toulon

I really hope Scannell can finish the game given that he was an injury doubt this week. I'm not sure I'd like Hanrahan or Sweetnam having to be brought on early into 12 or 13

Bridge93 · 30-03-2018 1:41pm

Very dependent on what Toulon bother to show up but gut says Munster by 5/6

Interested Observer · 30-03-2018 1:44pm

I think I've gotten over the 49-0 game at the weekend, Munster will win this by a score at least. French teams just do not travel. It barely makes sense considering how un-French Toulon are but it's the way it is. If Oyannax can beat Toulon then Munster can beat Toulon.

And I have to say I've found the talk of blood-and-guts-and-pashun-and-channel-the-miracle-match and all that in the build up to be pretty cringeworthy. It does no justice to the players Munster have available.

Akrasia · 30-03-2018 1:45pm

Toulon

Mc Love wrote: »

If Keatley plays well, we'll win! But saying that, he didnt have a good game against Scarlets and we won, so who knows

You can't put the entire outcome of a game onto a single players shoulders. And any team that relies on one single player to perform is doomed to failure in the end

Keatley is a key player, as number 10 always is, but I think our breakdown work is what will win or lose the game on Saturday, and not just our ability to protect our ball and slow down their ball/win turnovers, but also our ability to keep Nigel Owens happy. He's a very difficult referee to read and he can change his interpretation of the laws halfway through a game if he thinks one team are being a bit too cheeky.

I think the team that manages Owens the best during the game will win through penalty count, assuming that both kickers manage to convert those penalties into points. While Keatley's kicking boots haven't been that reliable recently, if we can use our set piece to put pressure on their line from penalties and scrums, we can use this to send our ball carriers over their line.

Former Former · 30-03-2018 2:49pm

Keatley has two jobs;
- Get the pack into decent territory
- Kick 80% of his goals

If he does that, he'll have had a good day.

Toulon have Trinh-Duc; he's a far better player than Keatley but I'd say it's at least 50-50 that he'll absolutely implode and drag his team down with him.

Great to see Conway named but he hasn't played in months so he has to be a concern.

Munster will win.

thomond2006 · 30-03-2018 2:50pm

Toulon

Typical former-former.

Takes every opportunity to slight Keatley. Sad!

Jack Kanoff · 30-03-2018 3:41pm

Toulon

Excited by this... think I'll be spending the most of next week in Limerick anyway...so when we win I can celebrate in schtyle !

mystic86 · 31-03-2018 1:04am

I am selling a spare ticket to this, north terrace, cost price (31.50) can meet in Limerick before the game, PM if interested. Thanks.

thomond2006 · 31-03-2018 11:48am

Toulon

Weather seems ok.

sioda · 31-03-2018 11:59am

Few Toulon fans knocking about town this morning

topdecko · 31-03-2018 12:22pm

Reggie Corrigan

Think Munster will struggle in this game. Quite a few injuries to key players and poor form since Christmas . This coupled with Toulon's depth and particularly their strong back line and bench (2 kiwis on bench) is going to make for a tough afternoon in Thomond. Looking forward to a classic European match and fingers crossed for a great Munster performance....