Cheetahs vs Munster; Fri 13 April 6:35pm Irish Time; Sky Sports Mix

thomond2006 · 12-04-2018 1:23pm #1

GUINNESS PRO14
Toyota Cheetahs vs Munster
13 April 2018. Kick-off: 19:35 (SA Time)
Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein

15 Clayton Blommetjies
14 William Small-Smith
13 Francois Venter ( C)
12 Niel Marais
11 Sibahle Maxwane
10 Johan Goosen
9 Tian Meyer
1 Ox Nche
2 Torsten van Jaarsveld
3 Johan Coetzee
4 Carl Wegner
5 Reniel Hugo
6 Paul Schoeman
7 Oupa Mohoje
8 Uzair Cassiem

16 Jacques du Toit
17 Charles Marais
18 Tom Botha
19 Rynier Bernardo
20 Henco Venter
21 Zee Mkhabela
22 Clinton Swart
23 AJ Coertzen

The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury:

Dennis Visser (knee), Elandruggett (knee) Ruan van Rensburg, (hand), Luan de Bruin (chest muscle), Shaun Venter (groin), Malcolm Jaer (hand), Nico Lee (ankle), Luther Obi (knee), Justin Basson (ankle).

Munster:
Simon Zebo; Andrew Conway, Sammy Arnold, Dan Goggin, Darren Sweetnam; JJ Hanrahan, James Hart;
Brian Scott, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Gerbrandt Grobler, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony (C), Jack O’Donoghue, Robin Copeland.

Replacements: Rhys Marshall, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Dave O’Callaghan, Conor Oliver, Conor Murray, Ian Keatley, Rory Scannell.

Conference A table:
Glasgow 70 - game in hand
Munster 63
Cheetahs 57
Cardiff 48
Ospreys 40 - game in hand
Connacht 34
Zebre 22 - game in hand

One of the games of the weekend sees Cheetahs hosting Munster in a crunch Conference A game. This is a must win for the home team who will be desperate to secure a home quarter-final. Munster will be looking to secure their home quarter-final with a game to spare. Munster have named a team closer to the likely side for their European semi-final while the Cheetahs have unveiled their joker of Johan Goosen. This will be Goosen's first appearance since 2016 when he sensationally walked out/retired from Racing 92, as he looks to find form before his big money move to Montpellier in the summer.

While they scraped to victory last week against Cardiff, the Cheetahs home form has been excellent and with the altitude advantage I expect they will win a close game. Cheetahs to win by less than 5.

Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein

turnikett1 · 12-04-2018 2:16pm

Stronger Munster team than I would've thought. Is it a good idea to risk injury before such a huge match next weekend? Either way I think Munster have what it takes to edge this. A home QF would be nice indeed.

Anyways win or lose the biggest concern is keeping our CC heads injury free!

Cookiemunster · 12-04-2018 2:49pm

turnikett1 wrote: »

Stronger Munster team than I would've thought. Is it a good idea to risk injury before such a huge match next weekend? Either way I think Munster have what it takes to edge this. A home QF would be nice indeed.

Anyways win or lose the biggest concern is keeping our CC heads injury free!

Players need to play. Nobody who's pencilled in to start against Racing will have played more than 1 game of the 2 games.

thomond2006 · 12-04-2018 3:20pm

There was always going to be a strong team for this. A win tomorrow means Munster won't need to win against Ulster in two weeks and can rotate the lineup.

Squidgy Black · 12-04-2018 5:45pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

There was always going to be a strong team for this. A win tomorrow means Munster won't need to win against Ulster in two weeks and can rotate the lineup.

And with the Cheetah's playing the King's that weekend that's almost a guaranteed 5 points for them and they also have a rest week.

Interested Observer · 12-04-2018 9:03pm

turnikett1 wrote: »

Stronger Munster team than I would've thought. Is it a good idea to risk injury before such a huge match next weekend? Either way I think Munster have what it takes to edge this. A home QF would be nice indeed.

Anyways win or lose the biggest concern is keeping our CC heads injury free!

I'm only counting 5 or 6 players who'll be playing next weekend?

Tomtom364 · 12-04-2018 10:16pm

Interested Observer wrote: »

I'm only counting 5 or 6 players who'll be playing next weekend?

20/23 will be in the squad next week id say

thomond2006 · 13-04-2018 10:56am

15 Clayton Blommetjies
14 William Small-Smith
13 Francois Venter ( C)
12 Niel Marais
11 Sibahle Maxwane
10 Johan Goosen
9 Tian Meyer
1 Ox Nche
2 Torsten van Jaarsveld
3 Johan Coetzee
4 Carl Wegner
5 Reniel Hugo
6 Paul Schoeman
7 Oupa Mohoje
8 Uzair Cassiem

16 Jacques du Toit
17 Charles Marais
18 Tom Botha
19 Rynier Bernardo
20 Henco Venter
21 Zee Mkhabela
22 Clinton Swart
23 AJ Coertzen

Players in bold played in the match in September in Thomond Park. The two starting wingers that day, Petersen and Mapimpi, are now on Super Rugby teams. Tom Botha on the bench tonight is going to Ospreys next season. Uzair Cassiem has signed for Scarlets.

Buer · 13-04-2018 11:56am

10 of that 23 have signed for other teams for next season already and others are surely looking at leaving. Disaster for the league. Cheetahs are going to go backwards in dramatic fashion.

thomond2006 · 13-04-2018 12:55pm

Buer wrote: »

10 of that 23 have signed for other teams for next season already and others are surely looking at leaving. Disaster for the league. Cheetahs are going to go backwards in dramatic fashion.

Playing the Kings three times a year and the home advantage will keep them reasonably competitive.

who_me · 13-04-2018 2:21pm

From SA Rugby Mag, they seem confident!

The Cheetahs will be gunning for victory, but a draw or two losing bonus points will see coach Rory Duncan’s men secure a spot in the six-team playoffs in their inaugural Pro14 campaign with one round remaining.

The highly-anticipated return of Johan Goosen to rugby will attract the most attention and his presence should massively aid the hosts’ cause.

The Cheetahs have won eight of their nine matches at home this season and should make it nine out of 10 after Munster coach Johann van Graan decided to rest his more senior players for their European Champions Cup semi-final.

However, Munster still have Simon Zebo, Andrew Conway, Peter O’Mahony and Niall Scannell in the starting lineup, with club legends Dave Kilcoyne, Conor Murray and Ian Keatley providing cover off the bench.

The Cheetahs will therefore have their work cut out for them, but should have enough firepower to secure their most important win of the season.

TBH I think Cheetahs should be favourites for this, but I don't think the Munster team is that weak at all. It'll be interesting to see what effect the altitude has at this stage of the season.

who_me · 13-04-2018 2:24pm

Buer wrote: »

10 of that 23 have signed for other teams for next season already and others are surely looking at leaving. Disaster for the league. Cheetahs are going to go backwards in dramatic fashion.

One of the worst things about the SA teams joining the Pro14 is they're putting their players in the shop window for the Irish/Welsh/Scottish teams to pick up.

I'm sure the coaches and staff would have a fair degree of awareness of who's out there anyway, but seeing them in head-to-head encounters against NH sides gives you a much better degree of their quality.

FACECUTTR · 13-04-2018 4:32pm

Game is on sky sports mix for anybody who's interested.

Buer · 13-04-2018 4:46pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

Playing the Kings three times a year and the home advantage will keep them reasonably competitive.

I'm not so sure. 8 of their games have had a single score in it at the end including 4 wins. Losing 10 of your starting 23 is going to have a significant impact on those tight results (Southern Kings don't feature in those 8 results).

I can see them dropping to 5th anyway next season and having a campaign closer to Connacht's this season than repeating their own performance. They're not only losing 10 players....they're largely losing their 10 best players. Anyone with a test cap is gone.

thomond2006 · 13-04-2018 4:53pm

Buer wrote: »

I'm not so sure. 8 of their games have had a single score in it at the end including 4 wins. Losing 10 of your starting 23 is going to have a significant impact on those tight results (Southern Kings don't feature in those 8 results).

I can see them dropping to 5th anyway next season and having a campaign closer to Connacht's this season than repeating their own performance. They're not only losing 10 players....they're largely losing their 10 best players. Anyone with a test cap is gone.

A positive spin: They will can pick up free agents Super Rugby in August. I notice some of their departures are going to Japan, perhaps they can get some of those players back once Top League ends in January.

They need to hope Grey College continues its production line, the number of Springboks that came through there is phenomenal.

aloooof · 13-04-2018 4:54pm

Buer wrote: »

I'm not so sure. 8 of their games have had a single score in it at the end including 4 wins. Losing 10 of your starting 23 is going to have a significant impact on those tight results (Southern Kings don't feature in those 8 results).

I can see them dropping to 5th anyway next season and having a campaign closer to Connacht's this season than repeating their own performance. They're not only losing 10 players....they're largely losing their 10 best players. Anyone with a test cap is gone.

As a positive for them, didn't they start the season with a split squad (for the Currie Cup) and effectively with no pre-season, so they should benefit from that next season.

Losing 10 of your starting 23 is massive tho.

sydthebeat · 13-04-2018 5:14pm

it doesnt help that they are losing their head coach too, to worcester.

their old coach Franco Smith is already lined up to take over, so hopefully he can hover up some of the up and coming bokke bright lights before they are offered to super rugby.

Hande hoche! · 13-04-2018 5:31pm

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Game is on sky sports mix for anybody who's interested.

Yeah channel 121, took me a bit to find it.

kub · 13-04-2018 5:50pm

To everyone with Sky, it's channel 121 as a previous poster mentioned, 121 is not in the actual sports channels menu

skirteen · 13-04-2018 6:00pm

Hande hoche! wrote:

Yeah channel 121, took me a bit to find it.

Ridiculous place to hide a Sports channel, I was just about to go into panic mode!

ScrubsfanChris · 13-04-2018 6:04pm

Stupid Mix, not available on Sky Sports Mobile :mad:

kub · 13-04-2018 6:13pm

ScrubsfanChris wrote:

Stupid Mix, not available on Sky Sports Mobile

Go home quick

who_me · 13-04-2018 6:15pm

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Game is on sky sports mix for anybody who's interested.

Good news too for those of us on Virgin Media who haven't paid the premium for HD sports & movies, Sky Sports Mix HD is free.

ScrubsfanChris · 13-04-2018 6:38pm

kub wrote: »

Go home quick

Wouldn’t help :pac:

Sky sports Mobile tv + chromecast is a hell of a lot cheaper than regular Sky package.

budhabob · 13-04-2018 6:41pm

who_me wrote: »

Good news too for those of us on Virgin Media who haven't paid the premium for HD sports & movies, Sky Sports Mix HD is free.

What channel?

budhabob · 13-04-2018 6:43pm

Strong scrum

Tomtom364 · 13-04-2018 6:48pm

Zebo got the wrong studs on or what. Twice he has lost his footing and been badly exposed.

ScrubsfanChris · 13-04-2018 6:49pm

Awful start from Zebo

Bazzo · 13-04-2018 6:50pm

Who was it that shot up there? Have to hit your man if that's the decision you make in that situation.

Mc Love · 13-04-2018 6:50pm

Tomtom364 wrote: »

Zebo got the wrong studs on or what. Twice he has lost his footing and been badly exposed.

Pitch is a disgrace though. Was it wet or did they soak the game prematch

thomond2006 · 13-04-2018 6:52pm

1. Ox Nche
3. John "The Bull" Hayes

Make it happen Munster.

Cheetahs vs Munster; Fri 13 April 6:35pm Irish Time; Sky Sports Mix

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