Connacht vs Munster, Sat 9th Jan 7:35pm, Eir/TG4

thomond2006 · 08-01-2021 12:56pm #1

Munster:
Mike Haley; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Shane Daly; JJ Hanrahan, Conor Murray;
James Cronin, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Gavin Coombes, Peter O’Mahony (c), CJ Stander.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Josh Wycherley, Keynan Knox, Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland, Nick McCarthy, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Some odd selections by Munster. No Kilcoyne, Conway or John Ryan in the 23. Billy Holland on the bench when there are plenty backrow players available.
Craig Casey is also absent but he probably has more minutes than most this season.

thomond2006 · 08-01-2021 1:07pm

Connacht:
15. John Porch (28)
14. Ben O’Donnell (1)
13. Sammy Arnold (11)
12. Tom Daly (35)
11. Alex Wootton (10)
10. Jack Carty (148)
9. Caolin Blade (119)
1. Denis Buckley (189)
2. Shane Delahunt (87)
3. Finlay Bealham (147)
4. Ultan Dillane (105)
5. Quinn Roux (105) (C)
6. Sean O’Brien (58)
7. Conor Oliver (11)
8. Sean Masterson (8)

Replacements
16. Dave Heffernan (135
17. Matthew Burke (17)
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy (59)
19. Gavin Thornbury (47)
20. Paul Boyle (47)
21. Kieran Marmion (173)
22. Diarmuid Kilgallen (2)
23. Peter Sullivan (6)

yerrahbah · 08-01-2021 1:14pm

Two really strong teams, Could be a great game weather permitting

Shame we wont see Aki vs DDA though

Wegians89 · 08-01-2021 1:20pm

yerrahbah wrote: »

Two really strong teams, Could be a great game weather permitting

Shame we wont see Aki vs DDA though

Daly vs DDA looks spicier tbh

SqueakyKneecap · 08-01-2021 1:27pm

After last weekend this is honestly the first match since covid stopped fans attending that I'm really looking forward to.

Really strong Munster team but confidence will be very high after last week.

Wegians89 · 08-01-2021 2:11pm

John Porch > Mike Haley
Ben o Donnell < Keith Earls
Sam Arnold < Chris Farrell
Tom Daly < Damian de Allende
Alex Wootton > Shane Daly
Jack Carty > JJ Hanrahan
Caolin Blade > Conor Murray
Denis Buckley > James Cronin
Shane Delahunt > Kevin O’Byrne
Finlay Bealham > Stephen Archer
Ultan Dillane > Jean Kleyn
Quinn Roux > Tadhg Beirne
Sob < Gavin Coombes
Conor Oliver < Peter O’Mahony
Sean masterson < CJ Stander

irelandrover · 08-01-2021 2:53pm

I disagree with a few

John Porch = Mike Haley
Ben o Donnell < Keith Earls
Sam Arnold < Chris Farrell
Tom Daly < Damian de Allende
Alex Wootton = Shane Daly
Jack Carty > JJ Hanrahan
Caolin Blade < Conor Murray
Denis Buckley = James Cronin
Shane Delahunt > Kevin O’Byrne
Finlay Bealham > Stephen Archer
Ultan Dillane > Jean Kleyn
Quinn Roux < Tadhg Beirne
Sob < Gavin Coombes
Conor Oliver < Peter O’Mahony
Sean masterson < CJ Stander

ionadnapokot · 08-01-2021 2:56pm

Wegians89 wrote: »

John Porch > Mike Haley
Ben o Donnell < Keith Earls
Sam Arnold < Chris Farrell
Tom Daly < Damian de Allende
Alex Wootton > Shane Daly
Jack Carty > JJ Hanrahan
Caolin Blade > Conor Murray
Denis Buckley > James Cronin
Shane Delahunt > Kevin O’Byrne
Finlay Bealham > Stephen Archer
Ultan Dillane > Jean Kleyn
Quinn Roux > Tadhg Beirne
Sob < Gavin Coombes
Conor Oliver < Peter O’Mahony
Sean masterson < CJ Stander

Really looking to seeing Ben O'Donnell. Would have been interesting to gauge him against Earls.

Centre battle should be fascinating.
Arnold back to his 2018 form?

Wegians89 · 08-01-2021 2:57pm

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Really looking to seeing Ben O'Donnell. Would have been interesting to gauge him against Earls.

Centre battle should be fascinating.
Arnold back to his 2018 form?

Centre battle will be very close. The Munster players are better but the form the Connacht pair are in could swing things in their favour

phog · 08-01-2021 3:06pm

Both teams need to win this one which is great for the league and great to see near full strength selections. Hopefully the man in the middle (Frank Murphy) wont be an influencer.

sprucemoose · 08-01-2021 3:09pm

Wegians89 wrote: »

Quinn Roux > Tadhg Beirne

joking right?

connemara man · 08-01-2021 3:10pm

phog wrote: »

Both teams need to win this one which is great for the league and great to see near full strength selections. Hopefully the man in the middle (Frank Murphy) wont be an influencer.

If Munster win we can blame his Munster Bias as he's a Munster ref, and if Connacht win ye can blame his Connacht bias as he played here so long

Tomtom364 · 08-01-2021 3:11pm

Wegians89 wrote: »

John Porch > Mike Haley
Ben o Donnell < Keith Earls
Sam Arnold < Chris Farrell
Tom Daly < Damian de Allende
Alex Wootton < Shane Daly
Jack Carty > JJ Hanrahan
Caolin Blade < Conor Murray
Denis Buckley > James Cronin
Shane Delahunt < Kevin O’Byrne
Finlay Bealham > Stephen Archer
Ultan Dillane < Tadhg Beirne
Quinn Roux > Jean Kleyn
Sob < Gavin Coombes
Conor Oliver < Peter O’Mahony
Sean masterson < CJ Stander

That would be my take on it. I think it makes more sense to compare Dillane with Bierne and Roux with Klyne

Wegians89 · 08-01-2021 3:19pm

sprucemoose wrote: »

joking right?

Absolutely not. Recent irish selection will back that up. Beirne is the type second row you think you want, roux is the type of second row you need.

Wegians89 · 08-01-2021 3:20pm

Tomtom364 wrote: »

That would be my take on it. I think it makes more sense to compare Dillane with Bierne and Roux with Klyne

Agree that they’re better to compare stylistically but think Dillane in current form comes out on top of Beirne too

aloooof · 08-01-2021 3:22pm

This could be a good one. Probably the most I've looked forward to a round of interpro's in awhile.

FACECUTTR · 08-01-2021 3:24pm

aloooof wrote: »

This could be a good one. Probably the most I've looked forward to a round of interpro's in awhile.

Really looking forward to it too. Hopefully theres a little niggle and an exciting game.

sprucemoose · 08-01-2021 3:26pm

Wegians89 wrote: »

Absolutely not. Recent irish selection will back that up. Beirne is the type second row you think you want, roux is the type of second row you need.

roux is the type of 2nd row we think we need but don't, beirne is the type of 2nd row we need

Wegians89 wrote: »

Agree that they’re better to compare stylistically but think Dillane in current form comes out on top of Beirne too

ah now, dillane is very good in fairness and deserves more recognition but beirne has been immense in the european games

sydthebeat · 08-01-2021 4:03pm

munster will win this by about 9

ionadnapokot · 08-01-2021 4:17pm

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Really looking forward to it too. Hopefully theres a little niggle and an exciting game.

Munster v Leinster in 2018 was the last decent inter-pro with a good bit of rivalry.
Crowd also made it a great spectacle that night.
I remember Sexton lost the head. Looking back now i think it was also the beginning of his steep decline.

Still think on balance it's better if the IRFU do not rest players for the inter-pro's.

A calendar shift for the 21-22 Pro16 would benefit the provinces, the national side & the league.
The young lads can travel to Llanelli or wherever (maybe not SA!) over the Christmas & the auld lads can stay at home and change the nappies.

aloooof · 08-01-2021 6:20pm

Murray K reporting a niggle kept Killer out:

https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/status/1347593313424175107

thomond2006 · 08-01-2021 6:27pm

Murray Kinsella reporting that Kilcoyne was unavailable due to a niggle.

Bridge93 · 08-01-2021 8:27pm

What’s the story with Conway?

The Inbetween is mine · 08-01-2021 8:34pm

Bridge93 wrote: »

What’s the story with Conway?

Mixture of personal matter and possible injury

The Lost Sheep · 09-01-2021 1:13am

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster:
Mike Haley; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Shane Daly; JJ Hanrahan, Conor Murray;
James Cronin, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Gavin Coombes, Peter O’Mahony (c), CJ Stander.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Josh Wycherley, Keynan Knox, Fineen Wycherley, Billy Holland, Nick McCarthy, Ben Healy, Rory Scannell.

Some odd selections by Munster. No Kilcoyne, Conway or John Ryan in the 23. Billy Holland on the bench when there are plenty backrow players available.
Craig Casey is also absent but he probably has more minutes than most this season.

Beirne to move to back row if injury happens? Bully hasnt played back row in while but can cover there. dont see casey not playing as any issue. has played a lot as you say and he'll have next 2 weekends to play in

phog wrote: »

Both teams need to win this one which is great for the league and great to see near full strength selections. Hopefully the man in the middle (Frank Murphy) wont be an influencer.

Why even mention that in the first place. Majority of games the officials are not.

sydthebeat wrote: »

munster will win this by about 9

Hopefully as have them backed minus 9....

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Munster v Leinster in 2018 was the last decent inter-pro with a good bit of rivalry.
Crowd also made it a great spectacle that night.
I remember Sexton lost the head. Looking back now i think it was also the beginning of his steep decline.

Still think on balance it's better if the IRFU do not rest players for the inter-pro's.

A calendar shift for the 21-22 Pro16 would benefit the provinces, the national side & the league.
The young lads can travel to Llanelli or wherever (maybe not SA!) over the Christmas & the auld lads can stay at home and change the nappies.

christmas time is best for getting crowds to non european games and with a multi nation league you dont want teams travelling internationally at this time of year so you need the interpro games around now.

thomond2006 · 09-01-2021 1:39am

Can't you skip a line after quotes TLS. It's difficult to read your posts.

The Lost Sheep · 09-01-2021 1:46am

thomond2006 wrote: »

Can't you skip a line after quotes TLS. It's difficult to read your posts.

Looks fine to me. its same as spruce moose post but ive quoted 4 posts not 2.

You say there is plenty backrow players available. Lots of reasons that isnt case. covid etc.
As i said already Tadhg Beirne has lot of experience in back row and Billy, while not recently, has played a lot at 6, is it really an issue?

thomond2006 · 09-01-2021 2:18am

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Looks fine to me. its same as spruce moose post but ive quoted 4 posts not 2.

You say there is plenty backrow players available. Lots of reasons that isnt case. covid etc.
As i said already Tadhg Beirne has lot of experience in back row and Billy, while not recently, has played a lot at 6, is it really an issue?

Maybe it's just on the touch site but your quotes and replies don't have a row separating them.

There has been no announcements of close contacts or cases so that's good news. Tadhg Beirne can play at 6 as we know but with Snyman out he'll be at lock for the season. I'm just surprised Holland is selected. Is it an issue? No.

Kerry_2008 · 09-01-2021 2:42am

Looking forward to see how JJ goes after his recent good form. Ditto carry after last week

aloooof · 09-01-2021 10:48am

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Looks fine to me. its same as spruce moose post but ive quoted 4 posts not 2.

You say there is plenty backrow players available. Lots of reasons that isnt case. covid etc.
As i said already Tadhg Beirne has lot of experience in back row and Billy, while not recently, has played a lot at 6, is it really an issue?

Wycherly has filled in a lot at 6 as well, so I'd imagine he'd go to 6 ahead of Holland if it came to it.

b.gud · 09-01-2021 1:40pm

Fans of both teams may have differing opinions on a lot of things about the game tonight. But I think one thing we can all agree on is please God don't let Liam Toland be on comms for the match

Connacht vs Munster, Sat 9th Jan 7:35pm, Eir/TG4

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