HCC Round 3 - Castres vs Munster - Friday, Jan 14th @ 8.00pm - BT Sport 3

13-01-2022 11:03AM #1

Munster

Dave Kilcoyne
Niall Scannell
Stephen Archer
Fineen Wycherley
Tadhg Beirne
Peter O’Mahony (C)
Jack O’Donoghue
Gavin Coombes
Conor Murray
Jack Crowley
Keith Earls
Rory Scannell
Chris Farrell
Andrew Conway
Mike Haley

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Jean Kleyn, John Hodnett, Craig Casey, Jake Flannery, Shane Daly.

Castres

https://twitter.com/CastresRugby/status/1481596895202004999/photo/1

Officials

Ref: Luke Pearce (England)

Assis Ref 1: Hamish Smales (England)

Assis Ref 2: Paul Dix (England)

TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

Castres have only won one of their last 10 games against the Irish province, losing eight, although that victory came the last time they hosted the Irish province in 2018/19, when they edged home 13-12.

This will be the 18th clash between Munster Rugby and Castres Olympique in the Heineken Champions Cup, the most played fixture in the history of the competition.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 11:31AM

The weird part of this fixture it seems when they play in France the Irish team tends to do nearly everything in their power to lose the game through stupid errors and sloppiness. The cancelation of the fixtures in RD 2 is huge for Munster as it means Toulouse now can only get a maximum of 17 points so its in Munster's hands to finish 1st now although it will be a shootout with Quins but doable.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:01PM

What a typical VG selection, you have a great young 7 in Hodnett who has been going well...what does he do? Shoehorn a 6/8 into 7... and ofcourse no Ahern...never change VG, never change...

theVersatile · 13-01-2022 12:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Crowley starts at ten with Flannery on the bench, Hodnett in ahead of O'Sullivan/Cloete/etc for a CHAMPIONS CUP GAME and you choose to bitch about another selection.

Never change UAE, never change ...

Cookiemunster · 13-01-2022 12:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Yawn

RichieRich_89 · 13-01-2022 12:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466821#Comment_118466821

Maybe O'Donoghue will be playing blindside. The 7 is the blindside in South Africa.

aloooof · 13-01-2022 12:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466854#Comment_118466854

More subtle than usual, Richie.

aloooof · 13-01-2022 12:09PM

Looking forward to this one (with some Friday evening IPA's) and excited to see how Crowley goes. Wondering what Kockott will do off the bench. Cos he'll definitely do... something.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466854#Comment_118466854

This isnt South Africa.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466845#Comment_118466845

Crowley and Flannery are the only 10s available.... I guess I have to give him some credit for not trying to shoehorn Scannell into 10...

Hodnett is ahead of O'Sullivan in the pecking order and Cloete hasnt played a game this side of the international window. Clutching at straws there.

phog · 13-01-2022 12:20PM

Every thread destroyed

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466949#Comment_118466949

Still trying to ostracise me? My points are valid, when people wonder why Munster's youngsters have such little minutes compared to their equivalent at other provinces well this conservatism is the reason why.

theVersatile · 13-01-2022 12:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466977#Comment_118466977

Former Former Former · 13-01-2022 12:32PM

I'm a bit out of touch with Top 14 but that is very much not a full strength Castres team I think?

aloooof · 13-01-2022 12:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466977#Comment_118466977

I know you were banned on here for the last Munster match just 5 days ago, but I didn't think that precluded you from seeing it elsewhere.

Anyways, I'm taking theVersatile's gif as instructive advice.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467018#Comment_118467018

Nkosi is the only player retained from their win over La Rochelle.

thomond2006 · 13-01-2022 12:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118466861#Comment_118466861

Stop bloody biting!

aloooof · 13-01-2022 12:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467058#Comment_118467058

Ya, sorry thomond; first time making use of the ignore list so good from here on out.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 12:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467042#Comment_118467042

When you have mods like AWEC that loves to abuse his power that can happen. I did see the Munster game, it doesnt explain why we finally have a good natural 7 at last and yet we drop him in favour of a 6/8, away in France having a natural 7 at 7 could be vital as could having a player of O'Donoghue's experience and quality in the final 20-30 minutes. You know for a fact if Leinster were in this predicament they would have backed Hodnett at 7 and put Ahern on the bench but sadly Munster are more worried about **** up then succeeding and it show's in their selection.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 01:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467058#Comment_118467058

Biting what? Basically I have to agree with every Munster selection and any sort of criticism = being a troll?

irelandrover · 13-01-2022 01:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467315#Comment_118467315

No. You can disagree.

But you have 8 posts out of 19 in this thread and they are all just moaning. That's what ruins threads.

awec · 13-01-2022 01:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467315#Comment_118467315

You've made your point now. Move on.

aloooof · 13-01-2022 01:29PM

For those that are interested, the average age of Munster's starting 15's this season is 27.6. The average age of Leinster's starting 15 is 27.2.

The difference isn't anywhere near as significant as is often made out.

arsebiscuits1 · 13-01-2022 01:29PM

Man it was such a quiet 2 weeks....

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 01:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467336#Comment_118467336

I had 1 post and I immediately have 3 condescending comments made against me… maybe if I was treated with a little respect for a change maybe I wouldn’t be spamming the tread with responses to these comments.

13-01-2022 01:41PM

Oh how I wish the person that opens a thread could ban a user from posting.

UAEguy2020 · 13-01-2022 01:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467379#Comment_118467379

Let’s see the Leinster selection tomorrow and compare, we’ll see who has the younger starting XV, I predict only 1 winner in that.

These are the games where players like Hodnett and Ahern come to the fore and show they are ready for test rugby. I’m excited for next season to see how many players deemed not test standard this season magically become test standard under a new coach.

13-01-2022 02:17PM

Does Zebo not make a full strength 23 these days or where is he?

phog · 13-01-2022 02:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467767#Comment_118467767

Is this a Wind Up or are you so out of touch that you'v missed the fact that Zebo has only 15 minutes of rugby to his name since before Munster's ill-fated trip to SA.

Once he got carded last week the only way he'd be included for tomorrow's game would be if we had a run of injuries in the back 3. It was only yesterday evening that word came through that he was clear to play so Munster would have been planning without him anyway.

13-01-2022 03:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118467829#Comment_118467829

It's the latter, I am so out of touch that I haven't tracked every minute Zebo has played since he came back to Munster. Can you believe it? I'll start a spreadsheet.

13-01-2022 03:31PM

Did Zebo can any match bans for the red card?

HCC Round 3 - Castres vs Munster - Friday, Jan 14th @ 8.00pm - BT Sport 3

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