I'm going to be off work in a few days time so lets get this complete shitshow started.
This guy?
He said
Feck it. Oh.. "A!"
What do you call an unwell Munster player that's good at insulting other people?
Sick Beirne
You've had a lot of time on your hands since the last of these threads, haven't you Venjur?
Why had Dave no wool?
Okay. Be the bigger person here.
Ewe know that Munster people don't do gorgeous (or front rows, half backs...).
Time of year for giving. And in that vein, leinster by 27.
I'd blame 'ead shearin'
10 minutes.
Good team even if it's not as strong as I would have liked. Munster going as strong as possible. Will be a good examination of where some of our squad are at.
15. Hugo Keenan (47)
14. Jordan Larmour (78)
13. Garry Ringrose (110) CAPTAIN
12. Jamie Osborne (25)
11. James Lowe (68)
10. Ross Byrne (139)
9. Nick McCarthy (52)
1. Andrew Porter (99)
2. Dan Sheehan (37)
3. Cian Healy (255)
4. Ryan Baird (44)
5. Joe McCarthy (15)
6. Rhys Ruddock (214)
7. Scott Penny (45)
8. Max Deegan (89)
16. John McKee (9)
17. Michael Milne (20)
18. Vakhtang Abdaladze (22)
19. Ross Molony (150)
20. Jack Conan (123)
21. Luke McGrath (184)
22. Harry Byrne (38)
23. Liam Turner (10)
Munster team is in.
Munster: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Antoine Frisch, Jack Crowley, Keith Earls; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Jack O’Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony (C), Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Kiran McDonald, Alex Kendellen, Craig Casey, Rory Scannell, Patrick Campbell.
Loughman, Haley and Hodnett out with 'knocks'.
Leinster
15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Jordan Larmour, 13. Garry Ringrose (C), 12. Jamie Osborne, 11. James Lowe, 10. Ross Byrne, 9.Nick McCarthy, 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Dan Sheehan, 3. Cian Healy, 4. Ryan Baird, 5. Joe McCarthy, 6. Rhys Ruddock, 7. Scott Penny, 8. Max Deegan
Replacements 16. John McKee, 17. Michael Milne, 18. Vakhtang Abdaladze, 19. Ross Molony, 20. Jack Conan, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Harry Byrne, 23. Liam Turner
Full team for Munster, 5/6 usual starters for Leinster. Interesting to see if the Munster ”passun” will be able to try get a win here.
Munster's pack is more experienced and probably stronger overall. But if Leinster can get parity I think they could really do some damage in midfield. Don't think that Munster 10/12/13 axis is particularly good.
If anyone is interested, the handicap has narrowed from Leinster -5 to Leinster -3 since the teams came out.
Two fairly evenly matched teams on paper there, I think; expecting this to be a close one. Hopefully Carbery can continue his good form, and Crowley goes a bit better at 12 than he did last week.
Would like to see Casey on after 50 mins to inject a bit of pace.
Haley’s a big loss tbh. He’s been in great form lately and has been huge for our counter attack.
Definitely advantage Munster after those teams named.
Should be an absolute cracker
I think Munster should win. Anything is possible though. I'm very surprised to see Healy start at tight head. I think he's well past hour long starts. His mobility and power have been absent for a while.
Beirne and Kleyn are the 1st choice and I look forward to seeing how McCarthy fares. Nice opportunity off the bench for some lads too.
…Leinster fans claiming Munster are favourites...
Called it. ;)
Very interested in seeing how Leinsters lineout functions. The driving maul has become a real weapon this season and has won a lot of penalties and scored many trys off the back of it. But that has been with Ryan and Jenkins at the heart of it, neither of whom will play on Monday.
We've also use VDF a lot as a passing option from the back of the lineout. It works because he's a dual carrying and passing threat. Having our main lineout options missing is a big test of how our squad is coming along.
On paper the Munster starting 15 is stronger. But I've a lot of faith in our younger players and coaching staff to make this work.
Lineout a definite concern here.
Perceived issues with our various hookers throwing are and always have been overstated but here we are absent a regular lineout caller and a really proficient jumper in the back row.
Ruddock and Deegan are both decent jumpers but lacking the ability brought by Doris and Conan (who I'd consider a very underrated LO operator)
Thankfully we have Molony on the bench if things really go to pot. I firmly believe he's Leinsters best line out operator and has been for a few years - as well as Conan to come on.
Against Racing especially we saw a lot of animation and movement and accuracy and the poor lads hadn't a clue where we were going. So hopefully we can keep that going.
But if I'm POM or Beirne I'm putting extreme pressure on Baird or McCarthy whoever is calling and making us work for it. I reckon they'll be jumping for absolutely everything.
Leinster have gotten a lot of change out of their maul this year. If we're robbed of that it will be a slog..... bring it on!
Munster should be favorites with those teams.
But unfortunately we need to account for the fact that POM pisses his pants when facing anyone in a blue jersey.
Cian Healys first professional start at TH. You really can teach an old dog new tricks. He's been impressing me a lot at how he's fared but this will undoubtedly be the strongest test at TH. But I fancy him for a pen or 2 against Killer.
It helps having the massive lump of Joe McCarthy behind him.
It's funny how things pan out. If you told me 2 seasons ago that we'd be playing a game in Thomond Park with Porter and 1 and Healy at 3 I'd have laughed at you.
100 not out for Porter too. Fair play to him
I hope Max Deegan plays well. Based on the recent November Internationals, he has moved ahead of Coombes in the pecking order and is breathing down Conan's neck. A good performance against Munster could see him leapfrog the latter in the provincial stakes.
He has performed very well as an impact sub in recent appearance and I hope he continues that good form from a starting berth. He's one of the best ball players in Leinsters squad and seems to have upped his physicality as well. If the front 5 gives a decent platform he could do some damage.
On paper Munster should be favorites given the team selections. They still aren’t though, with the bookies or going on both teams records in the last 5-6 years. It won’t be an epic victory if they win though. Should be a fairly close game.
Should be less than 6 scores in it.
Leinster's dominance over Munster in the last decade has come mostly from our forwards beating the **** out of theirs. The team sheets suggest that this probably won't happen this time round.
The front and back rows looks very competitive, but I've some worries about our locks. I've very high hopes for Baird and McCarthy, but as a pairing they're iffy. The former is predominantly a blindside flanker now and has played most of his rugby this season in the backrow. He's a big talent but maybe he'd be better off playing second fiddle to a more experienced lock.
McCarthy is potentially the biggest talent in Irish rugby right now. He has all the physical and ball playing skills to be an excellent second row. But he's prone to giving away penalties and needs more time before he can lead a lineout.
But players are very good in their own rights, but probably need to be playing with a Ryan or a Molony to guide them through the game.
The front…looks very competitive
I dunno, I don’t see this at all tbh.
I would certainly take our starting front row over Munsters any day of the week. Munsters back row would probably edge it.
Agreed; I think you could argue back row either way, but front row, I think Leinster are clearly stronger (even accounting for Healy at TH).
And that’s been a large point of differentiation in this fixture for a fair while now.
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