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I'm dreaming of a Dark Ruby Red Christmas: Guinness Pro14 - R11

23rd
Benetton vs Zebre
Edinburgh vs Glasgow
Connacht vs Ulster

26th
Dragons vs Blues
Munster vs Leinster
Scarlets vs Ospreys

No South African derby until 13/01 for some reason.

I'm going for three away wins on the 23rd, but all should be pretty even contests. If Cockerill can give Glasgow their first loss of the season then he'll be well ahead of the curve in his long term plan at Edinburgh.

Treviso have a bit of a big brothers hold over Zebre, but this isn't Treviso vs Zebre. Its Benneton vs Saint Michael Bradley.

Connacht need to do neutrals in both conferences a favour by picking up a win but Ulster seem to have done alright in Europe?

As for the Boxing Day games, the only thing I'm interested in is seeing Scott William's expression as the Scarlets dismantle the Ospreys.
 
Bruce_ma_goose said:
No South African derby until 13/01 for some reason.
Click to expand...
I think it's to do with the weather but I could be wrong.

Ulster are doing all right in Europe but beating a poor Quins team twice isn't a great mark of brilliance and they gave away far to many tries. They've got a lot standing between them and the quarters at the moment and they'll have no outhalf for the second half of the season if Jackson is convicted and they can't convince Leinster/Munster to take pity on them and loan them Carbery/Hanrahan or find another SH outhalf to keep then going. There's always Ian Madigan I suppose. (If they can convince Bristol to let him go)

Leinster v Munster could be the game of the season if Leinster send something resembling their first team down, but what used to be the biggest game in Irish rugby by some distance has been on the decline for years now and is badly in need of a Heineken Cup semi final between the teams to make the teams hate each other again. (Although it has to be said the merits of 80% the Irish squad playing for two teams that hate each other are debatable.)
 
Bruce_ma_goose said:
No South African derby until 13/01 for some reason.
Click to expand...

I'm going to hazard a guess and assume it's a mix of them trying to give the players an extended rest period following a pretty long rugby season for the players and a bit of a traditional mix of us not really playing any rugby over the festive season.

Doubt it's about the weather, January is generally hotter than December so that would not be of any help. There will also be absolutely no one in Bloem over the festive season as well as people generally flock to the coast.
 
Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):

15. Jordan Larmour (10)
14. Barry Daly (16)
13. Rory O'Loughlin (31)
12. Robbie Henshaw (18)
11. James Lowe (1)
10. Ross Byrne (37)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (40)
1. Jack McGrath (121) CAPTAIN
2. James Tracy (53)
3. Michael Bent (97)
4. Devin Toner (207)
5. James Ryan (7)
6. Jordi Murphy (95)
7. Dan Leavy (45)
8. Jack Conan (63)

16. Richardt Strauss (150)
17. Ed Byrne (14)
18. Tadhg Furlong (74)
19. Mick Kearney (26)
20. Josh van der Flier (56)
21. Nick McCarthy (14)
22. Cathal Marsh (25)
23. Noel Reid (90)

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)

After putting this in the wrong thread. 2nd string side, will be a better fight than last year but won't beat full strength Munster.
 
Munster: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Rhys Marshall, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Peter O'Mahony (c), Tommy O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, John Ryan, Darren O'Shea, Jack O'Donoghue, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Simon Zebo.


I'd take our front five and centres but Munster's halfbacks and bench should win this for them.
 
Munster go in fully loaded while Leinster retain just a few of the team that beat Exeter last week. Bit of a mismatch. Leinster by 20.
 
snoopy snoopy dog dog said:
Munster go in fully loaded while Leinster retain just a few of the team that beat Exeter last week. Bit of a mismatch. Leinster by 20.
Click to expand...
We've rested our secret weapon for this 1.

But as per usual at Christmas the internationals playing home games.

Alpha I actually think our front 5 is much better. Kleyn makes that unit a different beast.
Think Arnold is on fire too so centre is tight
 
munstermuffin said:
We've rested our secret weapon for this 1.

But as per usual at Christmas the internationals playing home games.

Alpha I actually think our front 5 is much better. Kleyn makes that unit a different beast.
Think Arnold is on fire too so centre is tight
Click to expand...
I can't agree. Toner is better than Kleyn, Ryan is better than Holland, I'd take our props and the hookers are much of a muchness. Henshaw is by far the best centre on the pitch and RO'L and Arnold are as good as each other in midfield.

I think Leinster are better at 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 12. I don't see a huge difference at 2, 10, 11 and 13 but where Munster are better they're better comfortably and they have a lot more to bring off the bench.
 
The Alpha Bro said:
I can't agree. Toner is better than Kleyn, Ryan is better than Holland, I'd take our props and the hookers are much of a muchness. Henshaw is by far the best centre on the pitch and RO'L and Arnold are as good as each other in midfield.

I think Leinster are better at 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 12. I don't see a huge difference at 2, 10, 11 and 13 but where Munster are better they're better comfortably and they have a lot more to bring off the bench.
Click to expand...
Guess that the beauty of it.
I'd argue on form Kilcoyne better.
Marshall is a much better 2 full stop in majority of Munster fans.
Archer is better than bent.
I personally think Kleyn is best 2nd row in Ireland. And that is a common view all around these parts. Billy again I think is better than Ryan at this moment.
Your centre analysis is probably fair. Earls = Lowe is hard to say but on form fair I suppose. 7 is probably correct too
 
The Alpha Bro said:
I can't agree. Toner is better than Kleyn, Ryan is better than Holland, I'd take our props and the hookers are much of a muchness. Henshaw is by far the best centre on the pitch and RO'L and Arnold are as good as each other in midfield.

I think Leinster are better at 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 12. I don't see a huge difference at 2, 10, 11 and 13 but where Munster are better they're better comfortably and they have a lot more to bring off the bench.
Click to expand...
Toner is not better than Kleyn. Saying otherwise is so one eyed. I didn't read the rest of your post but that's a trashman opinion. Also Holland has acres of experience on Ryan and has played every game this season. Wouldn't expect a huge gap between the two when it comes down to it.
 
Right now, Toner is better than Kleyn. Give it a year or two and Kleyn will be better than Toner ever showed in his career. Ryan is a much better player than Holland. He'll start for Ireland regularly within a year. Holland has carved out a good career but he's not in the same class as the other three starting locks on the field on Tuesday.
 
Tigs Man said:
FFS embra.
Click to expand...

A try down and a man sent off inside 5 minutes. Just as well the 1872 is best two out of three this year! Hard to see what would be a positive result for Edinburgh from this point. Maybe two tries and losing by less than 20?
 
snoopy snoopy dog dog said:
Right now, Toner is better than Kleyn. Give it a year or two and Kleyn will be better than Toner ever showed in his career. Ryan is a much better player than Holland. He'll start for Ireland regularly within a year. Holland has carved out a good career but he's not in the same class as the other three starting locks on the field on Tuesday.
Click to expand...
I think that' the beauty of it most of Munster think Kleyn is a beast and he is probably the most important player in pack. In my view he is well ahead of Toner. On Holland. I'm not sure if you'v watched Munster the past 18months but he has been superb. Agreed Ryan will be better in time but as of now Ryan is still finding his feet and I'd consider very little between them.
And at this time I would class Ryan behind Kleyn and Toner in terms of class and not out of Billys league.
But again it's back to same thing that' been around for 100years or so. Tell me your address and I'll tell your views
 

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