Round 12

[Leonormous Boozer]

Leinster Strong.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets):

15. Jordan Larmour (30)
14. Dave Kearney (128)
13. Garry Ringrose (57)
12. Rory O'Loughlin (51)
11. James Lowe (22)
10. Johnny Sexton (155) CAPTAIN
9. Luke McGrath (104)
1. Cian Healy (199)
2. James Tracy (79)
3. Tadhg Furlong (93)
4. Scott Fardy (32)
5. James Ryan (23)
6. Rhys Ruddock (152)
7. Josh van der Flier (68)
8. Jack Conan (82)

16. Bryan Byrne (33)
17. Peter Dooley (55)
18. Michael Bent (113)
19. Ross Molony (74)
20. Max Deegan (30)
21. Hugh O'Sullivan (4)
22. Ciarán Frawley (7)
23. Noel Reid (109)

Brilliant starting team, bit light on the bench but should be enough to take Munster. Going for a five in a row over them which would be beautiful.

It's a bit ridiculous that the ref is from Cork, if the league wants to be taken seriously it needs to sort things like that out.

Delighted for Healy on his 200th appearance. One of Ireland's best ever props.

It'll be interesting to see how O'Sullivan gets on. If he does well he could convince Leo to decide he can be trusted against Toulouse and let us go back to picking Lowe and Fardy in the same team.

Bit worried about going full strength, we can't afford to lose Ringrose/Healy given the injuries we've already got. It'll be worth it if we can get a big win in Thomond though. Big game for Munster more than us. If we win well Van Graan under huge pressure. No POM has me very confident.

 

[munstermuffin]

POM held back by IRFU due to player management. But don't het me wrong we want to win and are going for it but this is not as big a game as the next 3 after. Connacht are in pur same conference and well the 2 European.
Big thing I'd guess is we have better impact from bench and much better lineout given Toner is out.
Either way the result won't put any pressure on JVG as most here realise Leinster are ahead overall. But the talk is the next 3 do decide alot

Hopefully Dan Goggin can get back to the form he had earlier this season before injury.

On the ref issue. Frank is registered to Connacht Union so is professionally not linked to Munster. Similar to JP Doyle.

 

[Leinster Fan]

TG4's Connacht bias is ridiculous. Herring asks the ref about a tackle and they complain about it. Five minutes later Butler does the exact same thing and they praise him for his 'good captaincy.'

Been impressed by Angus Kernohan for Ulster .

Big thing I'd guess is we have better impact from bench and much better lineout given Toner is out.
Either way the result won't put any pressure on JVG as most here realise Leinster are ahead overall. But the talk is the next 3 do decide alot

Hopefully Dan Goggin can get back to the form he had earlier this season before injury.

On the ref issue. Frank is registered to Connacht Union so is professionally not linked to Munster. Similar to JP Doyle.

Wouldn't agree about the lineouts tomorrow. I'd say POM is as important to yours as Toner is to ours and the Munster lineout has been poor recently. Wycherley is a very talented young player from what I've seen but he's got nothing on Fardy.

Which branch Murphy is employed doesn't change the fact that he's from Cork and played for Munster. He's not likely to be biased but he's going to be an easy target for criticism post match. Unfair on him more than anything. I'd say it's the same when JP refs Irish teams.

The game against Connacht might be technically more important but it won't change that more people care about this game, a heavy defeat will put Van Graan under pressure given Munster's poor form in December to date.

Big game for Goggin. Staight back in after in injury. Was probably set for inclusion in the Ireland squad for November before he was injured. Hope he goes well. Big test against Ringrose though.

 

[munstermuffin]

TG4's Connacht bias is ridiculous. Herring asks the ref about a tackle and they complain about it. Five minutes later Butler does the exact same thing and they praise him for his 'good captaincy.'

Been impressed by Angus Kernohan for Ulster .

Wouldn't agree about the lineouts tomorrow. I'd say POM is as important to yours as Toner is to ours and the Munster lineout has been poor recently. Wycherley is a very talented young player from what I've seen but he's got nothing on Fardy.

Which branch Murphy is employed doesn't change the fact that he's from Cork and played for Munster. He's not likely to be biased but he's going to be an easy target for criticism post match. Unfair on him more than anything. I'd say it's the same when JP refs Irish teams.

The game against Connacht might be technically more important but it won't change that more people care about this game, a heavy defeat will put Van Graan under pressure given Munster's poor form in December to date.

Big game for Goggin. Staight back in after in injury. Was probably set for inclusion in the Ireland squad for November before he was injured. Hope he goes well. Big test against Ringrose though.

100% disagree. Yes it means alot to supporters. Yes it is huge in terms of winning. But supporters know we are uo against it. And Leinster are favourites. The result unless it's a huge hammering will have no pressure on JVG. Equally a win won't ease any pressure. On the lineout Fardy I think is not a huge lineout player. I think we have 3 jumpers to Leinsters 2. Also Kleyn back is key to our defensive lineout organisation. Yes POM is a loss. But Toner is a much bigger loss as he is the chess player for Leinster there as well as the key jumper.
Our woes their have been through poor execution not structures.

On Frank Murphy. The big difference is he is long gone out of Munster and is as much connected to Munster as Sean Cronin is likely to be there in a Munster jersey tomorrow.

On tomorrow yes it is big but now it is big due to fact of we lost our next 2 games it'd be chasing a playoff spot. Although it has been noted 3rd may be better than 2nd.

But key for us is find some form with the few lads being held back for Connacht game like Farrell, Tommy and Rhys.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

I expect both West Wales teams to win this weekend.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Mr Friend could be rivalling Mr Cullen as coach of the year at this rate. And he can't even call on the services of the great ToH. At the risk of being laughed off the forum, is Friend building a side that can win back to back ***les in World Cup years?

If Schmidt continues to ignore Connacht players and favour those from Irish sides with less points*, then possibly. The main difference next year would be Connacht would likely lose Aki to the international stage, which would likely be fatal for them. I'd say it would still be worth a flutter if you are that way inclined as you should get generous odds.

On more important matters, Italian derby on Freesports and all is well.

*admittedly totally opportunist timing with my point, but someone has to beat the drum for those brave underdogs forced to live amongst giants.

 

[Groundhog]

Should be a foreign ref for interpros. I'd worry that Murphy will have something to prove and will go out of his way to appear unbiased towards Munster whereas Leinster fans will fear the fact he's.... from Cork. Even if he was from the North I wouldn't like it just get a foreign ref and avoid controversy before it appears.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Mr Friend could be rivalling Mr Cullen as coach of the year at this rate. And he can't even call on the services of the great ToH. At the risk of being laughed off the forum, is Friend building a side that can win back to back ***les in World Cup years?

Connacht's first team is quite strong and playing really well. What they lack is depth. Ship a few injuries and they'll struggle. They've a great shot at making the Pro 14 playoffs and qualifying for the Champions Cup. Andy Friend has been a great appointment so far.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Should be a foreign ref for interpros. I'd worry that Murphy will have something to prove and will go out of his way to appear unbiased towards Munster whereas Leinster fans will fear the fact he's.... from Cork. Even if he was from the North I wouldn't like it just get a foreign ref and avoid controversy before it appears.

It really should be easy to get foreign refs in. There's absolutely no reason why we can't get Welsh refs and they can't have Irish refs.

 

[munstermuffin]

It really should be easy to get foreign refs in. There's absolutely no reason why we can't get Welsh refs and they can't have Irish refs.

Nige did it last year and spent Christmas with John Lacey. But depends on the lads availability too and travel.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Zebre get smothered by their older brother again. Benetton are slowly developing one of the stoutest defences in the league if you look at points conceded.

Connacht's first team is quite strong and playing really well. What they lack is depth. Ship a few injuries and they'll struggle. They've a great shot at making the Pro 14 playoffs and qualifying for the Champions Cup. Andy Friend has been a great appointment so far.

Of course. Their championship year so decent fortune in terms of avoiding major injuries and they'd need the same to stand any chance of a repeat.

 

[munstermuffin]

Must say. Sat here watching Leinster warm up. That is some intensity

 

[die_mole]

I love this

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Red...

 

[Hanley!]

I didn't have a huge problem with Furlong only getting a yellow, even if by the letter of the law it should be a red. It seemed like a genuine accident, and I like Furlong so there's part of me that didn't want him to get that mark against his record.

But when Luke Fitzgerald tries to tell people that Furlong hit Cloete in the chest when everyone has seen what happened already a dozen times in slow motion, it makes me want to slap him in the "chest".

 

[munstermuffin]

I didn't have a huge problem with Furlong only getting a yellow, even if by the letter of the law it should be a red. It seemed like a genuine accident, and I like Furlong so there's part of me that didn't want him to get that mark against his record.

But when Luke Fitzgerald tries to tell people that Furlong hit Cloete in the chest when everyone has seen what happened already a dozen times in slow motion, it makes me want to slap him in the "chest".

Tadgh was yellow. No more. Lowe deserved red. Any time we play Leinster he instigates alot of crap. Even today he was at it and got what he deserved.
Great to get win but still alot of issues. It was against 14 men and we didn't create alot. Fineen was superb though at 6

 

[Hanley!]

Earls was man of the match for me. Fantastic performance across 80 minutes.

Leinster shot themselves in the foot today with shitty discipline. You could see whenever they chained a few phases together that they're still the better team by far, and should have been worth a win here. Hopefully it's something they'll learn from going forwards, while Munster will take some confidence from the win.

 

[munstermuffin]

Thing I've always said. Sexton is a superb player. But he's not a good captain. In that he is an emotional player and that doesn't mix well with whats needed

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Deserved win for Munster. Leinster's ill discipline cost them yet in the end Ciaran Frawley's intercepted pass was the difference between the sides. Had Earls not read the play and picked it off, Leinster were going to score. If I were a Munster fan I'd be very happy with the win and closing the gap on Glasgow but highly concerned than they didn't put a team who played with 14 men for 60 minutes to the sword (13 men for 10 minutes).

As for Leinster, I presume they'll be read the riot act for their poor discipline. On the plus side, they're still 16 points clear at the top of their conference and a lot of inexperienced players got game time in a high pressure atmosphere. That'll stand to people like Ciaran Frawley, Conor O'Brien, Hugh O'Sullivan, Brian Byrne, Peter Dooley and Max Deegan.