Munster vs Castres - HC2012 Round 5

Munster:
1. Wian du Preez
2. Damien Varley
3. BJ Botha
4. Donnacha Ryan
5. Paul O'Connell (c)
6. Peter O'Mahony
7. Niall Ronan
8. James Coughlan

9. Conor Murray
10. Ronan O'Gara
11. Simon Zebo
12. Lifeimi Mafi
13. Keith Earls
14. Johne Murphy
15. Denis Hurley

Replacements:
16. Denis Fogarty
17. Marcus Horan
18. Stephen Archer
19. Donncha O'Callaghan
20. Billy Holland
21. Tomás O'Leary
22. Ian Keatley
23. Danny Barnes


Castres:
1. Saimone Taumoepeau
2. Marc Antoine Rallier
3. Anton Peikrishvili
4. Matthias Rolland (c)
5. Rodrigo Capo Ortega
6. Yannick Caballero
7. Steve Malonga
8. Janie Bornman

9. Thierry Lacrampe
10. Pierre Bernard
11. Pierre Gilles Lakafia
12. Pedro Garcia
13. Romain Martial
14. Paul Bonnefond
15. Vincent Inigo

Replacements:
16. Mathieu Bonello
17. Mike Coetzee
18. Karena Wihongi
19. Scott Murray
20. Ibrahim Diarra
21. Rory Kockott
22. Seremaia Bai
23. Mathieu Nicolas

Huge game for Munster here, I fear they may face a real backlash from the Saints in their final pool game so its important they take the points in this one.

Agreed Rodders,

The last thing we want is to be going to Milton Keynes looking for points. Well, in terms of qualification at least. We will need at least an LBP to get a home draw (which will be vital for this team).

I reckon Munster will name the same 23 as they did against Treviso.

Interesting that Castres have left the likes of Kockett & Bai on the bench while Teulet doesn't travel at all. Having said that though, I'm unfamiliar with most of their players so I can't make a judgement on whether that's a strong Castres team or a mediocre one.

A few notable absentees from that 23, besides Teulet - Max Evans, Marc Andreu, Chris Masoe, Joe Tekori (injured I believe) and Luc Ducalcon.

No surprises at all in that 23. Exactly the same as selected vs. Treviso last week. Great to see Ronan is fit to play and that Ryan continues to nail down his position as the man to partner POC in the second row.

The backrow has a very balanced look to it. Holland on the bench won't let anyone down should he need to come on at any point.

I'd like to see Keatley get on at some point. It'd be interesting to see how he plays with Murray.

Strong looking Munster side. All eyes will be on Earls again in the 13 jersey.

Munster have a very balanced backrow this season. O'Mahoney is really knocking on the international door, hes the 2nd best no 6 in Ireland behind Ferris imo. Ronan has arguably been Munsters player of the season so far along with O'Connell and BJ.

Murray needs a good game after a poor one against Treviso, ROG too.

Ryan too must be under pressure from Tuohy and Toner for his Ireland spot so theres a lot to play for.

Munster to take 5 points I think here.

I thought Murray mixed the good with the bad. He had some great moments but I thought that his decision making was slow at times. Still, he'll be all the better for having the run-out to brush away some of the cobwebs. I'm expecting a big game from him.

I think Earls will be fine. I'm one of the people who likes him at 13 but I think his effectiveness can be limited when paired with the "wrong" 12. JDV was perfect, Mafi not so much. Even so, I have no worries about him for tomorrow though, I think he'll impress a few people on here.

POM being the 2nd no.6 in Ireland depends a lot on whether you see SOB as a 6 or a 7. I do agree that POM is making great strides though. If not this year I think he'll certainly break through to the International setup next year.

It's great to see POC back to his "fear of God" inspiring best.

MMC wrote:I thought Murray mixed the good with the bad. He had some great moments but I thought that his decision making was slow at times. Still, he'll be all the better for having the run-out to brush away some of the cobwebs. I'm expecting a big game from him.

I think Earls will be fine. I'm one of the people who likes him at 13 but I think his effectiveness can be limited when paired with the "wrong" 12. JDV was perfect, Mafi not so much. Even so, I have no worries about him for tomorrow though, I think he'll impress a few people on here.

POM being the 2nd no.6 in Ireland depends a lot on whether you see SOB as a 6 or a 7. I do agree that POM is making great strides though. If not this year I think he'll certainly break through to the International setup next year.

It's great to see POC back to his "fear of God" inspiring best.

Agreed MMC, Murray did good and bad thiings against Treviso. No denying either fact. If Ryan puts in a shift, which I expect him to, then he could be getting his first 6Nations start. We shall see.

As for the Northampton game......do NOT want to be going there looking for points for anything more than a home QF. Because, even if Mallinder puts out a weak team against Scarlets, and they lose, there is no way they will allow themselves to be turned over at home again this year.

Looks like Castres have given up on the Heineken Cup, good decision mind you there's no way they can qualify. This should be an easy one for Munster

Anyone have a link for this game?

Hoping O'Mahony scores the first try for a few quid.

mankiaow think I have a link for this one, I'll pm you if so.

try

err you cant really do that gowales, PM's only mate, remove.

Thanks

Oh sorry my bad

Can't work out how to remove it so i just removed most of the content

Lads if it is the one Dodger used from me you are covered for all games on Sky or anyother sport pretty much.



I only caught the last ten minutes of the game on Sky listened to a bit on the radio but Newstalk were having fierce problems. I don't think I missed much, Munster seemed to lack a bit of fire and intensity and were making ridiculous errors.

Munster are apparently on the "wane" but still a great team. Haven't set the pool alight by notching up tries, but is that a good or bad thing when it comes to the last eight?

Yeah it is. I was on the way back from another match but Keith Wood et al made it sound like Munster spurned several try scoring opportunities and that can't be done against the top sides.

Pretty boring match tbh. Ryan was brilliant i thought though and well worth his MOTM. O'Connell and Coughlan were also good and the difference Botha has made to the scrum is ridiculous. No. 4 has to be the most competitive position for the 6 nations with Ryan, Tuohy and Toner all looking to take DOCs shirt. Earls was disappointing as well.

ryan deserves a go at 4 v wales. id go for tuohy on bench. both had super games. earls had a poor game to be honest. needs to improve big time next week if he is to start for ireland at 13.

well done on qualification super stuff after last year. home quarter final and who knows. castres were dogged today.and played with a lot more commitment than i thought they would

earls has surely played himself out of irish team. cave maybe an option.
scrum is a joy now to watch and munster really are gettin serious results without been brilliant. home draw and they could prob win the HC. nothing would suprise me with munster.

flynnnio wrote:earls has surely played himself out of irish team. cave maybe an option.
scrum is a joy now to watch and munster really are gettin serious results without been brilliant. home draw and they could prob win the HC. nothing would suprise me with munster.

I agree with you on Earls, we have a problem with our centre pairing at the moment - Mafi & Earls really doesn't seem to work in my opinion.

Think winning a HC, even with a home QF might be a step too far. With a full squad then we might challenge. Hopefully Wallace and Jones will be back and back to form by then but Howlett is a huge loss to our back line. He is our only attacker of real class and substance - I'm not doubting the huge potential of the rest of our backline but we need to find a solid centre pairing to give them a platform.

Don't want to be negative though. We have quite a few really good young players stepping up, things have come a long way since this time last year.

So much for Earls being the best option.. now I think you can see where his criticism as a centre comes from. No more provincial bias lads, lets actually open our minds and look at other options that aren't Keith Earls eh? He is a very talented player but atm he is behind the others, certainly at centre.

I thought Earls did ok from the hilights.

Another lacklustre game from Munster but another win. They can't seem to get an 80 min performance together at the minute and seem to be making far too many unforced errors and poor decisions. Castres try was extremely soft.

Great game from Donnacha Ryan and O'Connell and another excellent scrummaging performance but there's a lack of composure and direction behind the scrum that Munster need to sort out if they are to challenge for a 3rd HEC title I think.

Still they are in a great position which says a lot about Munster's spirit and determination.

His distribution and awareness was poor Rodders. As always he was a danger man, but he isn't doing the basics right at 13. I think he should either start wing or come on from the bench come the 6 nations. As I said on the other thread, he is one of the more talented players in Ireland I think, along with Fitzgerald, but he needs to work on the basics.

roddersm wrote:I thought Earls did ok from the hilights.

Another lacklustre game from Munster but another win. They can't seem to get an 80 min performance together at the minute and seem to be making far too many unforced errors and poor decisions. Castres try was extremely soft.

Great game from Donnacha Ryan and O'Connell and another excellent scrummaging performance but there's a lack of composure and direction behind the scrum that Munster need to sort out if they are to challenge for a 3rd HEC title I think.

Still they are in a great position which says a lot about Munster's spirit and determination.

Never underestimate the power of editing!! He had a really bad day.Bad handling passing and decision making. Mafi had one good break - that was the sum total of our centres efforts. It just doesn't look like a combination that will really work. They've had a decent amount of game time together over the last few years.

Didn't see Ulster last night but given what I've seen of Cave (he was supposed to have been excellent last night) he should 13 for the Wales game.

Totally dominated scurm and line out and yet struggled. So frustrating watching Munster but sure thats why we love them. If Murray's try was allowed I feel we would have gone on and put them away and got the BP.

But we didnt. The centres clearly arent working with Maifi and Earls. I would also prefer to see Earls on the wing with Barnes starting in the centre.

Donnacha Ryan - what a season he is having. He was immense yesterday as was Coughlan and O'Connell.

Niall Ronan is going to be a big loss as the team looked unbalanced straight away when he went off.

However after all the doom and gloom its 5 from 5 and no other team has achieved that (although next week will tell alot)



BELIEVE

Coughlan butchered a try but had a cracking game, his carrying was excellent.

That was the best I've ever seen Ryan play and he needed it with Tuohy and Toner breathing down his neck. He was immense.

Didn't see what was wrong with Murrays try?

There seems to be an uncharacteristic panic and impatience about Munster at the minute. Can't understand why O'Connell didn't go for the posts when they had those penalties. Munster need to go back to basics a bit.

If they can do a number on the Saints that will be a massive boost as despite winning 5 from 5 they look a bit short on confidence. The Northampton game will be a real yardstick as to where Munster are at right now. Even though Munster are in the QF it will be a massive game.

POC blocked one of the Castres players which was picked up by the ref. Silly really as the gap was open.

Think you nailed it there -low on confidence and trying to push things and making stuipid errors. I think the main problem is the balance in the centre. Tommy Bowe would slot in the nicely

Tommy is coming home to Ulster Blue ;-) find someone else. So just POC, Ryan and Coughlan standing out performance wise for Munster? Personally Declan has some big calls to make for the Ireland squad and i wonder if he had the guts to make them, still another game next week lets hope all the Irish teams getvthe results that put us through to the QFs it would be a heck of an achievement.

A team we all know is in transition (yeah, you do. Nobody expected them to be anywhere this season);
a team teaching the younger guys just how bloody tough HC rugby is;
a team with perhaps their most attacking-effective player missing through injury;
a team that looked fired up emotionally, perhaps for the first time this season;
a team with 5 from 5;
a team that traditionally play their best rugby after Christmas;
Castres is I think 4rd? in their Top 14 league. No pushovers when they decide to play.
a team already in the Quarters of the HC playing for them below par rugby.

Not a bad showing at all by old Munster. I enjoyed that it needed them to sweat. When they reflect, they'll enjoy it too. Now is the period for total concentration. Intensity will bring focus.

But of course, by no means perfect. Like Ireland, a disharmony between backs and forwards (never seem to know when it might be best to try going wide to keep teams guessing and keep opposing players away from the breakdowns). Maybe they don't feel they yet have the players to do that, ie too risky.
Much too much straightline running into contact with only confused support coming behind to offer poor offloading potential.
Earls.... trying to play a game his team had no intention of playing with him. Zigzagging through opposition players is only beneficial if you have options to the left and to the right. He didn't a lot of the time and kinda panicked and just offloaded to anything that was moving at the time.

But I think Munster are doing ok. I loved the way they got 'angry' with Castres' dogged defence and just pushed du Preeze over for his try. That looked to me like the gritty, full blooded, Munster effort of old.