Scarlets vs Munster - Playoff battle heating up

Written by Rugby Dreamer

The Scarlets had only lost once at home in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 this season. They had also lost the last 14 games in all competitions they had played in against the day’s opponents, Munster. Both facts were something for the local supporters, who had turned out in large numbers, to equally celebrate and despair.

Munster, often incorrectly perceived to be an aging side, were still trying to cope with the smart of being knocked out of the Heineken Cup by a fellow province. Could they then handle losing to a team that for the last five years they have had such a strangle hold on?

The match was set to be a nail biter, with both teams evenly matched at the injury ravaged end of the season, and both vying for a play-off spot.
The game began quietly enough, with the official of the day, Alain Rolland, making his presence felt, which was to set the tone for the rest of the match.

It took just over ten minutes for the first points to appear. Munster had been pressuring the Scarlets deep in their own 22, until a crunching tackle helped enforce a turnover. The Scarlets then ran a sublime length of the pitch try, with the ball going through the hands of at nine Scarlets players, to send wing Sean Lamont over in the corner.

This seemed to be the signal for the floodgates to open, as within a few minutes Munster had scored a try of their own, coming from a Scarlets error (to be a theme of the evening) from their lineout in their 22, to send Ryan crashing through some very weak defending.

Seventeen minutes on the clock and it was 7-7, with very little separating either side.

The rest of the first half, apart from one gleaming move from Munster that sent Zebo over (with the aid from the TMO), continued to be a turgid, stop-start affair. The scrums failed to function and with Munster playing as Munster do and smothering the breakdown, ignoring the need to release the tackled player, and the officials happy to let them. The Scarlets seemed incapable of helping themselves though, where even any half chances were snuffed out by their own unforced errors.

An exchange of penalties saw the first half end 10 – 17 to the visitors, although their lead was slightly overshadowed by Tommy O’Donnell having to be stretchered off the pitch, which looked to hopefully be a precautionary measure.

The second half saw an improvement from the home side, and with the visitors sticking to their spoiling game plan. With teams so evenly matched, in what was such a key encounter, were given no chance to express themselves in what was turning out to be an increasingly frustrating encounter. Munster offered little to nothing, whilst the Scarlets kept trying to apply pressure but to no avail.

It wasn’t until the 54th minute that the Scarlets notched more points on the board to make it 10 – 20.

A few minutes later, a brilliant angle cut by backrow Aaron Shingler, led to an excellent try, after the Scarlets had been doggedly trying to move up field. Priestland converted.

What followed were periods of Scarlets pressure that failed time and again through poor handling, poor control at the breakdown and poor kicking, to be converted into points. It was not until the 71st minute that they managed to level the scores to make it a nervous last ten minutes for the Scarlets faithful, who had remained all match in good voice, despite the exasperating nature of the game.

Could the Scarlets finally overcome their fierce rivals Munster and put themselves in with a chance of making the play-offs? Could Munster grind out yet another win to keep their play-off chance alive? Neither side had been spectacular, or allowed to be, in this match, yet the commitment and ferocity from both sides was clear to see.

Ten minutes of extreme Scarlets pressure in the end, with Munster doing their best to spoil every facet of play, led to no penalties nor even an attempt at a drop goal, and saw the match finishing as an incredibly unsatisfying draw. Neither team looked happy; the Scarlets fans for the first time fell silent.

Munster still limp on towards the end of the season with the prospect of silverware to play for. The Scarlets look to be ending another season just shy of the top four, again having to live with the label of being the “nearly” side, with no one but themselves to blame. The disconsolate look of apology full back Liam Williams flashed to the supporters in the North Stand as he applauded his thanks, said far more than any words could.

The biggest disappointment though was that despite some shining displays from Warren, Shingler, Zebo and Dineen, the game wasn’t allowed to flow. Two key aspects, the breakdown and the scrum, were not under the control of the match official, who showed remarkable lack of feeling towards the running of a game. Often after realising his mistake with one call, it appeared that Rolland would immediately award the next penalty to the previously wrongly penalised team, in the appearance of making amends, with calls at some times that left both sets of players, baffled. Whilst the result itself was a disappointment to the 10,741 supporters who had made their way to Parc Y Scarlets, it was the manner in which the game was allowed (or not allowed) to be played, that truly left such a frustrating feeling.

Full time score: 20 - 20

Attendance: 10,741

Man of the Match: Adam Warren

My Man of the Match: Aaron Shingler

Scarlets: Liam Williams, G North, A Warren, S Jones, S Lamont, R Priestland, G Davies, R Jones, M Rees capt, D Manu, S Timani, D Day, A Shingler, J Turnbull, B Morgan.

Replacements: T Knoyle for G Davies (61), S Gardner for R. Jones (74), E Phillips for M Rees (61), P John for Manu (65), K Murphy for Timani (55).
Munster: F Jones; L O'Dea; J Murphy; L Mafi; S Zebo; I Keatley; C Murray; D Kilcoyne; M Sherry; BJ Botha; M O'Driscoll; P O'Connell capt; D Ryan; T O'Donnell; P O'Mahony.

Replacements: I Dineen for Jones (65), T O'Leary for Murray (61), S Archer for Botha (71), D O'Callaghan for O'Driscoll (67), P Butler for O'Donnell (38).
Not Used: D Varley, W du Preez, S Deasy.
Att: 10,741

Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU)

Assistant Referees: Gwyn Morris and David Jones (Both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: Jeff Mark (WRU)

TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (WRU)

http://v2journal.com/scarlets-v-munster.html

I would expect us to have something like

Newton, L Williams, Lamont, S Williams, North, Priestland, G Davies; R Jones, Owens, Manu, Welch, Timani, Murphy, Turnbull, Morgan (bench-; John, Rees, P Edwards, Gilbert, Pugh?, Knoyle, Jones, Iongi)

I am looking forward to this match, should be a real cracker, but I have a feeling that we may end up ont he wrong side of the score line again, and regretting missed opertunities/kicks.

Timani back in contention, excellent!

The injury situation is a bit farcical though, how can you have a proper training session with only 14 players?!

We could go for: Rhodri, Smiler, Manu, Timani, Welch, Shingler (he's back fit ye?), Morgan, Turnbull, Davies, Jones, George, Lamont, Scott, Sanjay, Preistland.

Bench: Phil, Ken, Pete, Day,Murphy, Knoyle, Newton, Warren.

Really hope we don't miss any kicks. I hate losing from missed kicks.

Apparently ROG isn't travelling with Munster (dead leg or something), and Earls is a doubt.

Not too happy with Rolland as a ref. He's pretty weak at officiating the breakdown, so we might struggle to get quick ball. (c'mon, we all know what Munster are like )

But, we'll see. Really hope we can get a win.

Dreamer - I totally forgot about the option of playing Priestland at fullback. One thing is for sure Munster will be bringing they're best team possible for this match. Should be more like a must win HEC match than an end of season league game.

Either of the team's mentioned aren't bad teams considering the injuries we have. And with S Williams back with Lamont we should coz problems in the centres as well.

Still it's going to be tough with (what I imagine) a strong Munster side

what's key though is that we need Scott fit. He's still touch and go a tthe minute, same with Georgie. Those two could make all the difference.

Apparently Munster have quite hte injury list of their own, but that shouldn't matter. They sent their effective "2nds" side to Y Parc last season and still won pretty convincingly.

Our forwards are going to have to step up, big time. (and why do I always have to type that? )

Munster aren't guaratneed a play off spot yet, and with no more HEC rugby, they are really going to want this.

rugbydreamer wrote:Our forwards are going to have to step up, big time. (and why do I always have to type that? )

We also need to be very clinical and cut out any mistakes to win!

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:Our forwards are going to have to step up, big time. (and why do I always have to type that? )

We also need to be very clinical and cut out any mistakes to win!

again, that's something we always seem to say!

You reckon we can actually deliver the goods on Sat??


I actually do think we can. We have to, even if just to prove we learnt from the lessons out in Brive (am still so annoyed by that game )

rugbydreamer wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

rugbydreamer wrote:Our forwards are going to have to step up, big time. (and why do I always have to type that? )

We also need to be very clinical and cut out any mistakes to win!

again, that's something we always seem to say!

You reckon we can actually deliver the goods on Sat??


I actually do think we can. We have to, even if just to prove we learnt from the lessons out in Brive (am still so annoyed by that game )

I'm undecided at the moment and not confident enough to say what my heart wants to - Of course the Scarlets can win!

Saying that we've definately had the quality to beat Munster for the past 2 seasons and should have on a few occasions but we really need to just go out there and do it.

Like you I'm really annoyed we didn't get the win against Brive, even with front line props missing the win was there for us, hopefully tomorrow won't be like that game...

Are you going down? I'm not sure if I'll be in the South stand as usual or if I'll be in the North stand for a change

yeah, ko is early enough for the trains to still be running after the game so I'll be there. North terrace as per!

I guess we need to look on the plus side we lost both games in the HEC with poor goal kicking, as opposed to being outplayed. And over the last few years we should have beaten Munster away on a few occations. Especially the one where Deasy and Dowling robbed us of what would have been a winning try at the death.

The crowd should be pretty decent, as the Munster fans tend to come over in force, coupled with the fact we are still in the play-off hunt. I'm really looking forward to this match it feels like ages since our last home match!

or like last season away, when we had a 2 on 1 overlap with Dan Evs and Stodds, and one of them (can't remember which!) didn't pass the ball for what would have been the winning try!

And aye, know what you mean. When was our last home match again? really does feel like a long time ago now.

It was Stodds, I was trying to think what it was about that match last year that was so depressing. It seems every match against them has lead to me feeling depressed the following Monday at work with some smarty pants telling me that the Scarlets threw it away.

Last home game was Connacht (start of March), but hopefuly we can continue our home winning bonus point streak (Treviso/Connacht).

This is the key game of the Run in.

It will setle a lot of questions and not just for the 2 teams playing.

Munster have i pile of injuries. (Including Rog and Poc) You will not get a better chance to end their winning run.

Aye but Jen, we've got a pile of injuries ourselves. Think it kind of cancels each other out!

Munster beat Glasgow pretty well with all these injuries. They have a very good squad. Scarlets do aswell, but can't seem to find a strong enough 5 to compete in spite of this.

Losing to Ulster was a real heart breaker. I'm worried about this match. I think that Scarlets have a great chance.

Im usually blindly optimistic whenever the Scarlets play, but Munster are starting to dent my confidence. Im getting fed up of treking down for these games to leave gutted as we miss our kicks and Munster win yet again (I know it's not always just on kicks!). I'm still going down of course but come on - lets blwdy win.






Scarlets by 8

overlordofthewest wrote:Im usually blindly optimistic whenever the Scarlets play, but Munster are starting to dent my confidence. Im getting fed up of treking down for these games to leave gutted as we miss our kicks and Munster win yet again (I know it's not always just on kicks!). I'm still going down of course but come on - lets blwdy win.

Scarlets by 8

Funny I'm always pesimistic and everytime we play Munster we play quite well, get into a position to win and I start believing (stupidly) and then we'll throw it all away again right at the end! Arrgh

Morgannwg wrote:Munster beat Glasgow pretty well with all these injuries. They have a very good squad. Scarlets do aswell, but can't seem to find a strong enough 5 to compete in spite of this.

Ah yes. But that was in Cork and not Clanetley.

I think with Keatley at 10 and neither scrum half in good form Munster are there for the taking. Scarlets have a great chance here but Munster won't lie down for them so they'll have to bring their A game.

Munster have actually really lacked direction on the field and consistancy this season but they have shown a knack of not playing well and winning.

Munster won't lose so Scarlets will have to win.

Ignore

Scarlets team is out

15 Liam Williams
14 George North
13 Adam Warren
12 Steve Jones
11 Sean Lamont
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Gareth Davies

1 Rhodri Jones
2 Matthew Rees
3 Deacon Manu
4 Sione Timani
5 Dom Day
6 Aaron Shingler
7 Josh Turnbull
8 Ben Morgan

(16 E Phillips, 17 P John, 18 S Gardener, 19 M Gilbert, 20 K Murphy, 21, T Knoyle, 22 J Williams, 23 V Iongi)

my god, we've gone for Stevo to start at 12, with Warren in the centre who hasn't played for us for yonks! it's a completely untried centre partnership

Brilliant that Georgie is fit, but I won't be happy till I see him run out on the field. They said he'd be fit for the home match against Munster in the HEC and he wasn't

Good 2nd row, lovely back row, front row not too shabby.....

Only centre and the replacement backs where we are a bit weak.

Ah just realised we have Jordan on the bench!! that is a HUGE call if he gets any game time. That kid could be a star. Nice to see Tav back too.

Munster: F Jones; L O'Dea, J Murphy, L Mafi, S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, BJ Botha; M O'Driscoll, P O'Connell capt; D Ryan, T O'Donnell, P O'Mahony.

Replacements: D Varley, W du Preez, S Archer, Donncha O'Callaghan, P Butler, T O'Leary, S Deasy, I Dineen.

Dreamer - I must be honest I am suprised that Priestland isn't fullback, Liam on the wing, Lamont in the centre, and Stevo at fly half. I guess seeing as they are all on the pitch there may be a bit of shuffling around as/when required.

Knoyle being back is a real boost. I think it can only be a good thing for Gareth Davies too, as he seems to have played his best rugby when Knoyle has been fit, maybe it is the extra competition for the shirt or something.

SS - agree with you on all that!

I like the Rhys at FB and Stevo OH combo too....

Damn! Just spent ages writting a post about my thoughts on the team and filling in the proper player names from SS's initials and then when I post it the post doesn't appear!

Still mostly good team and good to see Shingler, Manu & Knoyle back (does this mean we won't be keeping Liam Davies?)

But that centre partnership is a bit dodgy, especially with no proven cover on the bench - hope J Williams can show how good he is if called upon.

Still can't believe we didn't put Stephen at 10, Priestland at 15, L Williams at 11 and Lamont in the centre (I know it would be another untried centre partnership, but at least thier both centres)

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Damn! Just spent ages writting a post about my thoughts on the team and filling in the proper player names from SS's initials and then when I post it the post doesn't appear!

Sorry boss, it was just a quick way of tapping them in before i tidied it up.

Just realised - where's Owens?

Very strong looking Munster pack but if the Scarlets can get North and Lamont with the ball in hand then that 3/4 line looks vulnerable defensively.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Damn! Just spent ages writting a post about my thoughts on the team and filling in the proper player names from SS's initials and then when I post it the post doesn't appear!

Sorry boss, it was just a quick way of tapping them in before i tidied it up.

Fair enough - you were too quick for me as well (for some reason I couldn't think who SL was on the wing till I realised it was Schlong!), like you were too quick saying about putting Priestland at FB and changing the team around...

just annoys me about the system that sometimes my posts disappear.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Just realised - where's Owens?

Those unavailable for selection through injury: Centre Gareth Maule sustained a broken finger against Brive and will be out for a minimum of six weeks. Scott Williams, centre (shoulder) failed a late fitness test. Lou Reed, second row is in rehab with a knee injury, Jonathan Davies (centre) is not fit with a groin injury, Johnathan Edwards (back row) has a dead leg, Ken Owens (hooker) failed a late fitness test with a minor ankle sprain.

Delighted to see Kilcoyne there (though I would've started WDP with Kilcoyne on the bench personally). Horan had a nightmare cameo against Glasgow.

The backrow is strong, happy with POM at 8. We're weak in the centres, though Mafi had one of his better games last weekend.

Should be a very entertaining game, I'd imagine there'll be quite a few tries scored. I'm looking forward to it.

Smirnoff - I like those team texts with just initials, the amount of times my dad will say looks like a good side but who is RP (or another obivous one), and then I say Priestland, he always looks so goddam embarassed.

I am feeling more confident about tomorrow now, but that said as soon as i get in the car tomorrow I will feel so nervous, and be certain we will lose.

From what I read of the Munster A win over Leinster A, Kilcoyne was very good. Looking forward to seeing how he goes.

Very forward looking Munster team. I like it the selections of O'Dea, Jones, Keatley, Murray, Kilcoyne, Sherry, O'Donnell and O'Mahony could be in Munster for the next 8-10 years.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Knoyle being back is a real boost. I think it can only be a good thing for Gareth Davies too, as he seems to have played his best rugby when Knoyle has been fit, maybe it is the extra competition for the shirt or something.

Disagree. I don't think Knoyle or Rhodri are remotely good enough to challenge Gareth Davies.

Morg really? I thought that since Tavis has been injured Gareth Davies has not been on form, and saw i link between the two. A bit like Gareth Bowen was not too bad a player when Steve was with us, and in '03 was playing really well, however when Steve went to France Bowen fell appart.

red_stag wrote:Very forward looking Munster team. I like it the selections of O'Dea, Jones, Keatley, Murray, Kilcoyne, Sherry, O'Donnell and O'Mahony could be in Munster for the next 8-10 years.

I am also excited to see that Munster team on saturday! You starting to prefer O'Mahony at 8 now stag?

Also, where is Wallace?

Knoyle got messed about big style with going to the rwc and getting next to no game time, then picked up an injury before he could play himself back into form.

Give me the Knoyle of the first few months of the 2010-2011 season, he was superb.

Gutted Owens isn't fit, but Emyr is a very good replacement for him.

Not happy that it appears a very forward orientated Munster side. We've been very weak there recently, so thank goodness we have Manu and Timani back for this one.

Going to be close (it always seems to be!)

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

red_stag wrote:Very forward looking Munster team. I like it the selections of O'Dea, Jones, Keatley, Murray, Kilcoyne, Sherry, O'Donnell and O'Mahony could be in Munster for the next 8-10 years.

I am also excited to see that Munster team on saturday! You starting to prefer O'Mahony at 8 now stag?

Also, where is Wallace?

I reckon thats the end of Wallace. He'll have a few cameos but at 35 years old recovering from 9 month injuries aren't easy.

As for O'Mahony, I told you I don't mind where he plays once he plays. This season 7 was his best shot for Munster due to Niall Ronan and David Wallaces injuries. I think he'll play at lot more at 6 and 8 next year alongside Coughland and Leamy respectively. He could still end up in any posiition it comes down to game time and who the other backrows available are.

Who do you think is going to be benched between Leamy/Coughlan? Coughlan had a good season, but Leamy is the better player IMO. I know Leamy gets a lot of criticism, but I honestly do rate him. Hope he gets a chance again when he returns.

Argh again I try and post and my post disappears!

I just don't think Knoyle is a good scrum half. For all the slating Phillips gets about his passing, I am absolutely shocked that nobody ever mentioned it when Tavis played for Wales. I'm not sure how he earnt Wales caps, he was never good enough. He tries desperately to inject pace into the game but makes errors in doing so, he doesn't seem too smart and this is on top of poor kicking and passing. I rate Davies highly, took his opportunity at Northampton and played consistently well enough ever since to be the number one choice. I can't see how he is off form, he was outstanding in Brive.

Priest - sometimes that's happened to me, so I make sure I copy what I've written. That way if it disappears I can just re-paste it. Sometimes need to use the preview button too.

Are you on a computer, or you using your phone??

Morg - his kicking out of hand has been rather poor, and he has put a fair few straight out when not really under too much pressure. I am saying off form, compared to how he was when he was coming through the back end of hte season, when he looked a bit sharper, his passing and decision making seemed a bit better back then IMO.

rugbydreamer wrote:Priest - sometimes that's happened to me, so I make sure I copy what I've written. That way if it disappears I can just re-paste it. Sometimes need to use the preview button too.

Are you on a computer, or you using your phone??

Yeah when it happens often I remember to copy my posts before sending them - but usually I forget and (stupidly) just trust the system. I'm on a pc but in work (which could be why) but it's frustrating!

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Who do you think is going to be benched between Leamy/Coughlan? Coughlan had a good season, but Leamy is the better player IMO. I know Leamy gets a lot of criticism, but I honestly do rate him. Hope he gets a chance again when he returns.

I am expecting that Leamy, Ronan and O'Mahony will be our first choice backrow next year if fit. I think that we'll see Dave O'Callaghan, David Wallace and James Coughlan as the next in line with Billy Holland, Tommy O'Donnell and Paddy Butler providing some more options.

Do you really think Leamy will get past Coughlan stag? I'd say hes more likely to play 6.

Personally I think Coughlan has arguably been Munsters best player this year.