Scarlets vs Munster - Playoff battle heating up

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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

Good work my the Scarlets results in a penalty for Munster

two munster players go off their feet past the ball and the scarlets get pinged, this is shocking

Brilliant turnover by Turnball

Last chance for the Scarlets

Ryan was on his feet for the last penalty, Scarlets will take this I'd say.

Warren is having a very good game, smashing the Munster defence.

Drop goal territory for Scarlets.

STUPID OFFLOAD - Gift Munster possession.

Should have set up for the DG ages ago.

rolland is a disgrace....how can a game with a playoff place riding on it not be reffed by a neutral?

Scrum Munster - though the maul had collapsed while Munster were in possession, so shouldn't it be a Scarlets scrum?

Adam Warren MOTM.

Scarlets should settle for a draw. Nige may have a moan about Rolland in the post match interview.

GavinDragon wrote:rolland is a disgrace....how can a game with a playoff place riding on it not be reffed by a neutral?

A Scottish ref?

Scarlets turn it over on 80 mins

1 last chance

Throwing some stupid offload, dont trust their ability at the breakdown.

It goes to a breakdown and Munster throw themselves into it.

Game Over

FT 20 - 20

Have Munster just earned a visit to the RDS?

The reason you are getting Irish refs is undoubtedly season after season of complaining about Scottish refs.

Finishes even, alright result, would have taken it beforehand with our largely "Youngry" team playing. Good game, Rolland was solid enough overall, both sides could argue about a few things.

Hope everyone enjoyed it, safe journey to those returning home. Take it easy lads.

i am not even a scarlets fan but rolland seemed intent on letting munster get away with murder at ruck time, in that last passage of play you had poc holding on after the ruck had formed, another munster player came in from the side and went off his feet, it was a joke

GavinDragon wrote:rolland is a disgrace....how can a game with a playoff place riding on it not be reffed by a neutral?

Personally I thought he gave far more to the Scarlets than Munster.

What a surprise...welsh team and supporters complain about ref...who was as bad for both teams.

Seems like a bad element going to welsh rugby games. Lots of soccer style support. Or are they just bad losers

Of course. Wales lose. The ref is biased of course.

#howpredictable

Anyone remember the last time a Welsh team didnt win and it wasnt the refs fault?

if you check my posts around me region i can assure you that i rarely blame the ref for their losses - and as a dragons fan there are plenty of opportunities!

but it was blatant 2nite, and like i said if you dont have a neutral ref you leave yourselves open to that criticism

Scarlets should have won the match.

The fact the didn;t is because they are tactically naive.

Why did they not set up for a drop kick and play a bit more conservatively instead of trying all those offloads and solo runs in final quarter.

They have only themselves to blame, they left it behind them.

A good team though. No reason they couldnt win the Heineken Cup with a favourable draw.

Wasn't Rolland French 8 months ago? That's how ViewtotheGym saw it anyway.

Rolland did let Munster get away with murder in the rucks, but the Scarlets lost through their own mistakes.

they havent got the pack to win the hcup....yet some good youngsters coming through

GavinDragon wrote:if you check my posts around me region i can assure you that i rarely blame the ref for their losses - and as a dragons fan there are plenty of opportunities!

but it was blatant 2nite, and like i said if you dont have a neutral ref you leave yourselves open to that criticism

Gavin,

I agree that the league should have neutral refs.

I cant pretend I agree that there was a blatent display of biased refereeing tonight.

I think thats a strange view to take.

I always thought that there was practically nothing between these two teams.

thomand same argument there he shouldnt be alowed to ref french matches either, just like steve walsh shouldnt be allowed to ref NZ games even tho hes tech an aussi ref

Can't pin it all on Rolland as much as I hate saying it. Munster were allowed to dominate the forwards in the first half, Scarlets making absolutely no effort to clear out fast at the breakdown. Makes you think of Wales pre-WC, only putting in their all when absolutely necessary, not before.

Forwards were more even second half but Scarlets chucking some dumb passes and again labouring at times with no sense of urgency. Will they learn anything from this? Probably not. That's how badly coached and lazy the regions are.

Rolland made questionable calls against both sides. I don't rate him highly atm but Scarlets must be held responsible on this one.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Anyone remember the last time a Welsh team didnt win and it wasnt the refs fault?

Blues vs Leinster/Ospreys/Glasgow

We lose a lot these days...


Also, the ref wasn't awful - it is hard to ref a game where Munster start 'munstering' at every breakdown

They have made cheating an art form.

Scarlets will be disappointed with the draw, but its their fault - 2 chances for a DG completely bottled, and far too many turnovers.

Billy, Munster have a slight edge, probably mentally as much as anything. Scarlets are a very good side, and never make a game easy for anyone, I think Munster's tactics hinder them a bit but that's my view.

God where does this leave us tomorrow v Treviso - ffing bricking it now me !!!!

wales606 wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:Anyone remember the last time a Welsh team didnt win and it wasnt the refs fault?

Blues vs Leinster/Ospreys/Glasgow

We lose a lot these days...


Also, the ref wasn't awful - it is hard to ref a game where Munster start 'munstering' at every breakdown

They have made cheating an art form.

Scarlets will be disappointed with the draw, but its their fault - 2 chances for a DG completely bottled, and far too many turnovers.

Sorry my comment wasnt very helpful, but I think blaming this on Rolland is unfair, as you pointed out, Scarlets had opportunities to win that match.

Seagultaf wrote:Rolland did let Munster get away with murder in the rucks, but the Scarlets lost through their own mistakes.

Are you for real? The Scarlets were flopping all over the place. The offside rule didn't seem to apply to them at ruck time. Allain was poor for both sides.

Same for years now watching munster lie all over the ball and attempt to decapitate players while tackling but everyone says it's okay that's how munster play.
Go do one you clueless bunch.

flopping munster had so much quick, clean ball its a disgrace they didnt score more!

People will be giving out about sealing off next and forget about the fact it can be done legally.

viewtothegym wrote:Same for years now watching munster lie all over the ball and attempt to decapitate players while tackling but everyone says it's okay that's how munster play.
Go do one you clueless bunch.

Whatever lads, hard luck to Scarlets on not winning but they need to use their head a lot more to win matches.

Despite Munster being dire for the majority of the match, Scarlets still couldn't win it.

Enough said.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:God where does this leave us tomorrow v Treviso - ffing bricking it now me !!!!

I reckon you are nailed on to visit us in the RDS unless Munster lose for the 2nd time in a few weeks to an Ulster side with f all at stake this time.

Glasgow can afford to lose with a BP in Treviso and still make 4th.

Unlikely to get more than 9 points from your last 2 games, and Munster just need 4 to stay ahead as they would have more wins.

What Stag said, Scarlets are close to being a top side, need to improve their forwards and a few other areas but some key components are in place.

DOD wrote:What a surprise...welsh team and supporters complain about ref...who was as bad for both teams.

Seems like a bad element going to welsh rugby games. Lots of soccer style support. Or are they just bad losers

You say that but all the people moaning are Osprey, Dragons and Blues fans, we don't like the Scarlets but even we can see that having Irish refs HOME and AWAY nearly all the time creates unfairness.

The Scarlets are a poor team though, fantastic backs, but they need a set of forwards. they will be like poor Welsh teams in the 90's, plenty of strike runners but no way of getting the ball.

Rolland was poor for both teams but Munster do seem to get away with more at the breakdown than most teams. Having said that teri fairly soft tries in the first half were or undoing tonight. Should have won it really.

Didnt watch the game myself but view is wound up so i am happy

Luv ya view

By the easy is easy to have a go at Welsh fans complaining about the ref. Doesn't actually involve thinking about whether the complaint is legitimate. Every clubs fans complain about the ref but the only time the complaints aren't legitimate is when its a Welsh fan.

mckay1402 wrote:By the easy is easy to have a go at Welsh fans complaining about the ref. Doesn't actually involve thinking about whether the complaint is legitimate. Every clubs fans complain about the ref but the only time the complaints aren't legitimate is when its a Welsh fan.

Thankyou, the problem is we get these cráp substandard, home nation favouring refs almost every week and it's tiresome.

It;s really sad when most Welsh fans can name the entire Irish referee panel, we know more about their refs from their pathetic displays than we do about their players. Whats worse is the idiots who are teaching Irish refs are Wilkinson and Fitzgibbon, and Wilkinson is the worst one you have!

Rolland had a decent game overall mistakes effected both sides, the problem is mckay Welsh fans seem to do it pretty much all the time.


Take this year's 6N game for example, we were aggrieved at the Ferris tackle and with the Davies incident, but we still said Wales deserved to win the match and that the better team won. Why can't people just say something about that.