Racing Metro v Munster; Heineken Cup Round 1

First topic message reminder :

This should be an interesting match. Munster and Racing have both lost two matches in a row although it is fair to say that Munster probably look the stronger team.

I'm not sure we are likely to see massive change from a Munster point of view although personally I would love to welcome Keatley and Downey to the starting team.

Possible Racing Metro Team:

01 Eddy Ben Arous
02 Dimitri Szarzewski
03 Luc Ducalcon
04 Karim Ghezal
05 Francois van der Merwe
06 Antoine Battut
07 Bernard le Roux
08 Jacques Cronje
09 Maxime Machenaud
10 Ollie Barkley
11 Julien Saubade
12 Fabrice Estebanez
13 Mirco Bergamasco
14 Sereli Bobo
15 Benjamin Fall

16 Thomas Bianchin, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Fabrice Metz, 19 Masinivanua Matadigo, 20 Sebastien Descons, 21 Mathieu Belie, 22 Alexandre Dumoulin, 23 Salemane Sa

Preferred Munster Team:

01 Wian du Preez
02 Mike Sherry
03 BJ Botha
04 Donnacha O'Callaghan
05 Donnacha Ryan
06 Dave O'Callaghan
07 Sean Dougall
08 Peter O'Mahony
09 Conor Murray
10 Ian Keatley
11 Simon Zebo
12 James Downey
13 Casey Laulala
14 Doug Howlett
15 Keith Earls

16 Damien Varley, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Paul O'Connell, 20 Paddy Butler, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Denis Hurley

Racing have a serious amount of injuries (Wisniewski, Dambielle, Steyn) as well as having to deal with their Argentines out in the Rugby Championship - they may or may not be back but it would seem bizzare to chuck them straight in. This might be a good chance for Barkley to make his first start. The front row is very very strong and definitely my biggest worry. I am very glad that Sebastian Chabal and Leo Nallet have left the club - those big bulky lads in the engine room would make mince meat of our front five.

From a Munster point of view another concern is the 10-12 axis and who we pick. I think Ian Keatley is a must in this team and both Earls and Laulala appear to have played better when paired with the physical Downey.

If we pick the right team then I do think we are capable of getting an all important away win. However by the same token Racing have strong centres, some big South African forwards and a good scrum. They may be missing Frans Steyn and Juan Hernandez but Olly Barkely is well able to kick the penalties.

With Munsters backs coach, Simon Mannix, being the former Racing Metro backs coach this makes things very interesting.

NOTE: Those teams are speculation. I will update with proper teams once announced.

The point is RS they should have been out of sight before half time..once the rot set in it was hilarious (if it wasnt so was painful to watch). As was said earlier a complete lack of leadership on the park. Dougie didn't seem like he wanted to know. POM defers to POC which I think is a mistake going forward. Once the oap left the pitch they were directionless..

Game is on Youtube lads will have to watch it myself during the week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFdTbxKFNXk&feature=channel&list=UL

Thomond wrote:I only saw the highlights but Jesus Christ, Murray what in God's name were you thinking, not sure if anyone else saw TG4s work, or even understood it, but they made an interesting point that Munster lacked leadership, which I actually think is quite true. They did mention that Murray should have belted the ball away as we all did.

Now you get why I was saying ROG would start - Munster are very short on leaders. I also think Dougie is too far away from the action on the wing to be captain.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

splenetic wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

splenetic wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:How can Irish provinces compete against these big-spending French clubs who can rest and rotate players at will?

By not having to pay the salaries of their best players because the tab is picked up by the IRFU?

How does that make it fair? Munster's salery budget is 5million, whereas racing metro's is 20million. See the difference?

I would have thought it was pretty clear I was taking the urine. However, if you seriously think that Racing are spending 20m on their squad, around half a million a player, then you must be!

Well thats what the commentators said. Sure thats nothing compared to tolouse. They have a budget of 33million!

There's a salary cap in France of €8.3 million. If the IRFU top up the international's pay in Ireland the wage difference may not be very much at all.

Not all internationals are on central contracts. Those in Munster on them are POC, DOC, Ryan, ROG & Earls.

The turnover for Munster is about €12 p.a. That covers the amateur game, Dev Officers, academy, underage teams (there was a five week residential course for about 90 underage players this summer for instance) as well as the Pro team.

Brennus wrote:Let's hope after that result, Racing will now take the comp seriously and throw out their first XV for the visit of Saracens and Edinburgh.

Are you telling us that Racing Metro didn't have a full strength side against Munster?