Dragons v Munster

Well seeing as the match is tomorrow and there's no thread on it yet, I thought I'd get one up and running.

Copied and pasted from the Beeb:

Dragons coach Lyn Jones is unlikely to have captain Andrew Coombs and wing Hallam Amos available to face Munster in Friday's Pro12 clash.

Both players were left out of the Wales squad for the final Test of the autumn series against Australia on Saturday.

But they are not among a group of five players released back to Welsh regions by Wales' management.

Coombs (back) has not been able to train with Wales and missed their 17-7 win against Tonga last Friday.

Teenage wing Amos made his Wales debut in the victory over Tonga.

Wing Tom Prydie is still out with hamstring trouble while centre Lewis Robling has undergone keyhole knee surgery and will be out for four to six weeks.

Back in training and likely to return in the next few weeks are hooker T Rhys Thomas, flanker Darren Waters and scrum-half Jonathan Evans.

The Dragons have won only one of their last six games against Munster, a 30-24 win last season.

Pro 12 leaders Munster have won their last five league games, including a home win over the Dragons, since they suffered their only defeat so far against Treviso.

TEAMS

Dragons: Daniel Evans, Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner, Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements
Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith.

Munster: Felix Jones; Gerhard van den Heever, Keith Earls, James Downey, Denis Hurley; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Billy Holland (Capt.), CJ Stander, James Coughlan

Replacements: Damien Varley, James Cronin, BJ Botha, Ian Nagle, Barry O'Mahony, Cathal Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen

Referee: Marius Mitrea (FIR)

Assistant Referees: Gwyn Morris, Simon Rees (both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: Gwyn Bowden (WRU)

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How do we see it going?

Director of Rugby Lyn Jones has put his faith in the team that beat Glasgow Warriors last weekend, by naming the same side to face Munster at Rodney Parade this Friday (KO 19.15).

Dan Evans starts at 15 with Will Harries and Matthew Pewtner completing the back three. The midfield combination of Pat Leach and Ross Wardle start for the third time this season. Last weekend’s man of the match, Jason Tovey, keeps his place at fly half alongside International scrum half Richie Rees.

Owen Evans, Sam Parry and Francisco Chaparro make up the front row, while young gun Cory Hill and skipper Rob Sidoli fill the second row berths. The back row features Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd and number eight Netani Talei.

Newport Gwent Dragons team to face Munster:
Daniel Evans, Will Harries, Pat Leach, Ross Wardle, Matthew Pewtner, Jason Tovey, Richie Rees; Owen Evans, Sam Parry, Francisco Chaparro, Cory Hill, Rob Sidoli (c), Lewis Evans, Nic Cudd, Netani Talei.

Replacements:
Elliot Dee, Aaron Coundley, Dan Way, Matthew Screech, Ieuan Jones, Wayne Evans, Steffan Jones, Ashley Smith.

http://www.newportgwentdragons.com/News/Article/31761

Posted this in the wrong thread.
Full team:

Munster: Felix Jones; Gerhard van den Heever, Keith Earls, James Downey, Denis Hurley; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Billy Holland (Capt.), CJ Stander, James Coughlan

Replacements: Damien Varley, James Cronin, BJ Botha, Ian Nagle, Barry O'Mahony, Cathal Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen

Paul O'Connell will start just his second RaboDirect PRO12 game of the season against Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday night (ko 7:15pm).

South African winger Gerhard van den Heever will make his debut with Keith Earls, James Downey and Ian Keatley all returning from injury.

Billy Holland will captain the side at Rodney Parade.

Head Coach Rob Penney has continued his rotation policy with 12 changes to the team that beat Cardiff Blues 31-10 last week.

Try-scorer Felix Jones is the only survivor in the backs with CJ Stander and Holland the only forwards to keep their places.

Prop Stephen Archer will earn his 60th cap and is joined in the front row by Dave Kilcoyne and hooker Mike Sherry.

O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan make up the second row with Holland, Stander and no. 8 James Coughlan in the back row.

Duncan Williams will be partnered at half-back by the returning Keatley with Downey and Earls starting in the centre positions.

Denis Hurley comes onto the left wing for his first start since injuring his knee against Gloucester with new signing van den Heever making his debut on the opposite flank.

Ian Nagle is named on the replacements bench and could feature for the first time since he injured his left foot against Zebre in the middle of September.

Munster go into the game as leaders of the RaboDirect PRO12 and will be keen to extend their five game winning streak.

In making 12 changes to a side that performed so impressively last weekend against Cardiff, Rob Penney has given his players a chance to impress ahead of the crucial Heineken Cup double-header against Perpignan.

“There are some players getting an opportunity this week that will need to play well to force their hand in terms of ERC selection,” said the New Zealander.

“It’s exciting because the other guys have done their job and when you’re growing in depth and guys are getting rotated in, then they’ve got to perform well when they get their opportunity.”

Munster: Felix Jones; Gerhard van den Heever, Keith Earls, James Downey, Denis Hurley; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Billy Holland (Capt.), CJ Stander, James Coughlan

Replacements: Damien Varley, James Cronin, BJ Botha, Ian Nagle, Barry O'Mahony, Cathal Sheridan, JJ Hanrahan, Ivan Dineen

http://www.munsterrugby.ie/rugby/12562.php

Whats this Gerhard fella like?  Looks like a very strong team around him so he should, hopefully, settle into the Munster way of things quickly enough. Some strong options on the bench for the forwards and I'd expect JJ to be chomping at the bit to make an impact off the bench as well.

Hopefully we'll start well after last week and having our tails up. We need to play the referee, as I'm not a massive fan of his having seen him at Dave a few times. Hopefully the promising sounding attendance see another Dragons home win, before a big double header v Bordeaux.

Great crowd in but it's been such a stop-start first half. A break by Jason Tovey and one by Will Harries, but no support for either of them. 6 - 3 Dragons.

14 18 FT Munster stay top of the Rabo

Anyone know the final score?

glamorganalun wrote:Anyone know the final score?

 

Great win for Munster! Keatley kicked some monster kicks and was probably man of match! The 10 battle continues.

These are the games we lost last year super to have 8 wins from 9 now I think and with ospreys losing are well clear on top now

Gwan Munster

Tovey missed 3 kicks at goal.

But Gwan Munster nannyways.

We will be waiting in the long grass.

Well done Drags (hiss and boo) ie a point is good and one more than we got last week.
Worringly the gap is widening.

We were leading with 3 minutes to go

Dragons so close. That was frustrating to watch as we played in the wrong areas at the wrong times. Congratulations to munster they deserved the win, played a lot more streetwise than us tonight. We continue to punch above our weight and until we get decent props who can allow us to have a scrumaging game we are always going to struggle.

Good crowd tonight and good atmosphere. Just soooooooo frustrated..  

Griff wrote:We were leading with 3 minutes to go

7mins according to ESPN stat facts.
Anyway keep it up as ensuring Cardiff finish 4th out of us lot will kick up a hell of a stink down our way. Bout time too.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Griff wrote:We were leading with 3 minutes to go

7mins according to ESPN stat facts.
Anyway keep it up as ensuring Cardiff finish 4th out of us lot will kick up a hell of a stink down our way. Bout time too.

Just going on the Ospreys V Glasgow game; I thought they said Tovey had slotted a penalty on 76 mins.

How did Keith Earls play at 13?

Impressive from Munster. I was checking out the fixtures and I have to say I quite fancy them to top the league. They have two home next games before the come to ravenhill and I think they have scarlets and ospreys away during the 6N which promises to be much more draining for the regions than Munster at present . 

Of course loads can change but with Glasgow away already in the bank I think they are looking well

Impossible Standards wrote:Dragons so close. That was frustrating to watch as we played in the wrong areas at the wrong times. Congratulations to munster they deserved the win, played a lot more streetwise than us tonight. We continue to punch above our weight and until we get decent props who can allow us to have a scrumaging game we are always going to struggle.

Good crowd tonight and good atmosphere. Just soooooooo frustrated..  

The turning point was the Keith Earls's yellow card. You could see Munster go up a gear despite being a man down. Paul O'Connell made some great carries.

From the bits I saw of Munster v the Blues last weekend, I thought they looked much more threatening then than they did last night. But they did what they had to do.

Too much kicking from us, and a lot of it aimless with no decent chase. It's a game we could have won, and without actually playing all that well, but then Munster didn't really click either. Considering where we were last season, a losing bonus point is a good return. It's strange, but I'm more gutted about losing the Leinster game than I am about this.

Oh, and congratulations Munster. I sat next to a couple of Munster fans and they were good craic, as they say.

LP,

I was going to post similar about where we were last year compared to now and I guess a good sign is that we are all unhappy with a losing BP where as last season we would have been happy with that or more than likely we wouldn't have even got that.

Gutted that game slipped away but we are still heading in the right direction under the Jones' and really think we can finish 3rd Welsh Region this year and maybe push for top 6.