HEC Semi-Final Toulon v Munster, Stade Velodrome, Marseille

First topic message reminder :

KO 16.30 (local time; 15.30 YTC) Sunday April 27th.  Yet another Day of Destiny for Munster Rugby.

So far the only participants we know for definite are
Referee:  Wayne Barnes

ARs:  JP Doyle; Luke Pearce

TMO: Graham Hughes.

All the officials are from England.

Friday 25th - edited with team announcements.

Toulon
Delon Armitage;
Drew Mitchell, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Bryan Habana;
Jonny Wilkinson (c), Sebastien Tillous-Borde;
Xavier Chiocci, Craig Burden, Carl Hayman,
Danie Rossouw, Jocelino Suta,
Juan Smith, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Steffon Armitage.
Remplaçants : Jean-Charles Orioli, Alexandre Menini, Martin Castrogiovanni, Virgile Bruni, David Smith, Maxime Mermoz, Michael Claassens, Konstantine Mikautadze.

Munster
Felix Jones;
Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo;
Ian Keatley, Conor Murray;
Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley Capt., BJ Botha;
Dave Foley, Paul O'Connell;
CJ Stander, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.
Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, John Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Tommy O'Donnell, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley.

As my stomach is already churning when I think of Sunday, I thought I would start the ball rolling on the topic.

Munster Abú

This weekend I am.

Notch wrote:If the Final is Saracens vs Toulon I'm not even going to watch it   

I know what you mean Notch... back in 2012, I did think about not watching the HC final

I'm hoping for a Sarries v RCT Final
Mainly so I get to see some past and present England players in Cardiff, but in truth I be just as happy with any of them as I'm a rugby fan at the end of the day.   

Any Munster fans surprised / worried about Varley as captain?

Nah..better off. We all know who the real leader will be. Good call imo as Varley will still question the ref but is not as in your face as POC (who seems to have a tendency to annoy them these days).

Or maybe its because Varley is the one who is usually giving away the silly penalties so he will be right on the spot for discussing them with Wayne...   

whocares wrote:

Notch wrote:If the Final is Saracens vs Toulon I'm not even going to watch it   

I know what you mean Notch... back in 2012, I did think about not watching the HC final  

It was great. It was just all these English people who were totally baffled. It's amazing how little just your average person in the street knows about rugby in London I found. They didn't know why we were there and what was going on, and this was all just minutes walk from Twickenham.

Bit offensive!

No, just an illustration of the difference between London and any city in Ireland. Any big sporting event like that would be the talk of the country in the weeks leading up to it, even if it didn't involve Irish teams at all. People were just walking around in London in 2012 completely and utterly bemused at all the rugby fans. They had no idea about what was happening.

I'm intrigued by that, Notch. Surely most of the 'people on the street' one minute from Twickenham would have been heading to the game.

Anyhow, I should get back to the pub after the Wasps game to watch this one. I will probably miss a good chunk of Saturday's game as I'll be watching Ealing v Rotherham.

Hound of Harrow wrote:I'm intrigued by that, Notch. Surely most of the 'people on the street' one minute from Twickenham would have been heading to the game.

All day in London we were approached by people who saw us in our gear and wanted to know what on earth was going on- not in the sense it was any bother, they were perfectly friendly. Just curious as to what was going on with all the hard drinking colour coded Irish people. It was bizarre. Stopped by confused locals three or four times!

Most of them would have been tourist in London.

Plus rugby isn't a major sport in England.


Good luck to all the teams taking part in the euro semi's this weekend, all deserve to be there and have earned the right to be respected by all rugby fans, hope you all have great weekends following your teams. 

very few cities have as many people in or as much going on as London. And rugby is really not particularly popular in London. saw recent census data for 2011 which showed that London now has over 1 in 3 of its population born overseas, and over 50% who do not consider themselves British. I think that explains why rugby is least popular in London compared to anywhere else in the UK, and how 80,000 irishmen in rugby shirts could be a mystery to so many.

I'm not framing it as any sort of criticism. It was just very funny.

Hilarious no doubt!

I can understand it in central London, Notch. It's very much a draw for theatre goers, diners, night clubbers, culture and sightseers. - I.e. a lot more going on than in most Irish towns and cities.

I would be surprised if more than 1 in 50 people in London had any interest in rugby.

The way sport is organised in Ireland based around counties and provinces will inevitably wed it to the general population in a parochial way.

Good post Hound. I believe if the HC final was held in Paris even between 2 french clubs, 80% of the people wouldnt have a clue of whats going on and 10% would probably think it's the T14 final!

Anyway, let's hope it is a good weekend of rugby free of controversial referee decision and good luck to all teams and fans. Will re connect on monday

whocares - The irony is the final should have been in Paris this year

Back on topic, if Munster show the same intensity and physicality in defence and the same clinical finishing they brought to the game against Toulouse, then they have every chance of turning over Toulon.

For the leinster v northampton final i had a friend from ireland staying in my house in south london but he couldnt get his head around the fact that when he talked about 'the match' to londoners that they didnt know what he was talking about and
assumed he meant football which he found perplexing and annoying. In the end i had to explain that in a city of approx 10million people that rugby was a minority sport and that on any given weekend there were multiple big sporting events on...mind you i did wait quite a while before i told him as listening to the exchanges was very funny

Composite Weather forecast from three different websites for Marseille on Sunday: Light cloud from 14.00; more cloud from 17.00; temp about 18deg C; could be a few showers on Sunday afternoon; very windy (wind speeds from about 28mph gusting to 38mph).

Anybody else just sick with nerves? Wish I was there on the lash now.....

BlueMuff wrote:Anybody else just sick with nerves? Wish I was there on the lash now.....

Yes.

Should I be friendly and invite my Toulon supporting friend (who doesn't have Sky) to join us to see the game? I am conflicted on this. It would be a nice gesture, but could I cope if they win?

Kids, and everyone is banished from the house on Sunday. I am being abstemious tomorrow and intend to settle down with beer and remote for Sunday afternoon. I was hoping to go but it was not feasible. I have been promised solitude for Sunday

BlueMuff wrote:Anybody else just sick with nerves? Wish I was there on the lash now.....

BM,
First congrats on your new arrival and I hope she allows you a decent night's sleep tomorrow so that you can watch the game in relative peace. Also, that her first rugby game will be utterly memorable.

ME-109 wrote:

Thomond wrote:Think you're being unduly harsh on Stander, magnificent against Toulouse if he doesn't play like that we would have been in a spot of bother. You really can't read a lot into the Glasgow game, like the Leinster game. POM is a fine player we lose
more from a leadership aspect in my opinion given who he has selected, What Dougal is capable of doing at the breakdown and the presence of CJ means we can deal with it far more effectively. We have about 3 good carriers in the pack could do with one more but you're sacrificing TOD for Dougal in defence.

Possibly but our worst part of the Toulouse game was the 20-25 mins  after POM went off.  

Also losing TOD in the centrefield which he patrols effectively is an issue (Gears try).

Having said that CJs tackling stats are outstanding so to be clear given POMs injury he is the obvious choice....but its definitely weaker.

I think some of that has to be put down to the shock of losing POM and also Toulouse coming into it. We'll lose more from a leadership standpoint (how big an impact POM has you can't really say unless you're playing)


Nerves are building a bit, Cork City were playing last night so that's a distraction and there's some club rugby today that I might watch (Cork Con made an underage final DOD, it happened!) but otherwsie it's a bit torturous!

City are doing well...might take a wander down some Friday.

Been reading all the papers this morning. We might as well not turn up. I shouldnt bother as its only self inflicted...

Not  sure if anyone is watching the Saracens Clermont semi final but its been a good match so far.

Weird decision there though, James sent for ten and a penalty try awarded for what looked like a perfectly decent attempt at a catch...

I was just gonna say that was a good try by Saracens. But I couldn't find a Saracens vs Clermont thread?

Nor me Feckless.

Sarries playing very well indeed.

Saracens: Why doesn't everyone love me papa?
Nigel Wray: Don't worry son. I will make them love you. (ominous crack of lightning)

Good luck Munster?

Well done Sarries?

Am hoping Toulon win it.

Toulon v Saracens final will be the last ironic tick in the box for Ritchie, McCafferty & Co. as they call time on the H Cup.

Normal service has resumed.

The ERC is dead, long live the ERCC.

Can't see either of these two beating Sarries if they play like they did today, Sarries name is already on the cup.

I hope the Munster defensive coaches watched the Sarries match yesterday and took some notes. That performance yesterday is exactly the way to frustrate and beat those teams.

Got the beer in, herself has made an appointment at the time of the match so I get to sit in, have a few beers and enjoy the match with Munster winning.

Children banished...check
Beer cold....check
Nerves wrecked (could be looking at this from behind the sofa if things go wrong)...check
Changing from wild optimism to feelings of doom every five minutes...check...

Gwan to f.....

Good luck Munster. It's a massive ask but you know, to the brave and faithful...

With you on that one ME-109.

Not expecting a win today but there is that little feeling that Munster will. It could also be the early beers affecting my judgment somewhat as well...

If the team feel the same fear as they did before the Toulouse game it will work in our favour...we need a fast start, get in their faces and make them doubt themselves from the beginning. ...

How nervous was Penney in that interview - almost as nervouse as I am.

Join you behind the sofa, ME

Strong defence is the key for the first 20 I feel, Toulon will throw everything at Munster in the first 20.

Nah attack attack attack....protect the ball and frustrate them....

I'm with ME-109 on this one, Munster need to take it to them.  Put Toulon on the back foot and anything can happen from there.

C'MON MUNSTER!!!

We made the mistake last year of "hanging on" and when it got to the 60th minute we were five mins short of winning. Trying to hold on against Toulon would be a disaster I feel...of course Toulon might have something to say about that...

I would love that ME but I really think that Toulon will go hell for leather and with good defence, Munster will frustrate them and then attack.

Hope that Stander puts in another big performance.

GWAN.....

Right thats it until halftime...for analysis or lot of ranting...   

If anyone can do it, Munster can.

Jaysus, I hate to quote Gibbo but...


BELIEVE

Great kick off from keatley.  Big scrum wanted by Munster here.

Going to be one of those days...

Great turnover by Varley!

Come on Keatley