Ulster Rugby v Munster Rugby, 9 May

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Ulster Rugby v Munster Rugby
Saturday 9 May 2015
KO: 14:40
Kingspan Corporate Sellout Stadium Ravenhill, Belfast

Live on Sky Sports

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU, 124th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Dudley Phillips, Nigel Correll (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Murray Whyte (IRFU)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (IRFU)

A. Head to Head

26 Played 26
13 Wins 13
13 Losses 13
0 Draws 0
47 Tries 53
30 Conversions 41
54 Penalties 52
1 Drop Goals 5
460 Points 518
27 Avg. Age 27

B. Form

Fri 28 Nov 2014 - Munster Rugby 21 - 20 Ulster Rugby

Sat 10 May 2014 - Munster Rugby 17 - 19 Ulster Rugby

Fri 3 Jan 2014 - Ulster Rugby 29 - 19 Munster Rugby

C. Teams

Ulster Rugby

L Ludik; T Bowe, J Payne, D Cave, P Nelson; P Jackson, R Pienaar; C Black, R Best (capt), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, I Henderson, C Henry, R Wilson.

Replacements: R Herring, A Warwick, B Ross, R Diack, C Ross, P Marshall, I Humphreys, S McCloskey

Munster Rugby

F Jones; K Earls, A Smith, Denis Hurley, S Zebo; I Keatley, C Murray; D Kilcoyne, E Guinazu, S Archer; D Ryan, P O'Connell; P O'Mahony (capt),T O'Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Duncan Casey, John Ryan, BJ Botha, Billy Holland, Jack O'Donoghue, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Ronan O'Mahony.

Has there been any news on the injuries,nothing too serious I hope?

Ulster might be without Henderson, Wilson and Nelson next week. Gilroy missed the Munster game due to a tight hamstring, so hoping that he will be ok to play v Glasgow.
Even if we beat Glasgow I think we will be playing an away semi. So do we rest a couple of players or go all out to win? I think Pienaar could do with a weeks rest, and maybe Herbst.

Munchkin wrote:Ulster might be without Henderson, Wilson and Nelson next week. Gilroy missed the Munster game due to a tight hamstring, so hoping that he will be ok to play v Glasgow.
Even if we beat Glasgow I think we will be playing an away semi. So do we rest a couple of players or go all out to win? I think Pienaar could do with a weeks rest, and maybe Herbst.

Excellent strategy. We endorse it wholeheartedly.

It's a strategy based on a possible necessity. Pienaar isn't 100%, and playing him next week might be a risk not worth taking. For us to get a home semi we will need to beat you, and we would need to beat you without Henderson, Nick Williams and possibly Wilson. Not much of a backrow left to take on Glasgow on their home patch! We would also need to beat you with Pienaar not fully fit. For me that isn't a risk worth taking. Herbst simply needs a break, and better to rest him for an away semi.
Glasgow are up against it too. Munster will likely pick up 5 points next week, and Ospreys have a decent chance of achieving the same. Although if Connacht play to their best, who knows? If both teams pick up 5 points, and Glasgow are kept to four, Munster and Ospreys go top.

Good strategy Munchkin! Ulster should send out a team of "softeners" (a la Lions opponents before a test) to er... concede a "hard-fought" 5 point defeat to guarantee a rematch in the semi. So Ulster could keep their powder dry while those Glasgow players left standing would know they had been in a game...

The Great Aukster wrote:Good strategy Munchkin! Ulster should send out a team of "softeners" (a la Lions opponents before a test) to er... concede a "hard-fought" 5 point defeat to guarantee a rematch in the semi. So Ulster could keep their powder dry while those Glasgow players left standing would know they had been in a game...

"I've been found out"

So it was worth creating a match thread, then?

Great game - disappointed to drop the points at home but the team showed real balls to dig that one out at the end - particularly Paddy Jackson, who was superb.

Stander is some player and a fair motm but Iain Henderson was easily the best player on the pitch for me, until his (harsh but stupid) red card.

Looks like we may need to go on the road now for the SF but still think we have a good chance to win the trophy, but Munster will really fancy their chances now.

Fair play to the Munster front 5 who gave us a bit of a roasting at the set piece and thought we tried to play too much rugby in our own half - overall some good performances I thought from both sides.

Just got to watch the game and it was a good one. Draw was deserved I thought. Ulster played the better rugby but Munster were good up front. Munster would have taken that result before the match started.

After reading the comments from the weekend, theres maybe a bit of hyperbole. For instance I thought Stander was good and made some decent carries but nothing special. POM was said to have a quiet game (by sky commentators) but looked good to me and he made 1 meter more than Henderson carrying.

Henderson was MOTM for me and is a phenomenal athlete. He smashes people but you have to be careful doing that because any misstimings are highlighted more. He won't be benching for long for Ireland. Great offload for the Bowe try. mcCloskey made another impact on the game and is a possible world cup bolter. I'm sure he'll be sent to Georgia with the wolfhounds at least.

Munster controlled the game well up front but still look clueless when the ball goes wide. Hurley and Smith are too similar in the center. Hanrahan has been frozen out by Foley almost completely now which is a shame because Munster could do with some invention. Only Earls offered a little bit of an x factor for Munster.