Ulster v Munster

Ulster team and replacements to play Munster, Friday 28th October, Kingspan Stadium (kick-off 7.05pm):
(15-9): C Piutau; T Bowe, L Marshall, D Cave, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): C Black, R Herring (capt), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, R Diack, S Reidy, R Wilson;
Replacements (16-23): J Andrew, K McCall, A Warwick, C Ross, C Joyce, P Marshall, B Herron, J Stockdale.

Munster XV: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam, Jaco Taute, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland; Peter O'Mahony - capt., Tommy O'Donnell, Jack O'Donoghue.
Replacements: Vincent O'Brien, Brian Scott, Stephen Archer, Darren O'Shea, Robin Copeland, Abriel Griesel, Alex Wootton, Dan Goggin

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU, 139th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Gwyn Morris (WRU), John Carvill (IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Murray Whyte (IRFU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)

Some interesting selections, I take it a few are on Ireland duty but Jackson stays?

No Bleyendaal for Munster? After his recent performances and with no Murray hes a big loss

Still two fairly strong teams

So the backline doesn't look as bad as many Ulster folk feared. A very welcome and timely return of Marshall, Cave and Herbst. Hopefully Tuohy can show us something close to good form. We will need it from him against this Munster pack.

We are obviously stronger at half back, but not in the backrow! I was hoping Ireland wouldn't release POM. He can make the difference between winning and losing.

It will be interesting to find how Joyce does, if and when he comes off the bench.

marty2086 wrote:Some interesting selections, I take it a few are on Ireland duty but Jackson stays?

No Bleyendaal for Munster? After his recent performances and with no Murray hes a big loss

Still two fairly strong teams

Bleyendaal had a great game for them last week. Happy he isn't playing, or Murray.

I agree, both sides are fairly strong. Stronger than anticipated. Should be a good game, and hopefully it's tight. With home advantage I think we can sneak it, although the leadership POM brings to that Munster side may tip it in their favour.

You forgot the Munster bench, but considering how weak it is, you may as well!

Replacements: Vincent O'Brien, Brian Scott, Stephen Archer, Darren O'Shea, Robin Copeland, Abriel Griesel, Alex Wootton, Dan Goggin.

Abriel Griesel might be of interest to Ulster. He is a former SA U20s scrumhalf who moved to Limerick to study and is playing with the Cookies.

Sin é wrote:You forgot the Munster bench, but considering how weak it is, you may as well!

Replacements: Vincent O'Brien, Brian Scott, Stephen Archer, Darren O'Shea, Robin Copeland, Abriel Griesel, Alex Wootton, Dan Goggin.

Abriel Griesel might be of interest to Ulster. He is a former SA U20s scrumhalf who moved to Limerick to study and is playing with the Cookies.

I will fix that, Sin é.

marty2086 wrote:Some interesting selections, I take it a few are on Ireland duty but Jackson stays?

No Bleyendaal for Munster? After his recent performances and with no Murray hes a big loss

Still two fairly strong teams

I'm a little surprised at Jackson being sent back, but think it's just to give him a little more game time. I don't think it reflects on his place in the Ireland squad.

Given the drop in quality after Jackson maybe they asked nicely he stay and help us out though it didn't work Munster with Murray

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Some interesting selections, I take it a few are on Ireland duty but Jackson stays?

No Bleyendaal for Munster? After his recent performances and with no Murray hes a big loss

Still two fairly strong teams

I'm a little surprised at Jackson being sent back, but think it's just to give him a little more game time. I don't think it reflects on his place in the Ireland squad.

He will probably be on the bench v. ABs so this game should help keep him tuned up. I'd expect him to be starting against Canada.

As well as that, both Munster & Ulster have an extra day recovery time as they are playing on a Friday.

marty2086 wrote:Given the drop in quality after Jackson maybe they asked nicely he stay and help us out though it didn't work Munster with Murray

They got to keep POM though, which is a huge boost for them.

Herron can do a job at PRO12 level, but after Herron we are stumped. I can't remember Herron kicking from the tee though? If Jackson wasn't playing it might have been better to play Lyttle over Stockdale to take the penalties. Stockdale offers the better cover for centre though.

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Given the drop in quality after Jackson maybe they asked nicely he stay and help us out though it didn't work Munster with Murray

They got to keep POM though, which is a huge boost for them.

Herron can do a job at PRO12 level, but after Herron we are stumped. I can't remember Herron kicking from the tee though? If Jackson wasn't playing it might have been better to play Lyttle over Stockdale to take the penalties. Stockdale offers the better cover for centre though.

Little is a fair way off, watch the highlights of the B team against London Scottish, his tackling is terrible.

Sin é wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Some interesting selections, I take it a few are on Ireland duty but Jackson stays?

No Bleyendaal for Munster? After his recent performances and with no Murray hes a big loss

Still two fairly strong teams

I'm a little surprised at Jackson being sent back, but think it's just to give him a little more game time. I don't think it reflects on his place in the Ireland squad.

He will probably be on the bench v. ABs so this game should help keep him tuned up. I'd expect him to be starting against Canada.

As well as that, both Munster & Ulster have an extra day recovery time as they are playing on a Friday.

I would have to think that Sexton starts. POM needs the game time, and Schmidt will probably decide if he starts for Ireland, based on this game.

POM is just coming back though so needs some game time and I think you forgot someone when it comes to place kicking

toml wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Given the drop in quality after Jackson maybe they asked nicely he stay and help us out though it didn't work Munster with Murray

They got to keep POM though, which is a huge boost for them.

Herron can do a job at PRO12 level, but after Herron we are stumped. I can't remember Herron kicking from the tee though? If Jackson wasn't playing it might have been better to play Lyttle over Stockdale to take the penalties. Stockdale offers the better cover for centre though.

Little is a fair way off, watch the highlights of the B team against London Scottish, his tackling is terrible.

Not offering much in defence then. Hopefully it's something he will improve on because he really is a talented player otherwise.

marty2086 wrote:POM is just coming back though so needs some game time and I think you forgot someone when it comes to place kicking

Ha! Pienaar. Pienaar can be great from the tee, but his kicking from tee has been a been wayward since he picked up the ACL with the Boks. Still, I wouldn't snub him

I think taking them regularly is a big help, Jackson has improved with having the job week in week out though he does seem to have added some lead to his boot recently too but Pienaar not doing it probably has hurt his consistency

marty2086 wrote:I think taking them regularly is a big help, Jackson has improved with having the job week in week out though he does seem to have added some lead to his boot recently too but Pienaar not doing it probably has hurt his consistency

Yep, with Jackson now taking the kicks it will have a knock on effect with Pienaar, but Pienaars kicking has been a bit off since he picked up the injury.

It's Jacksons short range kicking that has been a bit wobbly. Not sure why that would be?

I wonder why Marshall and Cave are mixed up.

I see Ulster have sold-out Ravenhill for this one - good going.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I wonder why Marshall and Cave are mixed up.

Marshall is being groomed for first choice outside centre with Olding and McColskey around, whilst Cave is just a squad player now. No point in messing Marshall around too much.

Nice try, good work by Gilroy in the air

That's good reffing, O'Mahoney clearly slipped otherwise it would have been fine

Piutau just needs to hold on to the ball, he wants to offload everytime

Why the hell did Munster drop Bleyndaal for this match? Keatley's kicking from hand and tee is inept.

marty2086 wrote:Piutau just needs to hold on to the ball, he wants to offload everytime

He's from New Zealand. He expects there to be someone there to offload to.

Bar Ulster getting lucky with Jackson's cross kick that both winger and full back went for and leaving Piutau with an easy canter over the line, there hasn't been any scoring chances created thus far with Munster huffing and puffing in Ulster but getting nowhere.

Pot Hale wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Piutau just needs to hold on to the ball, he wants to offload everytime

He's from New Zealand.  He expects there to be someone there to offload to.

That's a fair point that is how the score a lot of tries

neilthom7 wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Piutau just needs to hold on to the ball, he wants to offload everytime

He's from New Zealand.  He expects there to be someone there to offload to.

That's a fair point that is how the score a lot of tries

There are players there for the offload but hes either not executing cleanly or putting someone under pressure, theres a time and place for it and he doesnt seem to pick them

Good defence so far but Ulster can't keep defending this deep and get away with it, we need to start playing in Munster's half.

neilthom7 wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

marty2086 wrote:Piutau just needs to hold on to the ball, he wants to offload everytime

He's from New Zealand.  He expects there to be someone there to offload to.

That's a fair point that is how the score a lot of tries

Yep. Their support of runners is par excellence. It's the one thing that all teams could improve on that would reap dividends.

Is it my imagination or is Bowe running rather timidly? His chase of Pienaar's box kick looked very strange almost as it was an effort to run.

Luke Marshall is having a stormer. Huge tackles, big carries and a great turnover there.

Rob Lyttle I have no idea how you got threw there but I ain't complaining, well played kid

What on earth? Rob Lyttle? He just burst through TOD and a few others!

Looks lke Kilcoyne and Keatley almost tackled each other instead of Lyttle

Keatley. Liddell brushes past him and under the posts. Well taken try Ulster.

That must be 80% possession and no points for Munster.

We'll take it, but there are any of three Munstermen that could've and should've tackled him.

ToD,Kilcoyne and Keatley made to look very silly there,great from the young lad.

How good is Lyttle,I haven't seen him play much,could he be a future international?

O'Mahiny is running himself into injury to try and restore something in this game.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:ToD,Kilcoyne and Keatley made to look very silly there,great from the young lad.

How good is Lyttle,I haven't seen him play much,could he be a future international?

Reminds me a lot of Stuart Olding a few seasons ago. There was talk about converting him into a scrum half, but I'm not sure about that. Scrum half is a very specialist position, not easy to convert a guy in his early 20s to it.

Finally Munster's patience pays off.

Well worked team try finished by Scannell. Keatley misses conversion.

14-5 at the break.

Ah Poopie, right on half time too

Its telling that we often concede immediately after scoring, on the brink of half time or full time and tend to just about win matches. Too much of a 'we've done enough' attitude, need to be much more ruthless.

Eddie O'Sullivan: "not the most exciting game we've seen this year."

You could sing it.

If this game ends up requiring kicks, Munster are bunched.

Eddie agrees with other posters that Piutau is forcing offloads.

Pot Hale wrote:Eddie agrees with other posters that Piutau is forcing offloads.

Coaches always get their advice from 606v2. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:Eddie agrees with other posters that Piutau is forcing offloads.

Coaches always get their advice from 606v2. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

Have you seen the way that Hansen character has the All Blacks playing? Blatant plagiarism of my posts on here.

I've noticed. Not good.

Keatley's confidence is just gone. That is a shocking miss, it really is.