Munster vs Saracens - European Rugby Champions Cup: Semi Final 1

First topic message reminder :

V



When:
Saturday 22nd April - 15:15

Where:
Aviva stadium, Lansdowne Rd, Dublin 4, Ireland




TV:
BT Sport / beIN Sports / Sky Italia

Officials:
Referee - Romain Poite (France)
Touch Judge 1 - Pascal Gauzere (France)
Touch Judge 2 - Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO - Philippe Bonhoure (France)
Citing Commissioner - Jeff Mark (Wales)


Previous Meetings:
17/1/15 Saracens 33 - 10 Munster Rugby
24/10/14 Munster Rugby 14 - 3 Saracens
16/12/12 Saracens 19 - 13 Munster Rugby




MUNSTER



ERC Form: Played 7, Won 6, Lost 1
Pro12 Form: Played 20, Won 17, Lost 3

Lineup:

15 Simon Zebo
14 Andrew Conway
13 Jaco Taute
12 Rory Scannell
11 Keith Earls
10 Tyler Bleyendaal
9 Duncan Williams
1 Dave Kilcoyne
2 Niall Scannell
3 John Ryan
4 Donnacha Ryan
5 Billy Holland
6 Peter O'Mahony (capt)
7 Tommy O'Donnell
8 CJ Stander

16 Rhys Marshall
17 James Cronin
18 Stephen Archer
19 Dave O'Callaghan
20 Jean Deysel
21 Ian Keatley
22 Francis Saili
23 Darren Sweetnam


Saracens



ERC Form: Played 7, Won 6, Drawn 1
AP Form: Played 20, Won 15, Drawn 1, Lost 4

Lineup:

15 Alex Goode (226)
14 Chris Ashton (114)
13 Marcelo Bosch (93)
12 Brad Barritt (c) (193)
11 Sean Maitland (19)
10 Owen Farrell (148)
9 Richard Wigglesworth (182)

1 Mako Vunipola (116)
2 Jamie George (168)
3 Vincent Koch (11)
4 Maro Itoje (71)
5 George Kruis (132)
6 Michael Rhodes (53)
7 Jackson Wray (169)
8 Billy Vunipola (74)

16 Schalk Brits (198)
17 Titi Lamositele (42)
18 Petrus Du Plessis (154)
19 Jim Hamilton (71)
20 Schalk Burger (21)
21 Ben Spencer (97)
22 Alex Lozowski (27)
23 Chris Wyles (222)

Watched the game back again. What a first half performance from Sarries, soaked up all the pressure from Munster with ease and looked very electric on attack. Even when a man down, never really looked like their line would be breached, simply an excellent performance that threw Munster completely off their game and made them look average.

In the second half they just went about the motions and broke Munster down.

Of the two remaining teams, I think Leinster pose the best chance of beating Sarries but it will take some effort to beat them. Clearly the best team in Europe right now.

http://www.the42.ie/john-ryan-munster-45-minutes-hell-3353237-Apr2017/

I don't agree with John Ryan here at all. I don't think they gave the Saracens hell at all. I agree with Billy that they seemed quite comfortable defending against Munster.

It is frustrating - did Munster attempt to challenge the Sarries defence once? Any attacking moves off the set piece? I can't remember the ball going past 9/10. I didn't even notice the centres were playing.

Yeah, also do not agree with Ryan here, not once did Munster even stretch the Sarries defence. That is more down to Sarries excellent defence than Munster's inability to attack, Sarries simply closed them down and cut out all viable attacking options forcing Munster to try and kick over the defensive line to very little success. Not once did I feel that Munster were on the verge of scoring when they had all that possession, they were constantly driven back at a rate of knots.

That moment when a Munster fan supports Leinster...

Best of luck today Leinster

Saracens always looked comfortable. There was always 3 men waiting for Munsters one out runners. When there were opportunities to attack Munster didn't take them.


Tyler Bleyendaal had a shocker of a match and unfortunately Williams looked like his old self in the second half. So with them 2 playing like that it was always going to be hard to win. Not the first time Bleyendaal has not handled the pressure. Some of the players didn't look fit either.


Overall I'm happy with Munsters season. It's a big leap from last year and i said last week that Leinster, Saracens and Clermont are the 3 best teams in Europe and Munster did well to make the semis with those 3.

It's not finished yet!

Ryan's comments echo the old Munster siege mentality that served them so well in the noughties - something that Saracens must actively foster as demonstrated by BillyV saying "everybody hates us".
The tragic loss of Foley galvanised the southern province this season, but the truth is there is a gulf in class up to teams like Sarries that can sign a guy like Burger and keep him on the bench. Munster OTOH had to get special dispensation to recruit their bench equivalent Jean Deysel on a short term contract, and it showed in his play that he is not yet attuned to the team wavelength.
When POM had to go off (he looked unsteady - despite his efforts to convince everyone otherwise), it seemed a wasted opportunity to not have O'Donoghue on the bench rather than Deysel. At least he would have benefited from the experience, rather than give that to a short term blow-in who won't be around long enough to show he learned anything.

At the end of the day Munster did exceptionally well to reach the semis and deserve to be congratulated for that in itself. However if they are to become consistently competitive against squads like Saracens they will need more depth.

Jack O'Donoghue didn't deserve to be in the 23 as his performances have not been good enough. Deysel did more in one short cameo for Munster than JOD had done all season. I think being dropped for Munster's biggest game for years was a better learning experience for him than coming on off the bench. He needs a huge kick up the rear to push him onwards.

1st half I was thinking, sigh... here we go again, English side lacking composure but the defence held firm.

6-3 at at half time was a big result.

Stander wasn't allowed to build momentum for Munster. Munster tried 10 man rugby but it didn't work. Admittedly doesn't help when your best no 9 is injured and your half backs aren't top class.

I'd say Munster should have looked to vary their play more because Saracens dealt with the Munster attack well.

I think Saracens decision making in the first half was pretty poor, Farrell in particular lacked a bit of composure but 2nd half was a different matter.

Saracens had much more go forward in the pack led ably by the Vunipola bros. Billy V showed why he's such a highly rated player.

Of course I need to give a shout out to Jamie George who in the first half topped the tackle count with 12, missed 1.

Defence isn't just about making your tackles though, it's about stopping the opposition getting over the gainline and frequently Saracens pushed Munster back.


Losing Mahony during the game and Murray before the game were big blows but Munster needed to turn that possession and territory into more points.

I think Clermont would make more of it, so Saracens will need to sharpen aspects up before the final.

Congratulations Sarries, well deserved win with no complaints from me. Sarries are a fantastic team.