View Full Version : Munster top of the Magners League
Proinsias
22-09-2008, 01:40 PM
Yet another bonus point performance. Maybe made a bit more work of it this time but still, that's a pretty good haul for this early in the season.
The Welsh teams now have to go and screw around with the English teams, which means their fixture list has suddenly gotten very congested. If Munster can beat Leinster next weekend, they can go clear at the top.
Leinster are looking very good though, Fitzgerald is playing out of his skin and Kearney is looking better all the time.
So, can Munster win at the RDS next Sunday? I'm probably going to miss it as I'll be flying out of Dublin at that time. Bugger.
Actin The Sham
22-09-2008, 01:52 PM
Yet another bonus point performance. Maybe made a bit more work of it this time but still, that's a pretty good haul for this early in the season.
The Welsh teams now have to go and screw around with the English teams, which means their fixture list has suddenly gotten very congested. If Munster can beat Leinster next weekend, they can go clear at the top.
Leinster are looking very good though, Fitzgerald is playing out of his skin and Kearney is looking better all the time.
So, can Munster win at the RDS next Sunday? I'm probably going to miss it as I'll be flying out of Dublin at that time. Bugger.
I heard Magners are having a hard time of it at the moment, and that a new, more appropriate cider maker will be taking over the sponsorship soon;
http://www.creativematch.co .uk/Images/gaymer300.jpg
Rebel Yell
22-09-2008, 02:02 PM
Yet another bonus point performance. Maybe made a bit more work of it this time but still, that's a pretty good haul for this early in the season.
The Welsh teams now have to go and screw around with the English teams, which means their fixture list has suddenly gotten very congested. If Munster can beat Leinster next weekend, they can go clear at the top.
Leinster are looking very good though, Fitzgerald is playing out of his skin and Kearney is looking better all the time.
So, can Munster win at the RDS next Sunday? I'm probably going to miss it as I'll be flying out of Dublin at that time. Bugger.
Should be a great game....both sides in good form early in season...Elsom and van De Linde may be in the frame as well for Chieka's side...has the makings of a belter...
Actin The Sham
22-09-2008, 02:03 PM
Should be a great game....both sides in good form early in season...Elsom and van De Linde may be in the frame as well for Chieka's side...has the makings of a belter...
Roysh, roysh....
http://thedubliner.typepad. com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/03/rockii.jpg
Langer Dan
22-09-2008, 02:05 PM
R.O.C.K. is about as funny as colon cancer these days,,,,,
Yet another bonus point performance. Maybe made a bit more work of it this time but still, that's a pretty good haul for this early in the season.
The Welsh teams now have to go and screw around with the English teams, which means their fixture list has suddenly gotten very congested. If Munster can beat Leinster next weekend, they can go clear at the top.
Leinster are looking very good though, Fitzgerald is playing out of his skin and Kearney is looking better all the time.
So, can Munster win at the RDS next Sunday? I'm probably going to miss it as I'll be flying out of Dublin at that time. Bugger.
I'd fancy Leinster purely based on the fact they have home advantage. I still think Leinster won't have it up front in the big European matches. 4 and 5 are weak and besides Heaslip in the back row they look somewhat weak (well this all depends on how Elsom fits in). No great shakes in the front row either, Jackman is a chancer. Where as with Munster we have Lions players in our pack. However come Sunday i think Leinster will win.
Proinsias
22-09-2008, 04:50 PM
I'd fancy Leinster purely based on the fact they have home advantage. I still think Leinster won't have it up front in the big European matches. 4 and 5 are weak and besides Heaslip in the back row they look somewhat weak (well this all depends on how Elsom fits in). No great shakes in the front row either, Jackman is a chancer. Where as with Munster we have Lions players in our pack. However come Sunday i think Leinster will win.
I wouldn't agree. Cullen is a fine player and Jennings is unlucky not to have more caps. Stan Wright has come on in leaps and bounds (even if he is incapable of leaping or bounding) and their pack is looking far stronger than previous years. Add in Elsom and you've got a pack that, while it won't be feared around europe, can match almost any team out there.
The two young fellas have really made a big difference to the aging backline though and with the retirement of Hickie, have brought the speed back to the Leinster backline.
ATS, this is the sports forum and this thread is actually about sports so take that stuff elsewhere. May I recommend any rugby thread started by the SFI.
My prediction for this match is also a leinster victory but the two teams are as evenly matched across the field as I've ever seen, both with good packs and backlines, although the old Leinste-backs, munster-forwards divide remains. Will be very interesting to watch the wings in particular, I suspect Cheika will put Horgan up agianst Howlett, just to contain him. Question is then, do they go with Dempsey or Kearney at full back. Personally, against Munster, I'd put in Dempsey as ROG is likely to kick the leather off the ball.
I wouldn't agree. Cullen is a fine player and Jennings is unlucky not to have more caps. Stan Wright has come on in leaps and bounds (even if he is incapable of leaping or bounding) and their pack is looking far stronger than previous years. Add in Elsom and you've got a pack that, while it won't be feared around europe, can match almost any team out there.
The two young fellas have really made a big difference to the aging backline though and with the retirement of Hickie, have brought the speed back to the Leinster backline.
ATS, this is the sports forum and this thread is actually about sports so take that stuff elsewhere. May I recommend any rugby thread started by the SFI.
My prediction for this match is also a leinster victory but the two teams are as evenly matched across the field as I've ever seen, both with good packs and backlines, although the old Leinste-backs, munster-forwards divide remains. Will be very interesting to watch the wings in particular, I suspect Cheika will put Horgan up agianst Howlett, just to contain him. Question is then, do they go with Dempsey or Kearney at full back. Personally, against Munster, I'd put in Dempsey as ROG is likely to kick the leather off the ball.
Cullen is good i'll grant you that, but we have two players who will be playing 4 and 5 for the British and Irish Lions. Jennings was superb at Leicester, however he has not re-produced that form at Leinster and has not really nailed down the number 7 spot up there(again Wallace is better and could be a British and Irish Lions player again next year). My point is that while Leinster pack is better again this year, it is not quite a pack that will win you the tight, top games in the big European matches. Stan Wright is better than he was but again i''ll take our front row.
I believe we have a better backline now than Leinster's. I would 100% take our 9 and 10 over theirs. Our centre partnership is better that BOD and whoever plays there. They probably have us in the back 3, but Howlett is still one of the best wingers in the world and i think Earls will soon be right up there with Kearney and Fitzgerald.
However i do agree with you - Leinster to just about shade it on Sunday.
Actin The Sham
22-09-2008, 05:32 PM
ATS, this is the sports forum and this thread is actually about sports so take that stuff elsewhere. May I recommend any rugby thread started by the SFI.
Sorry, but this is about a franchise based in Limerick playing it's secondary matches in Cork in a competition sponsored by a brand that doesn't exist here.
How appropriate.
Proinsias
22-09-2008, 06:59 PM
Sorry, but this is about a franchise based in Limerick playing it's secondary matches in Cork in a competition sponsored by a brand that doesn't exist here.
How appropriate.
Franchise is the wrong term, one that completely misunderstands the history and nature of Munster.
Besides, it's still under the control of the Munster Branch. As someone with a grandfather and a stepfather on this list, both of whom of whom are from Cork, http://www.munsterrugby.ie/340_64.php, I'll take your lectures on the Cork-ness and history of Munster rugby with a large does of salt.
Anyway, Brad you're right about the 9/10 partnership, it's been real weakness of Leinster but Chris Whitaker, while not the greatest scrum half in the world, had the bad fortune to sit on the bench behind possibly the best scrum half of the modern era for a decade or so. Most other countries,he would have had double the number of caps.
This new Kiwi fella looked handy last week. Didn't get to see the Leinster match last weekend so I'll have to reserve judgment there.
Gonna be a close game on sunday alright, very hard to call. Should only be a score in it at the end.
Have a ticket anyway, so can't wait for it!
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.