Munster v Connacht 23/03 17:45 Musgrave Park TG4

Not a whole lot of mention about Downey, he is one who is always up for proving himself against Connacht after being let go, by all rights there should be an extra edge to his game tomorrow.

"...I don't know, I always wanted to put one up on Connacht after that and I remember being really determined playing against them afterwards with Northampton.

"Without being too harsh, maybe I wanted to stick two fingers up at them."

www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/vi...knocks-28818094.html

Is McSharry fit for this game? Would be a great battle if he is going toe-to-toe in the midfield with Downey.

Diom wrote: I am worried most about Laulala simply because he is the most unpredictable, but hopefully with ROG and Faloon the ball will be ponderously slow out to the backs. ROG's confidence will be knocked and he will have the added pressure of wanting to pull a performance from the bag in front of his friends and neighbours.

Connacht XV

15. Robbie Henshaw
14. Danie Poolman
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Dave McSharry
11. Gavin Duffy (captain)
10. Dan Parks
9. Kieran Marmion

1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Jason Harris-Wright
3. Nathan White
4. Mick Kearney
5. George Naoupu
6. Andrew Browne
7. Willie Faloon
8. John Muldoon

Replacements: Adrian Flavin, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Mike McCarthy, Eoin McKeon, Paul O’Donohoe, Miah Nikora, Fetu’u Vainikolo

thats a decent team. wud prob prefer mckeon at 8 myself but its strong. scrum and lineout should be solid and backs pretty much full strength. weather will play its part but with 2 of the best kickers of a ball of the last 10-15 yrs on the pitch it should be an interesting battle. selection more than capable of a lbp. munsters approach will determine if there is more on offer.( assuming connacht turn up).

archer scrummaged and carried well against italy last week. dont be surprised if rog throws the shackles off and kicks connacht off the park. he tried v ospreys and was out by inches. its if they try to run the ball is where connacht might have joy.

We've the better backline by a country mile and some real impact players on the bench (Buckley Loughs Macca McKeon Fetu) but you'd fancy their starting pack over ours. At the very least we should be able to avoid the traditional blowout.

connachtexile wrote:
As for Connacht why Muldoon at 8?!

Good Team
Backrow picked to complete at the breakdown with the current weather conditions a lot is going to be down to Rolland
Would like to see George @8 Macca starting and browne on the bench

As most have said it's a decent side Connacht are putting out with some impact on the bench. Agree with OldSchool on George and Macca, but I'm actually surprised Macca is playing at all. Have Ireland thrown the player welfare policy out the window since it's done little of late helping with injuries? This game will be decided on what real influence ROG and the partnership of POC and DOC can exert. Think it's unrealistic to believe any of them could consistently have the impact they did 3-4 years ago, but an occasional reminder is always possible and Munster could use one from them in this game. A losing bonus point is certainly within reach and a poor performance from ROG could open the door for Connacht to get more.

Muldoon at 8 is not ideal, can understand why they have brought George into the 2nd row but McKeown would be my choice at 8 after that. Either McCarthy is in or out, no point bringing him in with 15 minutes to go and we 20 points down. Apart from that the team and areas of the bench looks decent.

mcshaz out and murphy in.

15-0 at ht. Game over already. Looks like another nil for Connacht in all honesty.

McSharry out and we are missing him. Mick Kearney should forfeit his weeks wages for his utter stupidity. As usual we have had opportunities which have gone astray for the lack of support runners. Scrum has gone fairly well but physically they are dominating, get McCarthy on now or else we might as well have left him at home.

Borders no.2 wrote: 15-0 at ht. Game over already. Looks like another nil for Connacht in all honesty.

McSharry out and we are missing him. Mick Kearney should forfeit his weeks wages for his utter stupidity. As usual we have had opportunities which have gone astray for the lack of support runners. Scrum has gone fairly well but physically they are dominating, get McCarthy on now or else we might as well have left him at home.

sea_point wrote: Actually Murphy was one of the few players to come out of the game with any credit. Faloon did well too especially in the first half where he turned over some ball.

Serious questions about the planning, selection and the attitude,

Mul - again made absolutely no impact at eight he does not have the skill-set (pace/hands).
George - is not a second row for that level of game, auxiliary in desperate circumstances only.
Front Row - Wilko/JHW & White allowed themselves to be bullied for 55 minutes without any sign of a fight at all.

Way way way tooo passive, instead of absolutely smashing anything in Red for the first fifteen mins we sat back and gave them bloody carte blanche to fill their boots. At even 12-0 the game was over, and then with time up for the first half on the clock we give them a cheap extra three for good measure so we're three scores behind at half time...

Where was the leadership from the front tonight?