Enda wrote: Do we know why we did not contest any of their lineouts? I found it very frustrating when they stole two of ours. Also we had two penalties in the closing 20 mins and we tap and go with no one ready and we then loose the ball. On paper they should have well beaten us so a loosing bonus point is pretty good.

We did contest some lineouts, we just didn't succeed. For lineouts close to our line, they clearly decided not to contest in the air to give themselves a better chance of defending the maul (which didn't really work).

On the quick taps, that generally annoys me too, but our last try came almost directly from a quick tap by Angus Lloyd, and Andy Friend spoke afterwards about how happy he was to see Angus doing that, and that it is their plan to keep the tempo up by doing things like it.

Disappointing result overall, obviously last week I was happy to beat Ulster but that game didn't mean as much as potentially beating our conference rivals. Honestly would have preferred the strongest selection had been made for the Munster game, its reasonable to say we would have had a good chance of winning and we would have come out of 3 interpros with 1 win, same as we have now.

Do we know why we did not contest any of their lineouts? I found it very frustrating when they stole two of ours. Also we had two penalties in the closing 20 mins and we tap and go with no one ready and we then loose the ball. On paper they should have well beaten us so a loosing bonus point is pretty good. The fact we could have won with a bit more sharpness is definitely promising. If we keep going the way we are we could win another 26-30 points, hope it’s enough, onto Sale this Saturday.

Magpie wrote: 1st time, well into the 22, the center of the pitch and someone (Boyle?) picks a ball from a ruck he is part of, drives thru, penalty Munster.
2nd time, lineout in front of the Clan, just outside the 22, Blade is a little slow in passing from a scrapply won line out, gets tackled in the pass, knock on, someone in Green picks it up, penalty Munster
3rd time, lineout in front of the Grant-Thornton, just outside the 22, can't remember what happened, but it was a penalty Munster.

1st one was Fainga'a; 2nd was Dillane; 3rd we lost the lineout and on the way down Thornbury pulled O'Mahony in the air.

By my count we only rested two players, with one of those being named on the bench. I think we intended to start Bundee in this game but the decision was taken out of our hands by the late withdrawal up in Dublin, unfortunate but not something I’d criticise management over.

I was very disappointed after the game - not because we lost, honestly we didn't really deserve to win - but because we could have won that had we played a stronger team, Munster were as fully loaded as they could be.

There was a period in the second half where the game was slipping away from us, Munster put 17 points on the board and we didn't help ourselves. 3 times in this period we had a good attaching platform.

1st time, well into the 22, the center of the pitch and someone (Boyle?) picks a ball from a ruck he is part of, drives thru, penalty Munster.
2nd time, lineout in front of the Clan, just outside the 22, Blade is a little slow in passing from a scrapply won line out, gets tackled in the pass, knock on, someone in Green picks it up, penalty Munster
3rd time, lineout in front of the Grant-Thornton, just outside the 22, can't remember what happened, but it was a penalty Munster.

Despite all the club caps and international caps, this is what it came down to, a little mistake or rush of blood and Munster are let of the hook.

I am quite happy that we have blooded a lot of players this term, we will be stronger for it, but we could have won that.

The one worrying thing from the interpros is that we're conceding a large amount of tries off lineout mauls. and in reverse getting very little success from the lineout, if we could fix that we'd be in a great position, and I know a strong maul is hard to defend.

The more I think of it, the happier I am with the overall performance (if not the result). There was nothing that we did WRONG, just things that they did better (their maul, their lineout).

Thought Kelleher was immense, Tom Daly very solid for a man who's only been with us for a few weeks. Ultan was back to his rampaging ways. JC and Blade really gelling together.

The bench is what killed us: when we're bringing on Angus Lloyd (who had a great pass, I thought) and they're bringing on Conor Murray you know there's a mismatch.

Thought we played the more positive brand of rugby for the evening.

One of their passes for the try was definitely forward, so we can claim a moral victory (a moral draw?!?) at the very least.

It's a shame, would've loved to have been nestled at second heading into Europe, but still plenty to play for in the Pro14. Onto Sale, now.

So in all likelihood Buckley will start vs Sharks and get us the 5-1 or 4-0 split we need!

Buckley is just sick, no injury.

Decent result to get a bonus point against a fully cocked Munster missing Bundee, TOH, Marmion, Denis, Butler, and Copeland - all of whom apparently were out injured! Always annoying to get beaten by Munster, but great positives from the game. McCabe and Robertson-McCoy held their own in the scrum, and our locks looked every bit as effective as theirs. Boyle and Fainga'a every bit as good as their opponents in the back row. Unfair to expect Eoghan Masterson to be at the top of his game second time out this season and this would've been an excellent game to play Copeland (if not against Munster at home, then when). Carty has improved beyond all recognition under this year's coaching team, and surely Blade and Tom Farrell must be called into the Six Nations squad. Blade is the form 9 in the country, and Tom the form centre. I won't hold my breath though that Schmidt will pick them.

Despite the positives the result showed that game was there for the taking, considering it was the most pivotal given Munster are in our conference it makes it all the more baffling that we sent out our weakest team (of the 3) in that game, forgetting about Aki we still left a number of front line players out and Denis pulling up before the game was another blow (I never heard what happened there), fortunate in the end to get the lbp but bitterly disappointed to let them slink back south with 5 points, on a positive Tom Farrell.

Got rode by the ref but that aside Munster probably just about deserved it. Couple of things we need to improve:
1) maul defence, they killed us there tonight though they looked physically bigger than us and one of their tries looked dodgy to me
2) kick chase. They won the kicking battle but we had some decent kicks made bad by disjointed slow chases.

Carty and T Farell outstanding tonight, and carberry must have slipped someone a tenner to get MOM as he wasn't even close to Munsters best player

Disappointing result but we can still take positives, Farrell was immense, faingaa really coming into his own now, Munsters maul killed us we cud not handle it at all, lineout & scrum not as good as previous games, it's a setback but we can still beat Sale.

Ospreys have overtaken us(36) beating Cardiff 20-11. Now on 37 points 3rd behind Munster(39).

Maul defence would be a big worry but I thought we improved against Ulster who matched Munster's maul in Ravenhill.

Try not to concede lineouts inside our 22.
They'll kick ther penalties anyway

Really think we will suffer when it comes to emptying the bench time. We look stretched squad wise. Not sure about the team we have selected and much as I like Heffernan as a player the leinster game showed he isn't a captain.

Maul defence is where my big worry is. Average packs have been causing us untold problems in this area lately. Munster will be targeting us there any chance they get.

Glasgow only manage losing bonus point in Treviso so Munster can go top of the conference if they win tonight. A loss would be a big disappointment for Munster so here's hoping!

On the evidence to date the emphasis has been on building momentum while also building squad depth. The Cup has probably allowed more emphasis on squad depth, but momentum didn't suffer except for losing in Sale. On paper this looks a tough ask against a strong Munster lineup, but on paper we should have beaten Ospreys and didn't. Munster still have to turn up and do enough to win tonight. If we focus on playing rugby and not getting suckered into a slugfest we could win out. Leinsters strong team were up for the fight but not focused on playing well. By selecting some fresher faces we may focus on the task not the niggle. I can't see Munster being able to catch us if we get a lead as their attack has been blunt all season. All we can do is cheer them on and make Munster as uncomfortable as possible in the Sportsground. Cmon Connacht.

ThisYearWillBeDifferent wrote: Could the Bordeaux win over Sale have changed Andy's priorities all of a sudden?

9 match points in Rounds 5 & 6 and keeping Sale at 0 match points in Round 5 would win the pool and a possible home QF.

Could the Bordeaux win over Sale have changed Andy's priorities all of a sudden?

Utterly bizarre selection. Where is Copeland? Is he injured? Why isn't one of him, SOB, Connolly, or Butler on the bench for the back row? With Munster's selection for this we should've gone with our strongest selection, and this is not our strongest. And as for that bollo@ks about Bundee being injured..............

Bizzare selection... Angus Lloyd parachuted onto the bench ahead of Mitchell? Robertson McCoy starting ahead of Bealham? Godwin rested/rotated and Daly parachuted in? Butler missing from the side despite getting a week off against Perpignan.

Not to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist but not convinced Aki is injured either rather than the IRFU telling us he needs a week off during the interpros... Which would be nonsense as he got a rest during the European rounds and can get another one during the next rounds...

Anyway I can't see us winning this now to be honest, but hold out hope that I'm wrong.

Bit of a head scratcher of a selection, unless there are injuries we've not been told about (e.g. Carey, Godwin). Bookies are running for the hills since the teams were announced (Paddy Power have gone from Connacht by 2 to Munster by 4, for instance). Hardly surprising when they have 9 Irish internationals in the starting 15 and we have 9 international caps.

Team announced not as strong as I'd have hoped for, will be interesting to see Munster's selection
Edit: Here they are
(15-9) Darragh Leader, Cian Kelleher, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, Matt Healy, Jack Carty, Caolin Blade, (1- Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan (Capt), Dominic Robertson Mc-Coy, Gavin Thornbury, Quinn Roux, Paul Boyle, Colby Fainga’a, Eoghan Masterson.
Replacements (16-23): Tom McCartney, Peter McCabe, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Cillian Gallagher, Angus Lloyd, David Horwitz, Colm DeBuitlear.

Munster: Andrew Conway; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Dan Goggin, Alex Wootton; Joey Carbery, Alby Mathewson; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O’Mahony (C), Tommy O’Donnell, Arno Botha.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Billy Holland, CJ Stander, Conor Murray, Tyler Bleyendaal, Sammy Arnold.

I could see Copeland being involved in some capacity at the weekend. Would be good too as he might be extra motivated.