munster V connacht stephens day @8pm thomond park

anyways I reckon a realistic losing bonus point for connacht at least!!!
they way we are playing its only a matter of time before we break our duck!
Winning in Thomond would be a massive boost but traditionally we are beaten before we get on the bus at the sportsground!
We will at least be competitive which is one thing lacking up until Glaws last weekend!

Munster: Sean Scanlon; Luke O'Dea, Keith Earls, Danny Barnes, Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Tomas O'Leary; Marcus Horan, Denis Fogarty, John Hayes; Donncha O'Callaghan, Mick O'Driscoll capt; Billy Holland, Niall Ronan, Paddy Butler. Replacements: Sean Henry, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Ian Nagle, James Coughlan, Duncan Williams, Scott Deasy, Tom Gleeson.

Connacht XV to face Munster in Thomond Park (St Stephens Day kick off 19.45)

15 Gavin Duffy (C)

14 Fetu’u Vainikolo

13 Eoin Griffin

12 Dave McSharry

11 Tiernan O’Halloran

10 Niall O’Connor

09 Frank Murphy

01 Brett Wilkinson

02 Ethienne Reynecke

03 Ronan Loughney

04 George Naoupu

05 Mike McCarthy

06 Dave Gannon

07 Johnny O’Connor

08 John Muldoon



16 Adrian Flavin

17 Dylan Rogers

18 Rodney Ah You

19 Mick Kearney

20 Eoin McKeon

21 Paul O’Donohoe

22 Matthew Jarvis

23 Kyle Tonetti

I don't want to get overexcited, but if we play like we did at Gloucester then Munster might regret putting out such a weakened team.

Lads we're going to get a win eventually. It's either this game or the Leinster one

You don't read my weekly ref updates, Diom? I'm disgusted, I really am.

Referee: Dudley Philips (IRFU, 21st competition game)

He's a fan of the penalty try. We need to be angels on our own 5m line.

Ref updates are every Tuesday before match weekends.

Thats still a strong Munster team and compare the two benches and Munster have a options in the pack. Most of that side are there or therabouts on HC weekend. Main weakness I see is Denis Fogarty but they have good lineout options so mightn't be a huge disadvantage for Munster. O'Dea did well in the last Rabo game he played. They always put out this kind of team against us and we fail to make them pay.

If we build on the Gloucester performance I'll be happy enough. Can't see us winning this one though. Being realistic Aironi away is our next major opportunity of a result.

great to see we are more or less putting out our strongest team.

re ref, same idiot we had down in limerick last season, brought play back 60 metres when we scored a try and he said there was crossing about 3mins before hand when we were getting on munsters tits.

this can be a great win, fingers crossed. pity i cant make it but ill be on here and stuck in front of the fire and tv with a few cans.

Heading down to it but experience from the last few years at Christmas time mean that I won't be hopefull, especially seeing as Munster have fielded a reasonably weakened team. This is exactly when Connacht DON'T perform.

I'm a little surprised with Munster's bench. Their usual M.O. for this fixture is to have the likes of ROG and POC sitting in reserve in case Connacht make things uncomfortable. Maybe the likes of Botha and Coughlan will be enough to get the job done, but there is certainly an opportunity here for Connacht.

For me this game is all about NOC. Will he build on his performance in the last Gloucester game or does he revert to his uneven form? The scrum should be solid so he can do himself a world of good if he wins the battle of flyhalves. What better way to get us to forget about the one that got away than to beat him head to head?

jesus i was shocked when i saw this. paddy power giving away free money for christmas.
they think munster will beat us by 14 points


Munster.. draw..... Connacht

1/14.....30/1.......7/1

Munster