Cardiff Blues v Munster

Munster have named their squad to play Blues next weekend:

Munster Squad: J Murphy, S Deasy, D Howlett, S Zebo, T Gleeson, D Barnes, L Mafi, D Hurley, I Keatley, D Williams, P Stringer, M Horan, S Archer, BJ Botha, W du Preez, J Hayes, D Fogarty, M Sherry, D Foley, I Nagle, M O'Driscoll, B Holland, P O'Mahony, N Ronan, J Coughlan, T O'Donnell.

The match day team will be named at 12.00 Thurdsay.

No Blues squad yet.

For Munster glad to see Nagle back in the team - hoping he gets a run out.

CCS will be tough place to go, I had hoped to go to this game but will have to do Llanelli later in the year instead.

Any post RWC news on the Bull?

Fergal, as I understand it Hayes is retiring but has been asked by the IRFU to stay fit in case of injury to Tony Buckley or Mike Ross. So he's playing games and training with Munster on a short term contract until after RWC when he will ride off into the sunset.

Blues team named:

15 Dan Fish 14 Alex Cuthbert 13 Gavin Evans 12 Dafydd Hewitt 11 Richard Mustoe 10 Ceri Sweeney 9 Richie Rees

8 Andries Pretorius 7 Maama Molitika 6 Michael Paterson
5 Deiniol Jones 4 Paul Tito (C) 3 Scott Andrews 2 T Rhys Thomas 1 Sam Hobbs

16 Rhys Williams 17 Nathan Trevett 18 Ryan Harford 19 Xavier Rush 20 Thomas Young 21 Lewis Jones 22 Rhys Patchell 23 Casey Laulala


Not available due to injury

Ben Blair - knee, John Yapp - calf, Gareth Williams - neck, Kristian Dacey - shoulder, Gareth Davies - hamstring, Chris Czekaj - shoulder, Martyn Williams - shoulder, Tom James - calf

Unavailable because of RWC
Gethin Jenkins, Bradley Davies , Sam Warburton, Lloyd Williams, Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny, Fau Filise, Dan Parks


I thought Nugget broke his arm?

Looking forward to seeing Dan Fish again. Impressed me last year.

Munster name their team tio:



W.du Preez, M.Sherry, S.Archer

B.Holland, M.O'Driscoll

P.O'Mahony(c), J.Coughlan, T.O'Donnell

D.Williams, I.Keatley

L.Mafi, D.Barnes

D.Hurley, J.Murphy, D.Howlett



Fogarty, Ryan, Hayes, Foley, Ronan, Stringer, Deasy, Gleeson

Looks like a strong team, hopefully the younger players like Sherry, Archer, Barnes will continue to improve. Another win here I think.

Blues team is decent on paper - though I dont know why Laulaula has been dropped.

wales606 wrote:Blues team is decent on paper - though I dont know why Laulaula has been dropped.

Makes no sense to me either.

red_stag wrote:

wales606 wrote:Blues team is decent on paper - though I dont know why Laulaula has been dropped.

Makes no sense to me either.

He was poor last week - but he can offer a lot more than Hewitt/Evans

If they want to drop players who didnt perform last week

Sweeney
R.Rees
Evans
Hewitt
Tito
Paterson
Andrews
and Cuthbert

shouldnt be playing...

This will be a close game, Munster are stronger, but Blues are at home.

I'm going for a Munster win, can't see what games Munster could lose this year
Leinster, Ulster and Ospreys away, are prop the only games that I think they could lose (undoubtably they will slip up in a game or 2 nobody expects, prob against Connacht)

As an ulster fan I did think Laulaula was one of the biggest threats on the pitch. He broke the gainline a number of times. I see Munster winning this game though, expecting big games from O'Mahoney, Sherry and Keatley.

why would you drop cuthbert? That was his 3rd ever game of regional rugby, cut him some slack.

gcBlues wrote:why would you drop cuthbert? That was his 3rd ever game of regional rugby, cut him some slack.

I didnt say that I would drop him, I said if the coaches want to drop players after last week, there are plenty of options along with Laulaula


I was slightly harsh putting Cuthbert in there since, only Cuthbert, T.James, C.Czekaj, A.Pretorious and Molitika have shown any form this season.

Yeah it's bloody annoying that Sweeney isn't taking his chance now he can have a run of games.
We have moaned like hell when that idiot Parks has been picked at 10, but Sweeney is playing like a Lemon at the moment.

But how many chances and runs of games does Sweeney need? Everyone always says he should be hands down number 10 at Blues, but he'll always have one good game, one average game and one poor game followed by a few good/better than average games.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:But how many chances and runs of games does Sweeney need? Everyone always says he should be hands down number 10 at Blues, but he'll always have one good game, one average game and one poor game followed by a few good/better than average games.

Sadly Sweeney is an impact player, and is cack when starting a game.

I agree which is why im always amazed when blues fans want him to b the main starting 10. By the way awesome try by cuthburt

Referee tells the blues players that the next time a player speaks to him out of turn, it's a yellow card. Absolutely right. The refs decision is final. Cardiff need to sort themselves out.

Commentators sounded like fools just then talking about the penalty count (which is even) and complaining that nothing was said to Munster. Cardiff aren't being warned for indiscipline they are being warned for dissension.

Why did he let Stringer get away with it then,Limerick were getting away with loads of stuff.

The big question - why on EARTH did Laulala not start????

red_stag wrote:The big question - why on EARTH did Laulala not start????

Agreed. I really don't understand why he was dropped after the ulster game.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I agree which is why im always amazed when blues fans want him to b the main starting 10. By the way awesome try by cuthburt

Because the alternative Fly Half is Dan Parks...

Yeah but at least parks does some good things consistently and has lots of weaknesses but not as many as the inconsistent sweeney

Wtahced the game last night, and while Munster defence was good, and Keatley was amazing with the boot, Munster robbed that. Im happy of course, but that was one that got away from a Cardiff perspective, imho.

Fish was good, Lualala was breaking the line for fun when he came on. From a Munster perspective, good to Archer turning in a positive performance, Kealtey was good too. Worried about the injuries to Coughlan and O'Mahoney. Any updates there?