Munster vs Saracens - European Rugby Champions Cup: Semi Final 1

First topic message reminder :

V



When:
Saturday 22nd April - 15:15

Where:
Aviva stadium, Lansdowne Rd, Dublin 4, Ireland




TV:
BT Sport / beIN Sports / Sky Italia

Officials:
Referee - Romain Poite (France)
Touch Judge 1 - Pascal Gauzere (France)
Touch Judge 2 - Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO - Philippe Bonhoure (France)
Citing Commissioner - Jeff Mark (Wales)


Previous Meetings:
17/1/15 Saracens 33 - 10 Munster Rugby
24/10/14 Munster Rugby 14 - 3 Saracens
16/12/12 Saracens 19 - 13 Munster Rugby




MUNSTER



ERC Form: Played 7, Won 6, Lost 1
Pro12 Form: Played 20, Won 17, Lost 3

Lineup:

15 Simon Zebo
14 Andrew Conway
13 Jaco Taute
12 Rory Scannell
11 Keith Earls
10 Tyler Bleyendaal
9 Duncan Williams
1 Dave Kilcoyne
2 Niall Scannell
3 John Ryan
4 Donnacha Ryan
5 Billy Holland
6 Peter O'Mahony (capt)
7 Tommy O'Donnell
8 CJ Stander

16 Rhys Marshall
17 James Cronin
18 Stephen Archer
19 Dave O'Callaghan
20 Jean Deysel
21 Ian Keatley
22 Francis Saili
23 Darren Sweetnam


Saracens



ERC Form: Played 7, Won 6, Drawn 1
AP Form: Played 20, Won 15, Drawn 1, Lost 4

Lineup:

15 Alex Goode (226)
14 Chris Ashton (114)
13 Marcelo Bosch (93)
12 Brad Barritt (c) (193)
11 Sean Maitland (19)
10 Owen Farrell (148)
9 Richard Wigglesworth (182)

1 Mako Vunipola (116)
2 Jamie George (168)
3 Vincent Koch (11)
4 Maro Itoje (71)
5 George Kruis (132)
6 Michael Rhodes (53)
7 Jackson Wray (169)
8 Billy Vunipola (74)

16 Schalk Brits (198)
17 Titi Lamositele (42)
18 Petrus Du Plessis (154)
19 Jim Hamilton (71)
20 Schalk Burger (21)
21 Ben Spencer (97)
22 Alex Lozowski (27)
23 Chris Wyles (222)

Sarries simply too good, easily the best in Europe.

POM is just a blood injury which is good

Has Itoje tackled below the shoulders in his career?

nathan wrote:POM is just a blood injury which is good

Really? He looked out to me...

Hersh trolling again

Saracens players didn't stand still for the penalty. Should have been retaken.

eirebilly wrote:

nathan wrote:POM is just a blood injury which is good

Really? He looked out to me...

I thought so too.

Munster halfbacks are not playing well.

Scottrf wrote:Has Itoje tackled below the shoulders in his career?

I've noticed that. Mightn't get away with it so easily on Lions tour.

Itoje is a dirty player at times, kind of like that. Bit of a throwback to the old ways

Munster don't want the ball. Strange performance

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

nathan wrote:POM is just a blood injury which is good

Really? He looked out to me...

I thought so too.

It's was mentioned by the commentator but I'm thinking he as wrong now

eirebilly wrote:Itoje is a dirty player at times, kind of like that. Bit of a throwback to the old ways

Think that's a bit harsh, don't think any of them were intentional

He describes himself as a liberal feminist, of course he fights dirty.

nathan wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Itoje is a dirty player at times, kind of like that. Bit of a throwback to the old ways

Think that's a bit harsh, don't think any of them were  intentional

Not harsh at all, I like the dark arts of rugby. If you can do it and get away with it then fair fecks to you, Munster used to be full of those sorts of players

Holland isn't a very good captain.

Sarries have it in the bag when the opposition star taking long range drop kicks

To me, that drop goal was a sign of defeat.

Clinical, simply clinical.

Massive defence but excellent in attack, a real complete unit are this Sarries team

That first half won it. Come out ahead when being beat and it's gonna swing.

Job done, unlucky Munstr it was a brave effort in such a difficult season. Full respect to you

It would have been a travesty if Munster won that. That was the definition on anti rugby. Disgraceful stuff. Congrats sarries well played

since when have we been allowed to play the ball on the ground? Wyles was on his knees when the ball found it's way into his hands.

It's a good thing Leinster exist. All other Irish teams (including the national team) play the same way. Kick the ball, win the territory and possession battle, look clueless without the ball in hand. It's very frustrating to watch.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:It would have been a travesty if Munster won that. That was the definition on anti rugby. Disgraceful stuff. Congrats sarries well played

Want to elaborate on that? How is it anti rugby when playing a side that give you zero room to move? For me, it has been an excellent Sarries display.

Any thoughts on MOTM?

Ah come on go for the try the game is already over

Sarries make defence enjoyable to watch for 80mins

eirebilly wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:It would have been a travesty if Munster won that. That was the definition on anti rugby. Disgraceful stuff. Congrats sarries well played

Want to elaborate on that? How is it anti rugby when playing a side that give you zero room to move? For me, it has been an excellent Sarries display.

Do I really need to elaborate? How's about taking a drop goal when you're 13 points down with 10 minutes to play? Or kicking the ball across the field every time you're in the 22?

BOD gives a prop Motm......?

The Munster 9 and 10 having nightmare games and ol' Rassie doing his coaching credentials no favours.Very disappointed with the Munstermen except Zebo and POM.All down to Leinster now.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:It would have been a travesty if Munster won that. That was the definition on anti rugby. Disgraceful stuff. Congrats sarries well played

Want to elaborate on that? How is it anti rugby when playing a side that give you zero room to move? For me, it has been an excellent Sarries display.

Do  I really need to elaborate? How's about taking a drop goal when you're 13 points down with 10 minutes to play? Or kicking the ball across the field every time you're in the 22?

That was like raising a white flag. They had had absolutely no idea how to get through the sarries defence

Few do

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:It would have been a travesty if Munster won that. That was the definition on anti rugby. Disgraceful stuff. Congrats sarries well played

Want to elaborate on that? How is it anti rugby when playing a side that give you zero room to move? For me, it has been an excellent Sarries display.

Do  I really need to elaborate? How's about taking a drop goal when you're 13 points down with 10 minutes to play? Or kicking the ball across the field every time you're in the 22?

It was a tactic to try and spread the Sarries defence, unfortunately the Sarries defence is and has been today, amazing. The DG attempt was because Munster had been driven back a full 25mtrs by the defence and had no real other option as they were continuing to go back at a rate of knots. Points on the board may have given Munster some momentum... Not anti rugby that is disgraceful, just being beaten by a superior team...

At least CJ gets a try.

TightHEAD wrote:Few do

Too true. They're a phenomenal team. Still hoping they don't win again though

Well done Sarries and their fans, great win for you today

Even though there are some terrible Leinster posters, I will still support them tomorrow

eirebilly wrote:Well done Sarries and their fans, great win for you today

Even though there are some terrible Leinster posters, I will still support them tomorrow

I know emotions are running high but stop talking cr@p. I was supporting Munster as much as anyone but that was awful to watch and it was anti rugby. Munster didn't want the ball! Sarries played very well but that was not the Munster we were watching all season

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Well done Sarries and their fans, great win for you today

Even though there are some terrible Leinster posters, I will still support them tomorrow

I know emotions are running high but stop talking cr@p. I was supporting Munster as much as anyone but that was awful to watch and it was anti rugby. Munster didn't want the ball! Sarries played very well but that was not the Munster we were watching all season

Not cr@p LF4F, I just feel that it was an outstanding performance from Sarries that threw Munster completely off their game. No way anti rugby from Munster, simply out classed by a better side.

Some people like to give credit where its due and others find reasons for negativity...

If any 9 gets injured for the Lions then surely Wigglesworth is the next in line. Another excellent performance from him.

Scoreline was a fair reflection of the gulf in quality. Nice to see the English players doing so well but I've always admired Munster and would've loved to see them make it to the final.

Unlucky Billy, go sink a few and be happy that your boys are heading in the right direction.

Anyway it's good to have Munster back at the top table of Europe. Saracens are a bloody good team and they could really rack up a few European trophies.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:Scoreline was a fair reflection of the gulf in quality. Nice to see the English players doing so well but I've always admired Munster  and would've loved to see them make it to the final.

Unlucky Billy, go sink a few and be happy that your boys are heading in the right direction.

Always felt it was a year too soon for Munster but am dead proud of how far they went. Will certainly sink a few tonight, cheers bud

From what I have seen this season, Muster play a very similar game to Saracens - and when they are the stronger side can steamroller teams. However when a team can stand up to them (like Sarries of a few years ago) they can struggle to find space and break them down. Sarries just had too much strength across the entire pitch and despite the passion of the crowd driving Munster on, Sarries were close to guaranteed to pull away by 60 minutes.

Harsh to me to say that Munster played anti-rugby. They did the best they could and had they suddenly tried to play like Glasgow (without the experience of that style) they would have been absolutely pummelled.

Munster are too similar in style to Sarries, but just a smidge less able at it, to have ever won that game any more than 10-20% of the time. Come the final Leinster will be a real threat as they can play a very accurate passing game, and could dominate the breakdown. Clermont however will probably try to outmuscle Sarries as they did a few years ago. Sarries though will be too strong for those tactics.

After the woes of last season, Munster have had an excellent European season and their fans shoudl be proud of their side.

Sarries really are some team, it's quite annoying watching them cheer the smallest thing (turnover/knock-on by the opposing team, etc), but they are an all court team who have developed multiple styles and ways to win, and kept the hunger and togetherness through successive seasons - very impressive indeed.

Well done Sarassasins. They truly kill teams off.

Wonder if this defeat will puncture Munster's league season now? The PRO12 needs to remain their target - hopefully they'll have Murray back for that. He gives them another edge.

Clermont v Leinster or Tipp v Galway in the final tomorrow? Difficult one for Munster fans.

Pot Hale wrote:Well done Sarassasins.   They truly kill teams off.  

Wonder if this defeat will puncture Munster's league season now?  The PRO12 needs to remain their target - hopefully they'll have Murray back for that.  He gives them another edge.

I have a feeling we won't see Murray for the rest of the season.

Don't think the scoreline reflected the tight game but if the history of the euro semi's and finals show anything it is that you have to have a Test standard (and preferably current) flyhalf. Saracens had one and Munster didn't and that was probably the difference today.

Saracens took a Bath side apart in the second half a couple of weeks ago (which included Louw & Faletau) and with all their players fit Saracens are an extremely difficult outfit to gain parity with.
It will be interesting to see if this is a peak or whether it can be maintained - their age profile remains good and their academy is certainly churning out some future talent.

I think Rhoades is a vital cog in the Sarries machine, he dominated Stander on a couple of occasions.

Sarries or the Lions without any Sarries. Who would win? They are not my team but personally I would put my money on Sarries.

Will Michael Rhodes qualify for England before they change the qualification rules?