POLL ADDED: Munster v Leinster, Thomond Pk, 13th April 6.30pm LIVE ON RTE2

CatFromHue

Just been looking in Ticketmaster there and it's not a sell out.

There's still a pocket at each end of the East and West stands and it says there are tickets available in the North and South Terraces too.

Thornley wrote this morning that there were 22,000 tickets sold for it.

Grimebox

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

Just got my haircut exactly like Madigan's

I'm ready

thomond2006

Leinster

Grimebox wrote: »

Just got my haircut exactly like Madigan's

I'm ready

Ambush him and maybe you can take the field!

.ak

On the train down to Limerick now... So where's the first port of call? Curragower, Dolans, or..?

trouttrout

.ak wrote: »

On the train down to Limerick now... So where's the first port of call? Curragower, Dolans, or..?

Dolans!

CatFromHue

Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 James Cronin, 18 BJ Botha, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Dave O'Callaghan, 21 Cathal Sheridan, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 22 Ivan Dineen.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 John Cooney, 22 Andrew Goodman, 23 Andrew Conway.

In Strauss, Toner, Goodman, and McLaughlin we've players that could be considered first choice on the bench. Munster just have Sherry and Botha i.e. two front rowers.

.ak

Yeah heard good things about dolans, but it's a bit far away from the hotel! Also missus wants to find somewhere that's showing the Masters as well..

.ak

CatFromHue wrote: »

Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 James Cronin, 18 BJ Botha, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Dave O'Callaghan, 21 Cathal Sheridan, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 22 Ivan Dineen.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 John Cooney, 22 Andrew Goodman, 23 Andrew Conway.

In Strauss, Toner, Goodman, and McLaughlin we've players that could be considered first choice on the bench. Munster just have Sherry and Botha i.e. two front rowers.

DOC.2 and JJ are handy bench options I reckon.

danthefan

Leinster

CatFromHue wrote: »

Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 James Cronin, 18 BJ Botha, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Dave O'Callaghan, 21 Cathal Sheridan, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 22 Ivan Dineen.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 John Cooney, 22 Andrew Goodman, 23 Andrew Conway.

In Strauss, Toner, Goodman, and McLaughlin we've players that could be considered first choice on the bench. Munster just have Sherry and Botha i.e. two front rowers.

Goodman!?

Teferi

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

.ak wrote: »

Also missus wants to find somewhere that's showing the Masters as well..

She'll travel to rugby games and likes golf.

Marry her. Marry her now.

decisions

.ak wrote: »

Yeah heard good things about dolans, but it's a bit far away from the hotel! Also missus wants to find somewhere that's showing the Masters as well..

She's a keeper.

Total sports fan?

Photo for the lads imo

Mahatma Geansai

Hopefully it'll be a great game, but its an uphill task for Munster. They will be tired after a 6 day turnaround following a bruising HEC encounter while Leinster have had 8 days to rest following their canter in the Amlin. That said, this is a MvL game in Thomond and the sides are as evenly matched as they've been in years.




G'WAN MUNSTER

CatFromHue

.ak wrote: »

DOC.2 and JJ are handy bench options I reckon.

Neither would be in the same league as the Leinster guys mentioned. JJ has only started 3 games this season.

danthefan wrote: »

Goodman!?

Goodman maybe be more first squad then first 15, still a different league to Dineen though.

Buer

Gotta be a catch. She's from Munster and likes Phil Mickelson?

CatFromHue

All The Pressure On Leinster
Leinster will arrive in Thomond Park Stadium knowing that a loss will almost certainly mean they'll miss out on a lucrative 'home' semi spot.

And a measure of their intent can be gleaned by their full strength selection albeit without the injured Johnny Sexton who is given a further week to recover. Munster, with bigger fish to fry in a fortnight, rest a few of their leading lights, such as Ronan O'Gara, Wian du Preez and Donnacha Ryan.
Leinster are just two points clear of fourth placed Scarlets and the expected home win for Ospreys will see the title holders move to within a point of the side they beat in last year's final so really there's only one result that will suffice today for the D4 side.

It's a game that has some fascinating match ups most noticeably at out-half where Ian Keatley faces off with Ian Madigan, a place on the Ireland tour on offer while there are a number of players, all in the Munster red who can impress the watching Lions coach Warren Gatland.
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/rugby/11817.php

---

Does anyone in Dublin actually use the D4 term??

danthefan

Leinster

CatFromHue wrote: »

Neither would be in the same league as the Leinster guys mentioned. JJ has only started 3 games this season.



Goodman maybe be more first squad then first 15, still a different league to Dineen though.

Tbh I'm not going to get into Goodman v Dineen because basically I don't care that much but in general I think Dineen has been alright whenever I've seen him, not really sure why he hasn't had more chances. And I think he's been given a full contract too.

D'Arcy is going to be very important today. He's playing well at the moment and he can help Madigan along with another strong performance.

CatFromHue wrote: »

Does anyone in Dublin actually use the D4 term??

I assume it was written by Pat Geraghty, you'd struggle to find a human being with a bigger chip on their shoulder. Best ignored.

DarkJager

A very strong Munster lineup for this one, I think we'll take it by 6 or 9 points. Should be a cracking match either way.

totallegend

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

Did that Munster website article really say that all the lions hopefuls are in red?

That dude is a pillock (I'm basing that on long experience of the tripe he writes, not just that)

trouttrout

danthefan wrote: »

I assume it was written by Pat Geraghty, you'd struggle to find a human being with a bigger chip on their shoulder. Best ignored.

Very, very difficult man to deal with

danthefan

Leinster

totallegend wrote: »

Did that Munster website article really say that all the lions hopefuls are in red?

That dude is a pillock (I'm basing that on long experience of the tripe he writes, not just that)

I'd actually stopped reading by that point, what an absolute gem of a line.

Podge_irl

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

He's incredibly unprofessional. I have no idea how he has lasted this long. He writes complete tripe.

trouttrout

Did Gearghty work for Leinster before?

danthefan

Leinster

trouttrout wrote: »

Did Gearghty work for Leinster before?

He did yeah, was PRO for a few years, then moved to Munster.

trouttrout

danthefan wrote: »

He did yeah, was PRO for a few years, then moved to Munster.

Was thinking. Anyone remember an article he wrote for the website that had to be taken down a few months ago?

thomond2006

Leinster

I can't stand a lot of the stuff that is written on that site. In general the effort put into the site is poor, although it has improved this season. However, if you compare it to the Toulon website the effort put in is rubbish.

Geraghty is far from popular among Munster fans either. Geraghty even namechecked MFs when he hosted the evening in Dolan's for Paul Derbyshire. He's an awful interviewer as well, he can barely string a few coherent sentences together.

irishbucsfan

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

Pat Geraghty is priceless. I'm surprised he hasn't been made sports editor of the independent yet.

Risteard

trouttrout wrote: »

Was thinking. Anyone remember an article he wrote for the website that had to be taken down a few months ago?

For the Munster website? Not sure, but there were a few terrible 'articles', one which sticks in my mind is the one that was written on ToL when he had signed for LI. No mention of his Munster career or successes but just a short footnote mostly focused on his bid to leave. Thought it was poorly done myself.

I only go onto the Munster website for the domestic section these days anyway, the main site isn't that great.

irishbucsfan

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

Agh I can't remember now what his article was about! Of course I can't look it up because it was taken down.

That'll drive me mad.

danthefan

Leinster

I can vaguely remember an article being removed but I've no idea what it was for. Something to do with ROG/Sexton?

DDC1990

Was it not just a copy paste job of an article in the Guardian about Saracens drwoning out the Munster fans.

Then had to remove.

Maybe thats a different one.

Podge_irl

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

He wrote some hilarious article before the 09 HEC semi essentially saying Leinster didn't deserve to be on the same pitch as Munster.

Buer

Madigan has to use those outside him. He has a world class partnership alongside him today. He needs to back off on trying to run everything and take off on those cross field slaloms hoping a gap appears that he can step through. Take it flat, fix the defence, release those outside with his excellent pass. Break when it's on. If he tries to start running it himself to often, he'll suffer.

This season, in the games he has started at 10, the players from 11-15 have only scored 9 tries (3 of those last week). He has scored 8 this season himself. The overall back line doesn't tend to profit hugely as a unit from his style of play when he takes things on himself.

Chabals Beard

Leinster

Just got my tickets .. East terrace behind the Munster bench .. Sweet job .. Looking forward to the craic with the Leinster boys

irishbucsfan

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

DDC1990 wrote: »

Was it not just a copy paste job of an article in the Guardian about Saracens drwoning out the Munster fans.

Then had to remove.

Maybe thats a different one.

That was a different thing I think

Mahatma Geansai

Going to be the first match in Thomond I've missed since before the All Blacks match.

.ak

Pictures of the missus if Leinster win!

irishbucsfan

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

.ak wrote: »

Pictures of the missus if Leinster win!

That's a bell you can't unring

Artful_Badger

Buer wrote: »

Madigan has to use those outside him. He has a world class partnership alongside him today. He needs to back off on trying to run everything and take off on those cross field slaloms hoping a gap appears that he can step through. Take it flat, fix the defence, release those outside with his excellent pass. Break when it's on. If he tries to start running it himself to often, he'll suffer.

This season, in the games he has started at 10, the players from 11-15 have only scored 9 tries (3 of those last week). He has scored 8 this season himself. The overall back line doesn't tend to profit hugely as a unit from his style of play when he takes things on himself.

I dunno, I thought he was pretty good at fixing the defence and releasing those around him. His try count to me indicates he's better at spotting and taking his opportunities than most and lot of them have been from breaks very close to the try line. He does sometimes take too much on but its generally from broken play where support might not be the best rather than him not releasing the backs when he's standing at 10.

decisions

.ak wrote: »

Pictures of the missus if Leinster win!

How does she feel about that?

No backing out now.

Buer

Artful_Badger wrote: »

I dunno, I thought he was pretty good at fixing the defence and releasing those around him. His try count to me indicates he's better at spotting and taking his opportunities than most and lot of them have been from breaks very close to the try line. He does sometimes take too much on but its generally from broken play where support might not be the best rather than him not releasing the backs when he's standing at 10.

Don't get me wrong, he's great at it. He can play flat, has a wonderful pass and can do it at pace. His decision making can be off though. Two instances stood out against Wasps. The first one was near the end of the first half. He crabbed across the field, looking to break instead of feeding it outside and was swallowed up. We turned over and were a finger tip from conceding a sucker punch try. Then, on turn over ball in the second half, he elected to chip the defence and go for a high risk, high return move when Wasps were stretched and he had men outside him.

It's something he needs to work on. This will be his first ever start with BOD and Darce outside him. I hope he combines with them as well as his talent suggests he could.

awec

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

Teferi wrote: »

She'll travel to rugby games and likes golf.

Marry her. Marry her now.

Maybe he's only allowed to go if she can come with?

Also, sorry .ak, but come on Munster!

ireland01

It will be interesting to see how TOD gets on today, he's had a very good season and with the summer tour he has every chance to challenge for a place in the Irish back-row.

Lelantos

Leinster

irishbucsfan wrote: »

That's a bell you can't unring

You mean she's Esmeralda to his Quasimodo?

.ak

decisions wrote: »

How does she feel about that?

No backing out now.

What she doesn't know won't kill her.

Mahatma Geansai

ireland01 wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how TOD gets on today, he's had a very good season and with the summer tour he has every chance to challenge for a place in the Irish back-row.

He's been brilliant this year. I'd love to see some updated weight stats for him because he is absolutely massive. He's probably the fastest IQ backrow we have other than a fit Ferris too. He's stepped up massively to fill the void left by Dashing David Wallace.

Fingers crossed that he can stay fit, because the way he's going he'll be pushing for an Irish starting berth next season.

Artful_Badger

Buer wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, he's great at it. He can play flat, has a wonderful pass and can do it at pace. His decision making can be off though. Two instances stood out against Wasps. The first one was near the end of the first half. He crabbed across the field, looking to break instead of feeding it outside and was swallowed up. We turned over and were a finger tip from conceding a sucker punch try. Then, on turn over ball in the second half, he elected to chip the defence and go for a high risk, high return move when Wasps were stretched and he had men outside him.

It's something he needs to work on. This will be his first ever start with BOD and Darce outside him. I hope he combines with them as well as his talent suggests he could.

Yeah he needs to improve on certain aspects of his game but he's a hugely talented player attacking and has to embrace that. That will lead to some mistakes and poor decisions as he's never going to be perfect. But it will also lead to lots of breaks and advantageous positions. He's done incredibly well so far playing that way.

He'll grow in maturity and his decision making will improve over time and he'll know better when to go and when to utilise those around him. I just really hope he doesnt sacrifice his attacking prowess though to try force growth in other areas. He's just too talented in attack not to make it the foundation and let other areas develop around it.

awec

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

.ak wrote: »

What she doesn't know won't kill her.

Brave, brave man.

Podge_irl

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

irishbucsfan wrote: »

That's a bell you can't unring

[EOS]And you can't close the door after you spilt the milk with a bag of hammers.[/EOS]

CIARAN_BOYLE

Draw/I'm too much of a pansy to call it

danthefan wrote: »

I can vaguely remember an article being removed but I've no idea what it was for. Something to do with ROG/Sexton?

I think it was one cheering the departure of TOL??