The biggest question to be answered here is, will all of the TW boys be back for this massive clash against Munster who will likely be at full strength. We should see, at the very least, the likes of BBBD and Aled Davies and maybe Nicky Smith. I don't know if the likes of AWJ and Tips will sit by and watch us lose a third game on the bounce and a Champions Cup game at that.
I think the team will look something like this:-
1 N Smith
2 S Otten
3 T Botha
4 M Orie
5 B Davies
6 D Lydiate
7 O Cracknell
8 M Morris
9 S Venter (A Davies if Venter plays 10 which is unlikely)
10 M McKenzie (here's hoping eh? Price or Hook if not) (Although we could play Venter at 10)
11 H Dirksen
12 S Williams
13 T Thomas-Wheeler
14 L Kilm
15 C Evans
Thought the defensive effort was outstanding especially with the likes of the usual suspects Lydiate and Cracknell, thought the passing was not up to Professional from 9 to 15 until the likes of Aled and Kieron came on, what a piece of fresh air the latter is, really been looking forward to him breaking into the team, what a combination the likes of him and Watkin is going to be outside of Anscombe, just hope they can stay injury free. Price showed again he is not up to this standard. Clarkie in his post match Press Conference said there could be 2 others from TW duties returning, Watkin and Beard? as he mentioned the deficiencies of the lineout.
More optimistic this morning than I thought I would be.
Ymlaen Gweilch
Our Pro 14 season is almost over already and the chance of qualifying this season virtually nil. Let’s at least try and salvage some respect and go to Saracens all guns blazing.
Why wouldn’t we risk them ? If we have any ambitions in the cup we have to win the next game. What are we resting them for ? Team Wales after Xmas.
Individually, I thought that Scott Otten was an absolute demon and tackled anything that moved in a red jersey. I thought that Keiran Williams made more ground in his short spell than the other two centres did in the rest of the game combined and must be due a start soon? I thought that Gaihjon also won the contact battles he was involved in.
Collectively the pack was solid, as was the scrum but we did lose a few key lineouts but that was more down to a good pilfer rather than an Ospreys mistake. 25-13 would have been a decent scoreline and far better than I was initially expecting but in our haste to chase a losing BP we gave up the all important try BP. I know we cannot say for certain, but I know that AWJ, Tips and Owen would have made an impact today.
Just about what we expected. What’s the point of having international players back for later games when we are already out of the competition ?
Every English French Irish and Scottish international that is available is in their RCC1 squads this weekend. why are Wales different? Surely the PRB had to agree to this? Why short change your fans?
Munster team here -
Munster: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; Tyler Bleyendaal, Conor Murray; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony (C), Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander.
Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, Tadhg Beirne, Arno Botha, Alby Mathewson, Sammy Arnold, Dan Goggin.
Oh Well, I do not expect them to win, but please do the Jersey proud please.
Noticed from the team sheet Orie is starting, sorry that I was wrong but the RCC website did not have him down as part of our squad when I posted, also noticed BBBD is on the bench AND down as not available, also Dan Baker same as last week not down as injured. This new website or whoever is running it is useless.
Yes. I would like to see Cai at ten; he couldn't be any worse. I was told on Saturday that we are likely to have Aled Davies and Nicky Smith available for Saturday. I was also told that Bradley Davies has picked up an injury, possibly a shoulder.
Didn't Allen Clark suggest maybe up to 4 players back from RWC? I'm assuming this doesn't include Fia and Klim. Anybody fancy Cai at 10 and Hook at 15?
Maybe the Ospreys felt that we would be better off without him or were not allowed to add him because of his medical joker status?
Shambolic
Just to inform everyone Orie is not registered as available for the RCC according to the ERC website, whether this is not continually updated, but unless we are going to put in one or more of the 3 homecomers from TW we are down to the likes of Ashley, Lydiate and Griffiths.
It seems that Munster will not necessarily be at full strength for the game on Saturday as from their own website....
"On the injury front, Dave Kilcoyne sustained a calf injury in training last week and will undergo rehabilitation with the medical department. Head Coach Johann van Graan confirmed that he will be out of action for the coming weeks.
JJ Hanrahan was removed from the weekend’s game with a suspected hamstring injury and underwent a scan on Monday evening to determine the extent of the injury. The scan showed no serious damage with Hanrahan to be monitored by the medical team as the week progresses.
Chris Cloete failed a HIA during the Ulster clash and will undergo the graded return to play protocols under the supervision of the medical department. Cloete will miss the weekend’s clash against Ospreys."
They will still be too much for us on Saturday though.
Heard on Radio Wales that we are likely to have Nicky Smith and Aled Davies back which pretty much confirms what I heard on Saturday. This could be very messy.
I heard tonight that we might only have Aled Davies and Nicky Smith back. If Aled does play perhaps they should try Venter at ten; he couldn't be any worse than Price. As an aside I have posted some information on the "The lack of proper Ospreys Fan Forum" thread with might be of interest,