Munster vs Tigers

[strawclearer]

Matt O'Connor had apparently said that Veainu has broken his jaw.

I know it's a contact sport but it might be more accurate to say Andrew Conway broke Veainu's jaw. That said, I only watched it once but he did seem to lead with his head.

[RagingBull]

Looked a bad injury to Telusa Veainu. Suspect a broken jaw

Can Holmes be registered?

[Stephen18]

[quote=ellis9 post_id=679242 time=<a href="tel:1512859486">1512859486</a> user_id=931]
Matt O'Connor had apparently said that Veainu has broken his jaw.

I know it's a contact sport but it might be more accurate to say Andrew Conway broke Veainu's jaw. That said, I only watched it once but he did seem to lead with his head.
[/quote]
He did lead with the head making it high and contact with the head should have been yellow if not red, but due to his injury it was ignored, and due to concussion protocol even if he got sited I reckon he’ll miss more time than the ban .

[JP14]

The score line flattered Munster, one try blatantly offside and one try was obviously a forward pass, but they deserved the win really.

[G.K]

Ben Young's and George Ford did nothing but kick the ball away all game, Tom Young's lost his head, Veianu probably lost teeth, we regularly lost or gave away our ball. We were beaten up on our ball and powerless to disrupt or slow their ball. Apart from that we were atrocious across the pitch. Best forget Europe we will struggle to have any fit players left for and maintain any premiership aspirations.

This is nothing new, Young's box kicks are overused and predicatable, indeed we only seem to have two game plans:

a) play a few phases then kick the ball away aimlessley and spend the next 10 minutes defending.

b) play a few phases going side to side (rarely make much forward progress) then get turned over at the breakdown and spend the next 10 minutes defending.

Sure we get the odd bit of brilliance from one of the backs but generally Tigers are getting dominated at the breakdown and even when they have the ball are unable to break down the stronger teams (or even Wuss now).

And why when we get a penalty right under the posts and we are way behind do we take 3 points rather than a scrum and shove them into the stands? I just knew what would happen, mess up the restart and give the points straight back, which is what actually transpired, restarts have been a joke for years,

And why is Rizzo loaned out rather than in the squad? Seems poor management here unless I'm missing something?

I'm predicting Tigers won't make any play-offs this season, even with Manu making his annual cameo appearance sometime soon.

[drc_007]

I find Tigers kicking game bewildering.

You should either kick to compete or kick for territory. If the plan is to compete then the backs have to be willing to chase kicks not just amble forward in a line. When playing for England Ben Youngs kicking game works very well and the England backs regularly compete or trap the opposition gaining considerable territory..

Why don't Tigers kick chase?

[Soggypitch]

The worrying thing is with the exception of loosehead we actually had a full set of forwards to pick for this game. Ok maybe BOC is injured but on form Hamilton has been better this season.
So with virtually our best pack we were completely out played at the breakdown and played virtually the whole game behind the gain line. Just blown away physically. Tigers? More like pussy cats I’m afraid.
It will be a tough week to be at Oval Park quite rightly !

[Grimlish]

The worrying thing is with the exception of loosehead we actually had a full set of forwards to pick for this game. Ok maybe BOC is injured but on form Hamilton has been better this season.
So with virtually our best pack we were completely out played at the breakdown and played virtually the whole game behind the gain line. Just blown away physically. Tigers? More like pussy cats I’m afraid.
It will be a tough week to be at Oval Park quite rightly !

Which is why I think it’s about leadership on and off the pitch. The team and squads are, broadly, competitive - we have our quota of top flight and ordinary players. What we lacked yesterday and in the previous two games is the ability both to execute a decent plan and to adapt it when necessary. We’re one dimensional and easy to read.

Forget about a wholesale revamp of the pack and a centre-Line not made of glass. We have the resources, we must start using them.

[RagingBull]

Ben Young's and George Ford did nothing but kick the ball away all game, Tom Young's lost his head, Veianu probably lost teeth, we regularly lost or gave away our ball. We were beaten up on our ball and powerless to disrupt or slow their ball. Apart from that we were atrocious across the pitch. Best forget Europe we will struggle to have any fit players left for and maintain any premiership aspirations.

And why is Rizzo loaned out rather than in the squad? Seems poor management here unless I'm missing something?

Rizzo is back now Genge is out.

[RagingBull]

What annoys me is if we are looking to play wide we NEED a playmaker at 12, Tait and Smith can't pass out wide like Ford or toomua.

So why not give Worth a shot at 12? he's played Munster before and has experience so isn't a complete rookie.

[sam16111986]

What annoys me is if we are looking to play wide we NEED a playmaker at 12, Tait and Smith can't pass out wide like Ford or toomua.

So why not give Worth a shot at 12? he's played Munster before and has experience so isn't a complete rookie.

Agree 100%. Worth is a more physical player than Tait as well and wouldn't exactly be exposed with Ford and Smith either side of him. Tait was pretty woeful yesterday.

Similarly I hope Evans or BOC get a game at home to give us a semblance if presence at the breakdown. The closest thing we had to an openside yesterday was Dan Cole.

[strawclearer]

I'm only posting this to stop me spending all of Sunday changing it - I've got snow to shift and a retriever to walk!

15 Atieli Pakalani
14 Adam Thompstone
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 George Worth
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford
9 Ben Youngs
1 Michele Rizzo
2 Tom Youngs (c)
3 Dan Cole
4 Mike Fitzgerald
5 Dom Barrow
6 Mike Williams
7 Luke Hamilton
8 Sione Kalamafoni

Replacements
16 Tatafu Polota-Nau
17 Logovi’i Mulipola
18 Greg Bateman
19 Harry Wells
20 Valentino Mapapalangi
21 Sam Harrison
22 Nick Malouf
23 Mat Tait

[tigerburnie]

http://www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/lei ... ?section=3
Tatafu Polota-Nau is not registered according to this

[MrPartridge]

Frankly I just don’t know who should be in the XV or 23 and therein lies the problem - we don’t know our best team. OK injuries has disrupted us at centre and now Genge and Veainu but you always have 5-10 injuries at any time.

The concern yesterday was our pack was completely outclassed and outmuscled. Take BOC and Evans out and we have no legitimate ball stealer at the breakdown. No Genge = no one to break the gain line and get on the front foot. As for defending the rolling maul and getting any momentum on our own mauls, we are weak. OK Thacker scored a try toward the end but the game was long gone.

Early signs this season were we were getting better and I think a lot revolves around Toomua, but yesterday was as bad as last year in Munster and the home game is going to be very difficult to win.

On a different note and to link to points above I don’t see why Evans and Worth haven’t been given more game time. I’d prefer to see some of the promising youngsters given a chance. We’ve moved neither forward in last 12 months IMO.

I expect a response next week at home. But even if we win you’d have to ask why we are so bad one week and then better the next? Anyone know when we last conceded 30 in 3 consecutive matches?

[wellstiger]

Over the past seasons we have seen the demise of Grit and a doggedness from our team.
Add to that game nounce. Every new season we are given a false hope that" things will get better".
Marquee players from overseas are bought in and invariably do underperform because of the highly competitive nature of the EPL.
I believe MOC also being away from EPL came in and under estimated how much EPL has moved on.
Champions cup is another step up and we have been found wanting. We are now and have been an also ran team and if this decline continues I can see not only do we loose some of the fan base but also the means to support players wages. Therefore unable to attract future Marquee players. I also feel that it is evident some senior players have been overplayed both by their host nations and club.
Others have used the term clueless. I believe the present club culture is clueless from board down and no one is able to turn this ship around. Posters are relying on mathematics and failures by other teams to secure us a route into Champions Cup. Yet another quick fix for short term gain. We need roots and branches form board down. The iceberg has been in sight for 4-5 seasons. The ship carries on.