RugbyRebels

Saracens: Goode, Maitland, Lozowski, Barritt, Williams; Farrell, Spencer; M Vunipola, George, Lamositele, Itoje, Kruis, Rhodes, Wray, B Vunipola.

Replacements: Gray, Barrington, Koch, Skelton, Burger, Wigglesworth, Tompkins, Strettle.

Munster: Haley; Conway, Farrell, Scannell, Sweetnam; Bleyendaal, Murray; Kilcoyne, Scannell, Ryan; Kleyn, Beirne; O'Mahony (C), O'Donoghue, Stander.

Replacements: Marshall, Loughman, Archer, Holland, Botha, Mathewson, JJ Hanrahan, Goggin.

Even though it’s a “home” match for Sarries, a pound to a pinch of you know what, there’ll be at least twice as many Munster supporters in the ground!

What odds on George doing 80 mins.

Is the Wiggler coming back from injury or Spencer starring on merit?

some big bets on fitness there from Sarries; Barritt and Mako have to be pretty big risks.

Is Isiekwe injured? If not, leaving him out is a fair indication of strength but I'd have had him on the bench ahead of Burger. Extra second row cover might be useful against Beirne, in particular.

Farrell for the win

Lamositele starting over Koch? Has he been injured?

Are the turnstiles jammed or is their a traffic jam. Not a good look in the stands, so far. Let’s hope the rest of the crowd are having an extra sunshine beer before taking their seats.

Shouldn’t have kicked that.

Mellsblue wrote:Are the turnstiles jammed or is their a traffic jam. Not a good look in the stands, so far. Let’s hope the rest of the crowd are having an extra sunshine beer before taking their seats.

I read somewhere this morning that only around 4000 tickets have been sold to Saracens supporters, which is very poor for a game like this

One questions the wisdom of holding the game at the Ricoh. Surely Welford Rd or the Gardens would have been better?

I think those who didn’t buy tickets made the correct decision. Not too much to enjoy in the first half.

francoisfou wrote:One questions the wisdom of holding the game at the Ricoh. Surely Welford Rd or the Gardens would have been better?

Gardens isn’t big enough......

Poor attendance for a HC semi. The Ricoh maybe not the best location but you would have expected the place to be full, or very nearly full.
The game itself is predictably tight and physical. Saracens look the more dangerous team and should be further ahead, but Munster seldom make it easy for their opponents.

Mellsblue wrote:I think those who didn’t buy tickets made the correct decision. Not too much to enjoy in the first half.

As someone who is not watching the game I am absolutely shocked to read this.

Mikey Brown wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:I think those who didn’t buy tickets made the correct decision. Not too much to enjoy in the first half.

As someone who is not watching the game I am absolutely shocked to read this.

Ha. Good point, well made.

Farrell’s passing.....

Mellsblue wrote:Farrell’s passing.....

Every single one has been dogshit.

Munster don't seem to want to play through a 10 either.

Saracens really turned the screw in the 2nd half. Billy was excellent, so too Spencer who played immaculately.

Farrell was largely second rate. That attempted drop goal was laughably bad.

A real physical dogfight, and as such, interesting enough, but not a lot of rugby skills on display today bar a couple of touches from Goode and Wlliams. Garces is an unpredictable/inconsistent ref. Saracens will be hard to beat with that gameplan.

fivepointer wrote:Saracens really turned the screw in the 2nd half. Billy was excellent, so too Spencer who played immaculately.

Farrell was largely second rate. That attempted drop goal was laughably bad.

Yes, but the headlines will still probably be: ‘Farrell masterminds Saracens victory’ or something like that. Even when he’s worse than average, the media find ways to praise him.

The only thing stopping that is something about Billy’s try following the boos.

Imagine confronting billy while wearing those shoes.

Probably reminded him of his school days and numerous Sarries players on their summer bonding trips.

I know we love to knock Farrell but in about the 14th minute he tried a run on the right which I ought to applaud, at least for intent. Unfortunately, whereas Ford has been gliding like a true athlete recently, Owen looked like an apprentice tart making a debut on high heels. It was totally embarrassing for a so-called world class fly half. None of the commentators said a word about it.

Oakboy wrote:I know we love to knock Farrell but in about the 14th minute he tried a run on the right which I ought to applaud, at least for intent. Unfortunately, whereas Ford has been gliding like a true athlete recently, Owen looked like an apprentice tart making a debut on high heels. It was totally embarrassing for a so-called world class fly half. None of the commentators said a word about it.

Maybe I’ve misread this, what did he actually do when attempting the break?