Munster vs Saracens B Sat 5.30pm

[twitchy]

Munster: Mike Haley; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Keith Earls; JJ Hanrahan, Conor Murray; James Cronin, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Jean Kleyn, Billy Holland; Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony (C), CJ Stander.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Liam O’Connor, John Ryan, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue, Nick McCarthy, Sammy Arnold, Arno Botha



15 Matt Gallagher
14 Rotimi Segun
13 Alex Lozowski
12 Brad Barritt ©
11 Alex Lewington
10 Manu Vunipola
9 Ben Spencer
1 Richard Barrington
2 Jack Singleton
3 Titi Lamositele
4 Will Skelton
5 Maro Itoje
6 Nick Isiekwe
7 Ben Earl
8 Jackson Wray

Replacements

16 Kapeli Pifeleti
17 Rhys Carre
18 Josh Ibuanokpe
19 Joel Kpoku
20 Sean Reffell
21 Tom Whiteley
22 Max Malins
23 Nick Tompkins

[fivepointer]

Saracens have to make Prem survival their priority so its understandable they will rest players for Europe. Still a good side even without a number of England players.

[Timbo]

So unless Sarries scrape through to the quarters, this years Champions Cup is basically a competition to find out who the second best team in Europe is?

Sarries deserve plenty of stick, but as a neutral and in a purely sporting sense it’ll be a huge shame if we miss out on that Leinster-Sarries rivalry moving forwards. Was becoming pretty epic.

[Puja]

Sarries're in a very odd position of effectively throwing their away games and targetting home ones. With the other three teams being strong as well, it's a strategy that could very well end up with them going into the last two games with a chance of topping the group and their fate in their own hands.

Puha

[SerjeantWildgoose]

This is a group of 3, with Ospreys out on their feet already. It will come down to the away match points scored against the other two, and with R92 having clocked two away (And denying us two at home) to Munster they are in the driving seat. I don’t underestimate this Sarries squad at all, but think they will come away from Limerick empty handed as they did in Paris. Two to qualify from the group and I don’t see either of them wearing black.

[Timbo]

This is a group of 3, with Ospreys out on their feet already. It will come down to the away match points scored against the other two, and with R92 having clocked two away (And denying us two at home) to Munster they are in the driving seat. I don’t underestimate this Sarries squad at all, but think they will come away from Limerick empty handed as they did in Paris. Two to qualify from the group and I don’t see either of them wearing black.

Leinster will win it this year, probably without getting out of 4th gear. Can see an all Irish final.

[Banquo]

Spencer showing little sense

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Jayz but that was a grubby aul shift. I’d say Sarries would be happy enough; us not so much.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

This is a group of 3, with Ospreys out on their feet already. It will come down to the away match points scored against the other two, and with R92 having clocked two away (And denying us two at home) to Munster they are in the driving seat. I don’t underestimate this Sarries squad at all, but think they will come away from Limerick empty handed as they did in Paris. Two to qualify from the group and I don’t see either of them wearing black.

Leinster will win it this year, probably without getting out of 4th gear. Can see an all Irish final.

I agree that Leinster are the team to beat, but there’s no way any of the other provinces are making it past the quarters (If they get that far). The Sarries academy served them well today and I’d say that this changes the whole complexion of the group. A full fat Saracens at home is an almost insurmountable obstacle and Racing don’t cough up too many gifts at La Defence so I think our race is pretty well run now. I see three wins for Saracens and two for Racing. Munster will hump Ospreys at home in round 6 but it will be academic by then.