THE STADE DE FRANCE pitch was not resembling an ice block and Munster were aiming to go one (point) better than Ireland managed against France back in February.
A win for Rob Penney’s side would have put them in pole position in Pool 1 but Racing were up for the fight..
As always, we’d love to hear from you, so send us your thoughts and comments on all the action.
E-mail us at patrick@thescore.ie, tweet us @thescore_ie, post to our Facebook wall or leave a comment below.
Racing Metro 22-17 Munster
One win down for the Irish provinces, three to go. Welcome along to our live coverage of Munster’s tricky away clash with Racing Metro.
We’ll get you started with a bit of background and build-up to the game and then give you the teams.
Superb win for Ulster against Castres last night and it was some ragged French defence at the end to cough up a bonus point to Mark Anscombe’s men.
Here are the teams:
Munster: I Keatley; D Howlett (c), C Laulala, J Downey, S Zebo; R O’Gara, C Murray. D Kilcoyne, D Varley, BJ Botha; B Holland, P O’Connell; D Ryan, S Dougall, P O’Mahony.
Replacements: M Sherry, M Horan, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, P Butler, P Stringer, D Barnes, D Hurley.
Racing Metro: B Fall; J Jane, M Bergamasco, JM Hernandez, J Saubade; O Barkley, M Machenaud: A lo Cicero, D Szarzewski, L Ducalcon; K Ghezal, F van der Merwe; A Battut, J Cronjes (c), M Matadigo.
Replacements: T Bianchin, E Ben Arous, B Sa, F Metz, B la Roux, C Gerondeau, S Descons, V Vakatawa.
It’s raining in Paris. Metro, who tried to sign up Cardiff’s Alex Cuthbert in the summer, have Olly Barkley in their Starting XV and he, along with will look to cause trouble for the Munster back three of Zebo, Howlett and Keatley. There was one person sad to see the Englishman leave Bath last month.
And we have some Breaking News for you as Juan Martin Hernandez has been drafted into the Racing backline in place of Fabrice Estabanez.
Rob Penney, speaking before kick-off, says Paul O’Connell is 100% and feels Munster need to ‘be mindful of our discipline’ and improve their defending significantly.
You can also reach me for comments @patmccarry during the game. To get you in the mood for more heroics, here is that fantastic passage of play (audio) against Northampton Saints last season and the superb, slightly biased, commentary of RTÉ’s Michael Corcoran:
YouTube credit: OTB878
The weather has improved somewhat in Paris but it is still going to be a greasy ball and a treacherous surface to play on. Sean Dougall and Dave Kilcoyne making their first Heineken Cup starts. Munster will be delighted to have Paul O’Connell back.
Doug Howlett looks pumped and Kilcoyne and O’Mahony are red-faced as they walk onto the pitch. I’d say they got quite a talking to from Paulie, O’Gara and captain Doug.
Racing Metro have six forwards on their eight-man bench. We know how they will be playing – kick for the corners and put the ball up the jersey when they get it up front.
Munster fans, are you happy to see these chaps lining up together in the backline?
Keatley and O’Gara. (©INPHO/Billy Stickland)
The Munster pack starting well and Keatley intelligently kicks and chases to force Fall to touch down over his own line. Munster scrum on 5m.
Jersey grabs already as BJ Botha and Ryan are involved with some post-scrum antics. Munster so close to a penalty try but get the penalty instead. They choose to go again. Great start by the pack.
O’Mahony picks and tries to go from the back of the scrum. He is isolated and does well to hold on. Ryan and Murray have darts but play is eventually called back for a penalty. O’Gara and O’Connell call for the penalty, captain Doug agrees. 15 metres out and O’Gara slots in over to make it Racing 0-3 Munster after nine minutes.
Paul Fennessy is keeping track on events over in Parma and it is 3-0 to Connacht over Zebre with eight minutes gone.
O’Connell shows great legs to join the chase in an O’Gara up-and-under. The ball bounces his way, he feeds Laulala, who flings a pass to Conor Murray. He is bundled out in the Racing ’22 and O’Connell concedes a penalty at the line-out.
Julien Jane knocks on and Zebo bursts forward again. Maxime Machenaud has to hack it out for a Munster line-out.
TRY! Murray’s pass hangs in the air after he peels off the back of the Munster line-out, O’Mahony does well to grasp it and he laps it up for Dougall to power through and dive under the posts. O’Gara chips over the conversion. It is Racing 0-10 Munster after 16 mins.
This is where Munster have been sloppy this season – giving away penalties when they get on top. Downey goes off his feet and Barkley has a 45-metre penalty chance. It creeps over – Racing 3-10 Munster
Mirco Bergamasco chips out on the full and Munster get a lineout just inside the Racing half. Awful throw from Varley evades the 16 expectant men in the lineout. Munster reel backwards into their 22 and Keatley has to kick for touch.
Brilliant pressure from Munster as Kilcoyne hacks a loose ball free. Great chase from Murray and Cronje then gets Barkley in a lot of hot soup with a scoop pass through his legs. Barkley is bundled out of play. Munster scrum.
TMO after initial try awarded.
Smart decision. Looked for all money that O’Connell was over for a try but the lock lost control at the last moment to knock it own. Racing get a penalty at the scrum – Varley tries to give Kilcoyne advice on the hoof – and kick clear.
Colm Connolly, commenting below, says the pitch is in some state. He’s not wrong. Munster, still, are trying to run the ball as much as possible. O’Gara almost costs his side dearly with a poorly judged chip on for Downey. Cronje can’t take advantage of the loose ball and knocks on.
The Kiwis would call it ‘puss’. More wayward stuff from Dimitri Szarzewski at the Racing lineout and Munster get possession back. O’Gara then kicks expertly to touch to put the home side on their heels. Another fumbled lineout but they clear.
Broken play up the left and the ball is hacked upfield by Lo Cicero after a terrible O’Gara pass goes astray. Maxime Machenaud chases on and grounds it with his stomach. TMO first but a TRY is given. Barkley adds the extras and, somehow, it is Racing 10-10 Munster.
Big news here as O’Gara goes off for Munster. Hurley is on at full-back while Keatley goes up to out-half. 34 minutes gone and the tide is turning slightly.
Laulala has a kick charged down and Keatley has to scramble back to kick to touch beyond his own tryline. Murray was very, very lucky there not to get a yellow card as he tripped, then pulled down second-row Karim Ghezal, who was closing in on the loose ball before Keatley gathered.
Racing Metro pushing for a try to end the half. Munster need to regroup and quickly.
Good defence by Ryan but Munster, moments later, concede a penalty. Barkley, from out near the right touchline, gets his kick to make it Racing 13-10 Munster.
Some guys have no luck.
HALF-TIME in Paris and it will come as welcome relieve to Munster who attempted to get some phases together but ended up hurtling backwards. They could have led 17-3 after O’Connell came close but somehow find themselves losing 10-13.
Better news over in Parma, where Connacht lead Zebre 9-3 at the break. Dan Parks doing the kicking damage for the westerners.
Here’s what some of the Munster lads got up to during their Heineken Cup preparations.
Those were the days my friens. (©INPHO/Cathal Noonan)
The SECOND-HALF is underway. Barkley kicks to touch and Varley with the throw to Ryan. Munster haring forward.
Julien Jane fumbles a Hurley kick over the touchline to give Munster a lineout and a good attacking platform.
Antoine Battut gets his hands on another less than perfect Varley throw. Munster get possession back and Zebo makes good progress up the left.
Jane nearly through on a kick and chase but Murray does well to slide back and nab possession. Hernandez, in the lead up to that, clattered Laulala. Barkley gets another penalty chance out on the left touchline, 45 metres out again. If he gets this, it will be a fine kick.
Stupendous kick from the English out-half as he makes it Racing 16-10 Munster with 52 minutes on the clock.
How is Conor Murray not seeing yellow? He deliberately jogs in front of Benjamin Fall, who has his eyes on an up-and-under. Stupid penalty to give away, straight in front of the posts and 40 metres out, and the Munster man is extremely lucky not to go to the sin bin. Barkley misses the kick wide and left for a Munster reprieve.
Keatley knows on a high ball but Jane wastes the attacking chance as he kicks forward but over the dead-ball line. Keatley is better the next time around as he takes a towering kick. Munster opt to run from their 22 and are rewarded. 50-metres gained after six phases and O’Mahony comes achingly close to touching down a Zebo grubber but Fall is brave and bloodied.
Most of Munster’s attacks are going through Zebo on the left. Howlett has been quiet today. Sherry, who came on for Varley, is faring better at the lineouts and finds Ryan at the tail as Munster press forward.
There is still a game here for the winning as the clock ticks 59:00.
Good Munster pressure gains them at penalty as the Racing scrum buckles. Keatley fails his audition, however, with a kick that sails meekly to the left. O’Mahony is then bundled into touch after the restart. Szarzewski is up for this.
Jane and Fall combine again to win Racing a penalty at the breakdown, with Murray wrapped up tightly. O’Connell goes off with 64 minutes gone.
Going slightly better for Connacht in Italy as John Muldoon gets a try and Eric Elwood’s men lead Zebre 19-3.
Munster are looking turgid here and a Zebo misfield means Hurley needs to be sharp to clean up the mess.
10 minutes left and Munster steal a lineout. Murray box-kicks to near the halfway. Munster up into the Racing 22 now.
TRY! Wonderful solo effort from Zebo who burst through a stretched Racing defence to slide over on the left-hand side. Keatley with a tough kick but he lands it. Racing 16-17 Munster.
Five minutes to go and Zebo is needed in defence now. Kicks being traded back and forth but Racing playing in their own half still.
Conor Murray! Disaster here as he misses out on trapping a Racing kick over the top. He picks the ball up and jogs back to the 22. For some reason he opts to run, dummies, and gets caught in possession. He gives away the penalty and Barkley steps up to nail it. With two minutes to go it is Racing 19-17 Munster.
Racing sub Virimi Vakatawa chases down a high ball and wrestles possession for his team. The French side pile forward and Hurley is the one penalised. Barkley getting treatment so Bergamasco steps forward from 35 metres out and gets his kick – Racing 22-17 Munster.
One last chance with a Munster scrum inside their own half but near the halfway. They are wheeled easily and lose the ball, which is then punted out. Racing Metro win.
Simon Zebo looked to have done the job their for Munster but a Conor Murray solo effort put them in a whole heap of trouble. Rob Penney’s men looked very good for the first 30 minutes but fell away badly. A losing bonus point but the word ‘bonus’ is the furthest thing from Munster minds.
Stay with us for match reactions, Munster ratings and Sean Farrell is live for us at the RDS for Leinster v Exeter. Keep him company for a while – it gets nippy up in that press box.
Coleman at fault for both goals . Only worth 4.
Very poor from Coleman for both goals. Long showing once again that he is not a natural finisher, should have had a hat trick.
Its a reality check, the Scots are pulling out some very good results in the last 6 months, its going to be tough to make the top 2 of the next campaign.
Lets be frank… we are not great at the moment…. good first 20 min then got to complacent in the remaining minutes… At pro level that cant happen…
Steve Staunton..come back please
Anyone but him….
Benny Hill?
At least we get a night off the Robbie haters tonight! He’d have had a hat trick tonight! I like Shane Long but he is no Robbie keane…. Keano is massive for us qualifying to the euros, imagine if long had missed the two sitters in a 2-1 loss at home to scotland!
Robbie is that you?
Conor, do you honestly believe Robbie Keane has the pace or muscle to run onto these chances? No way. He is fine from 6 yards but when did you ever see him drive through on goal and score? 2002 against Germany at the World Cup!!!!
Are you having a laugh giving Whelan a 6.. How that man gets on an international panel I’ll never know..
Scored a dinger to give us the lead but for Wes (wrongly) stealing it offside
The goal that was disallowed was onside. Look again the number 18(I think it was) kept hoolihan onside.
That’s what I meant by wrongly
International football is literally depressing……
Literally?
Why?
Literally…….it depresses me.not, it pisses me off….it depresses me…..dat uncomplicated enough?
dat?
That’s what it does to you but you still haven’t explained WHY international soccer specifically does this to you. It’s the best players from each country playin against each other. If it’s Ireland that depresses you we compete better than Scotland or Wales even tho there’s no reason why we should, definitely man for man we shouldn’t. Club football depresses me more, certain clubs too big to fail, mercenaries galore, certain managers treated like tele workers in Bangladesh, over priced tickets, etc etc
Its international football in general……its constantly touted as the highest standard of football but its not.generally its deplorable to watch regardless of who is playing and i think the fact that Ireland are so uninspiring and dull only compounds my misery.being better in qualifying than Wales/NI/Scotland doesnt make me feel any better….siiiiiiigh……..depressing.
Granted international games can be tight cagey affairs but it is the ultimate test for players, only top players with the big game temperament and quality shine on the international stage, all of the games last nite were meaningless friendlies as well, you couldn’t beat the passion and drama that Sweden v Portugal produced in their playoff in November, the reason..it’s the last thing in soccer you can’t buy, a place in a finals tournament
Nice indeed to see more attacking play, but they played quite poor tonight.
Coleman (the right full) at fault for both goals and gets a 6! Come on Ben, get off the stage.
How on earth does Long get a seven
He missed a sitter or 2 for sure.
He won a lot of headers and performed decently. A seven is a bit generous when a six might have been fairer but seven isn’t totally unreasonable. He missed two chances he maybe should have done better with but we were spoiled for the last fifteen years in having a striker who would likely have had a hat trick tonight and you can’t just compare Long to himself.
He ‘maybe should have done better with’? This is international football, one of them chances a game is a gift never mind 2
I don’t think Robbie would have been in those positions to create those chances, I can’t remember the last time Robbie scored a goal from an angled run off the last shoulder, it’s just not his game anymore, granted he’s a lethal finisher and our best without doubt but you can’t airlift him into those positions. Long as a lone combative striker suited Wes, his running stretched the defence and meant that through balls would be latched onto.
You make a fair point Noel but I personally think your giving too much credit to longs runs. Ball won in midfield and the striker released was my take on the two chances, even if he did well to stay onside for the first. I just feel if we played long up front instead of Robbie the end result would be half the goals.
If you look at the first goal, the amount of ground long made up to get there Keane just can’t do, plus the finish if you watch it in slow mo is quite good, on the half volley. For me Robbie is a luxury we can’t afford anymore, Robbie can’t play as a lone striker, therefore to accommodate him we have to play 442. Then we get out numbered in midfield. The argument was always that Robbie got goals, well long got a goal tonight that Robbie would have been proud of, and got 2 other great chances created in part by his strong angled runs (and a sweet ball from Wes), admittedly he fluffed both poorly
The two areas that cost us tonight were in defense where Coleman had his worst game of the season and Ward did nothing to suggest that he should still be an option at left full. And while both Wilson and Keogh might be ok alongside a more experienced centre half neither are good enough to lead the line. Both dived in with challenges when the likes of Dunne would have stayed on his feet….this cost us the second goal and nearly cost us others.
The second area that cost us was Shane Longs lack of ability to score goals. Yes he got one but he missed two that any decent international striker would have scored with their eyes closed. The second miss in particular was embarrassing. Yes he works hard and runs the channels etc but the main job of the striker is to score goals and he didnt look like scoring either of the ones he missed. Even if you look at the one he scored, another keeper would have stuck out a hand and blocked that, one and one with the keeper that should have been drilled in leaving the keeper with no chance but Long hit is shoulder height. I like Long but I dont think he is good enough to play upfront on his own.
The first half we were decent and passed the ball around well, even Whelan sprayed some good long passes that he would never have been allowed to do under Trap. But in the second half we looked ragged and we outplayed in every area.
O’Shea and Dunne will add solidity to defense and when Gibson comes back he will give the midfield a bit more bite alongside McCarthy and Hoolihan looked good and was easily our best player, so there are some positives. But we really need to unearth a replacement for Robbie Keane from somewhere. Aldridge was 26 when he made his Irish debut…..O’Neill and Keano need to search the globe for an Irish qualified striker because when Robbie does hang up his boots we dont have an International quality goal scorer to take his place.
We need a far more mobile midfield. ie we have to forget about Glen Whelan…hes not mobile enough and he loses us impetous when we are breaking by nearly always playing a side or backwards pass!! We have to play with tempo to be at our best and he slows it down to a crawl almost every time and could not live with Matic as hes not near mobile enough
And Matic is a far, far superior footballer!
Glenn Whelan = Neil Lennon
I know its only a friendly and roughly a half hour cameo but David Meyler looked very poor and has looked poor for Hull all season, very heavy touches and couldn’t pick nor spot a pass. On the plus side O’Neil actually introduced the right substitutes that warranted a run out(even though Meyler was poor he deserved a run).Something Trap never did.
He probably had a sore head.
Looked to be improving slightly under o Neill in first half , but we slowly slipped back into our old habits, Why we stopped pressing up the field so early in 2nd half is worrying, we’ve too many not up to this level unfortunately
Thought things were supposed to change.. At least the Irish rugby team have a shot at a championship. This looks a long way off. Fed up of hoping every 4 years away of my life
The Irish rugby team play the same teams year in year out and at best have been the 4th most successful 6 nations side since the tournament began. Plus they have failed miserably at world cups.
Soccer is far more competitive at international level and we do well in intetnational tournaments bar the last one.
Bring back trap..
Terrible performance. No work ethic and no game plan. Is Trap still in charge??
Usual friendly guff, can never read too much into it. Anyone else think a mini league played on the same dates would be better? Something to play for ect….. Just putting it out there.
The sooner people realise that Trappatoni was right in saying that our players are not good enough the better. O’Neill Keane or whoever else manages this limited group of mediocre journeymen should immediately get rid of McLean McGeady Meyler Keogh Ward Pilkington and Stokes as they are not up to international football and pray that we are not depending on Long to score goals for us.
And if we were to get rid of all of those players, who would you replace them with?
This is a genuine question, who else is out there?!
The answer is no one Jim. We will do well to reach the play offs in 3rd place
Joe I said that last week after the euro draw and got a load of red thumbs.. think we will sneak 3Rd place though and should beat any of the other relatively poor 3Rd seeded teams. We drew a tough group in all fairness considering we were second seeds
So we’ll just turn up for matches with half a squad, Joe? Or maybe just field a team with 8 or 9 players and tell the ref, yeh sorry, but we just don’t have the players good enough for this level.
First half was promising but we were the third best team in the second half. Long tried, but disappointed. Hoolahan had a great game though. I understand rotation during friendlies but why take of your best player, unless O Neill has his mind made up. Fingers crossed
Long is a championship level striker, he’s never proven himself at the top level, he has no consistency in his game when playing as the lone striker .
We need two men up front plane and simple.
And get completely over run in midfield with just two holding central midfielders? Your robbing Paul to pay…
One Holding Midfielder should suffice.
Goals win Games, we already tried the overly conservative approach remember.
Barcelona can play up to 6 midfielders but you wouldn’t accuse them of being conservative, it’s just modern football, just cos you plonk 2 strikers on the pitch doesn’t make you more attacking necessarily, sure look at traps teams before
Mcgeady is an absolute dud, always has been.
I found it disappointing when they seemed to be on an attack…. They turned back and gave the ball back to Forde instead of bringing a midfielder Into play? Forde then proceeded to hoof the ball and it generally landed to the opposition. I thought they were going to be using the wing backs and working the ball out? I suppose they were too complacent when they tried that too tho…
Is Roy still assistant manager ?, nothing on sky yet.
We have a collection of very average players. Keane, Dunne and O’Shea are still needed in the first 11 if we’re to make Euro 16.
Irish football has declined rapidly since 2002. John Delaney should have been sacked after the Kerr,Staunton and Trap disasters. It reflects Irish Society as a whole with inept people in power every time.
Shane Long had a great game! Great goal. A one on one with a keeper does not mean an automatic goal! If we make chances and convert 1 in 3 – happy days
Serbia have 5 champions league players we have zilch be grateful we haven’t got to face them in euro 2016 qualifers
Laughable nonsense, time to just forget about this excuse of a sport
Just look a Longs celebration after he scored his goal as if he was Messi or something then goes and misses 2 sitters due to inflated ego
Charlton and Trap did not trust Irish players technical skills and decision making. I think they were right sadly. O’Neill will do the same after watching that crap last night.