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Irish giants Munster will host Stade Toulousain at Thomond Park in the Rugby European Champions Cup quarterfinals. The tie will be played over a single leg.
Munster is having a brilliant season so far, fighting it out with rivals Leinster for the Pro12 title and qualifying from the Champions Cup group stage with the second best overall record. The hosts are viewed by most with the 2nd or 3rd chance to win the competition, which is an accurate assessment. Munster has just beaten Zebre 50 – 14 on the road in the Pro 12 last week and will be high on confidence coming into this match on their legendary home court.
Toulouse had a lot of ups and downs this season, mostly downs, but since the new year kicked in they have been an absolute mess. Toulouse lost 6 of their 9 matches in 2017 and are on the 10th place in the French Top 14, something incredible for a team of Toulouse’s pedigree. In the Champions Cup, they barely managed to qualify second from their group due to a 3 point advantage over Connacht in the points difference column.
Bet on Munster v Toulouse and claim your 100% (100 Eur) freebet at Ohmbet now!Lineups:
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Billy Holland, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Paul Perez, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Francois Cros, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Yoann Maestri, Richie Gray, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Cyril Baille
Toulouse right now is looking like a collection of old big name players, unmotivated, out of form and unable to play together as a team. They struggled with injuries all season, were never fully healthy and were never able to get it going.
Munster is a complete opposite, relying on a bunch of top class Irish internationals who are playing some of the best rugby of their lives (both at club and International level), are showing great intensity and are ripping opponents apart every week.
Munster is definitely the much quicker and much better offensive side, having a clear advantage when it comes to running rugby and wing play.
However, they are also more than able to go head 2 head with Toulouse in the scrum and forward battle. They own 15 internationals in their forward pack, including the exceptional CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony, two of the main reasons why Ireland dominated the English scrum 2 weeks ago in the Six Nations. Munster should be at least equal with Toulouse in this department, avoid penalties and have a good platform to develop their superior wing play.
There`s also the fact that Munster rested most of its top stars against Zebre last weekend, while Toulouse had to field the best team in their Top 14 match against Bordeaux with just a few changes, so the hosts should be a little bit more fresh, a very important advantage in rugby.
With the way they are playing this season, Toulouse have little chance of challenging Munster on the road, at one of the toughest grounds in European rugby. Thomond Park is one of the loudest and most intimidating grounds in club rugby, while Toulouse has been a disaster on the road this season – winning just 3 times in 14 matches in all competitions.
Munster is the better side, they are younger, sharper, own better players and are in much better form. They play better as a team and seem to match up well against Toulouse, so there`s really not much going for the visitors here.
Despite everything pointing against them, Toulouse must still get an amount of respect, as they are still a top rugby team and the handicap line is not the smallest at 9 points. In the past Toulouse always had the ability to be unpredictable, in both good ways and bad ways. But the good ways have not happened in ages and Toulouse hasn`t shown anything to suggest that could change.
My tip is Munster to cover the 9 point handicap. Few teams can come to Thomond Park with a realistic expectations to stay in the game, and Toulouse doesn`t look like one of them. I would have liked a 7 point handicap line here, but the 8.5 is fair enough for me to attack with reasonably high stakes. Prediction: Munster – Toulouse 28 – 13.
Pick: Munster -9
Odds: 1.91
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.28
Event date: 1 April
