UPDATED – Munster Rugby lost the battle of the big boys in Irish Rugby on Saturday as they were hunted out of the RDS in a 30 point hammering handed down by reigning Heineken Cup champions and neighbouring rivals, Leinster.
The Munster machine never got going as Brian O’Driscoll and Shane Horgan added to the first half try from Gordon D’Arcy to show that Leinster mean business this year. Cheika’s gambles of playing his strongest side paid off against Tony McGahan’s option to fill the bench with Lions class.
The Leinster pack won ball in contact and attacked with poise and flair while Munster suffered, uncharacteristically, under the pressure asserted on them.
John Hayes was sent from the field of play with a straight red card in the second half, again uncharacteristically, following an incident in the maul. Hayes is likely to appear in front of a citing commission in the coming days.
Late changes in the second half by McGahan failed to yield the net result for the men in red as the cause seemed well beyond the Magners league champions.
It’s Munster’s first Magners league match where they have failed to register a score and the 30 point defeat comes as one of the bitterest pills to swallow ahead of their opening Heineken Cup match away to Northampton next weekend.
of Nineteen of those who played in the Heineken Cup semi final defeat to Leinster last May feature in the Munster squad for tomorrow’s Magners League clash with Leinster at the RDS.
And this game sees the appearance for the first time this season of Keith Earls, Ian Dowling, Jerry Flannery, Paul O’Connell and David Wallace while Paul Warwick returns to the match day squad after injuring a foot in the pre-season game against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.
Following his brief introduction during last week’s win for Munster, new signing and Springbok intercept ace, Jean de Villiers will make his first competitive start for Munster as he slots in beside Mafi at inside centre.
Earls and O’Connell were due to turn out against Dragons last weekend but were denied by illness and injury respectively but both came through training yesterday with flying colours and while Earls is in from the off, the Lions captain will start from the bench.
Ian Dowling has recovered from the knee injury that as kept him out up to last Thursday when he played a full 80 minutes in Munster As win over Ulster at Shawsbridge.
Elsewhere, Tony McGahan makes two changes to the back row, one enforced by the absence through injury (neck) of Alan Quinlan, with Denis Leamy on the blindside, Niall Ronan back from injury on the open and three-try scorer in the Dragons game, Nick Williams not surprisingly continuing at number 8.
Munster: K Earls; D Howlett, L Mafi, J de Villiers, D Hurley; R O’Gara capt, T O’Leary; M Horan, D Fogarty, J Hayes; D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll; D Leamy, N Ronan, N Williams. Replacements: J Flannery, T Buckley, P O’Connell, D Wallace, P Warwick, P Stringer, I Dowling.
