Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Ronan O’Gara, Donnacha Ryan, Paul O’Connell and Denis Leamy are all named in the Munster starting XV, (v Aironi, Musgrave Park tomorrow 8.30pm) for the first time this season while Donncha O’Callaghan is listed among the replacements alongside Tomas O’Leary who is also set to make his seasonal senior debut having had a run out with the A side in Galway last Friday.
Will Chambers is at outside centre which means a switch to 12 for Danny Barnes and the return of O’Connell naturally sees him take over as captain although Peter O’Mahony who assumed that role in O’Connell’s absence retains his place in the starting XV.
Five players – Johne Murphy, Doug Howlett, Barnes, Wian du Preez and O’Mahony – retain their places in the starting XV from the Ospreys game while James Coughlan missed that Ospreys clash through injury.
The selection reflects a certain urgency to get the RWC players back into action as coach Tony McGahan explained that Munster “need to hit the ground running.”
“I think you’ll have seen South African, English and other countries players come back and play as soon as they were out of the quarter finals. The Irish players had two weeks rest. We’re already at least a week and a bit behind so we need to look at all the possibilities and people who are going to be best for us short term and long term in this 4 week block that we have.”
Munster (v Aironi Rugby) RaboDirect PRO12 League, Friday (8.30am) Musgrave Park.
J Murphy; D Howlett, W Chambers, D Barnes, K Earls; R O’Gara, C Murray; W du Preez, D Varley, BJ Botha; D Ryan, P O’Connell capt ; D Leamy, P O’Mahony, J Coughlan. Replacements: D Fogarty, M Horan, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, N Ronan, T O’Leary, S Deasy, L Mafi.
Piece from this week’s Limerick Post.
After a two week break for the final stages of the Rugby World Cup, the RaboDirect PRO12 makes a welcome return with two games in Scotland and one in Ireland on Friday night.
Munster will entertain Aironi of Italy this Friday night in Musgrave Park Cork, before heading off to the Aviva Stadium next weekend for the clash with rivals Leinster.
All of those Munster players who represented Ireland in the RWC quarter final are included in the squad for the RaboDirect PRO12 game.
One famous name still in the squad is John Hayes. The Cappamore farmer has had his contract extended with Munster and is now expected to see out this season in full with the men in red.
Munster coach Tony Mc Gahan feels that Hayes will play a vital role in the coming weeks.
“With the injuries to Peter Borlase and his inability to play in the first block of pool games, we are very conscious of John and he has signed on a short term contract to cover us with regard to the pool stages. He had a lot of things to think about, he was contracted up until the end of the World Cup. I asked him was he keen to go on. He said he certainly enjoyed coming back and playing. He is keen and is enthusiastic and that is the main thing”.
The main news coming out of the Munster camp this week is that Jerry Flannery is out “indefinitely” with a calf injury. The Munster and Ireland hooker is in Germany this week, seeking advice from a medical professional at Bayern Munich Football club. The Shannon club man missed out on Ireland’s World Cup run having sustained a relapse of an old calf problem.
With that news comes the chance for Denis Fogarty and Damien Varley to battle it out for the coveted number two jersey for Munster. With competition for places in all areas now a real factor, Mc Gahan is happy with his lot. Even more so now that the internationals have returned to an already happy camp.
“We are exceptionally lucky here that the guys always come back full of vigour. They have a different environment to come back into. Players have played here for a long time, they train here every day and work with each other; it has that homely feel about it. They were certainly very enthusiastic coming back in this week, there was plenty of banter flying about the place as you could imagine so we had a good day Monday. We trained again Tuesday. We don’t have a lot of opportunity because we have two Friday games so we miss out on a bit of training, so it is important that we try and reintegrate them as quickly as possible.”
When asked if Musnter could learn anything from the World Cup, Mc Gahan spoke of intensity and attitude.
“The sides who were able to bring pace and intensity to their play in attack and defence along with a strong field position game ended up at the back end of the tournament. The attitude and motivation of players is critical”.
With Munster now playing for the next 13 weeks in a row, the balance is now who plays and when. The returning World Cup players can only play in a certain amount of games before Chirstmas so Munster’s famous sqaud depth and continuity will once more be tested. Kick off on Friday night is at 20.30.
Munster Squad: M Horan, W du Preez, J Hayes, BJ Botha, S Archer, D Varley, D Fogarty, M O’Driscoll, D Ryan, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, B Holland, D Leamy, N Ronan, P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, D O’Callaghan, J Coughlan, T O’Leary, C Murray, D Williams, P Stringer, I Keatley, R O’Gara, K Earls, D Barnes, L Mafi, W Chambers, D Howlett, D Hurley, J Murphy, S Deasy,
Not considered due to injury. David Wallace, Troy Smith, Felix Jones, Jerry Flannery, Peter Borlase, Darragh Hurley, Mike Sherry.
