Ireland duo unavailable for Munster as derby challenge approaches
Munster have named their team to host Leinster in the sold out URC Interpro derby on St, Stephen's Day, Tuesday December 26, at Thomond Park.
Munster have lost just once at home since the St. Stephen's Day fixture last year, while Leinster's only defeat this season was away to Glasgow on the opening weekend.
They have opted for four personnel changes and one positional switch to the side that faced Exeter Chiefs last week. Three Academy players are also in the 23-man squad.
Tighthead prop Oli Jager makes his first start for Munster, joined by Dave Kilcoyne joins Jager in the front row, while Academy lock Edwin Edogbo returns from injury in the second row for his seventh start of the campaign. He will be partnered by Gavin Coombes, who gets set for his 10th appearance of the campaign, having started all of Munster’s games so far this year.
Simon Zebo comes into the side at full-back for his second appearance of the season with Shane Daly moving to the left wing and Calvin Nash keeping his place on the right wing.
Scrum-half Craig Casey and out-half Jack Crowley start together once again with Alex Nankivell and Antoine Frisch in midfield.
Hooker Diarmuid Barron captains the side and packs down with Kilcoyne and Jager in the front row, while the back row of Tom Ahern, John Hodnett and Jack O’Donoghue is unchanged.
In line with IRFU player management guidelines, Tadhg Beirne and Conor Murray were unavailable for selection having featured in all five games since returning from international duty. The duo also played in all five matches of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup campaign in France.
"It'll be a great scalp for us to take them at St. Stephen's Day at Thomond," said coach Graham Rowntree.
Munster:
15. Simon Zebo, 14. Calvin Nash, 13. Antoine Frisch, 12. Alex Nankivell, 11. Shane Daly; 10. Jack Crowley, 9. Craig Casey; 1. Dave Kilcoyne, 2. Diarmuid Barron, 3. Oli Jager; 4. Edwin Edogbo, 5. Gavin Coombes; 6. Tom Ahern, 7. John Hodnett, 8. Jack O'Donoghue.
Replacements:
16. Eoghan Clarke, 17. Jeremy Loughman, 18. Stephen Archer, 19. Brian Gleeson, 20. Alex Kendellen, 21. Paddy Patterson, 22. Tony Butler, 23. Seán O'Brien.
Leinster:
15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Jordan Larmour, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Ciarán Frawley, 11. Rob Russell, 10. Harry Byrne, 9. Jamison Gibson-Park, 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Rónan Kelleher, 3. Michael Ala’alatoa, 4. Ross Molony, 5. Joe McCarthy, 6. Max Deegan, 7. Scott Penny, 8. Jack Conan
Replacements:
16. Dan Sheehan, 17. Ed Byrne, 18. Thomas Clarkson, 19. Jason Jenkins, 20. Ryan Baird, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Liam Turner, 23. Will Connors
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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