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URC: Lions vs Munster, Saturday March 19th, Emirates Airlines Park (kick-off 12pm Irish time, live on RTÉ)
Munster head coach Johann van Graan has made five changes to the side that lost 29-24 to the Bulls for the second of two matches in South Africa, this one at the iconic Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
There are three alterations to the backline with Springbok Damian de Allende fit to start following a 20-minute cameo from the bench last week. Shane Daly is named on the left wing while Jack Crowley takes over from Ben Healy in the number 10 jersey.
John Ryan and John Hodnett come in at tighthead prop and openside flanker respectively while Scott Buckley, Keynan Knox and Liam Coombes are promoted to the matchday 23. The Irish province made a remarkable recovery to earn a losing bonus point considering the fact that they trailed by 23 points at one stage; altitude and the Bulls physicality in contact were significant contributors to that deficit.
Munster defence coach JP Ferreira said: “As soon as it cooled down in the last 30 minutes the boys started getting their breath back and turned it on.
“We are happy with the second half but you can’t come to altitude and have a deficit of 13 points in the first 15 minutes and then you are trying to chase that. As it goes away from you, 26-3 at half-time, you are always going to chase your tail.”
Ferreira confirmed that de Allende had shown no adverse effects to the injury and was primed to go. The Munster defence coach pointed to the Lions’ new playing patterns that were very much in evidence in their 37-20 win over Cardiff last weekend.
“You can definitely see the different style of play on the weekend to the one that they had previously. They want to speed up the game, play quickly and use their guys on the edges to get them momentum and gain-lines and use their footwork against us. We have a week at altitude so I don’t expect us to have a slow start like we did (against the Bulls).”
Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen said: “Last week’s win was a real confidence booster for us however we are not getting ahead of ourselves. The hard work continues and the intent to improve each week remains our theme. Munster are a fantastic side and have an impeccable record in this competition. Ours will be to ensure we play to our strengths and execute the things we spoke about in the week effectively.”
If Munster can get to the physical pitch of the game more quickly than last week then they should be good enough to dispute the result.
Lions: Quan Horn; Stean Pienaar, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal (C), Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse, Morne van den Berg; Sti Sithole, Jaco Visagie, Carlu Sadie; Ruben Schoeman, Reinhard Nothnagel; Sibusiso Sangweni, Vincent Tshituka, Francke Horn.
Replacements: PJ Botha, JP Smith, Ruan Dreyer, Ruan Venter, Emmanuel Tshituka, Nico Steyn /Ginter Smuts, Manuel Rass, Tiaan Swanepoel.
Munster: Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Chris Farrell, Damian de Allende, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Neil Cronin; Josh Wycherley, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Mark Donnelly, Keynan Knox, Eoin O’Connor, Chris Cloete, Paddy Patterson, Ben Healy, Liam Coombes.