Leinster and Munster have announced rejigged sides for their URC clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 5.15pm, live on RTÉ, Premier Sports and URC TV). Leo Cullen has made nine changes from the team which beat Connacht and his one-time Leicester team-mate Graham Rowntree has made eight changes to the team which beat the Bulls as a number of internationals have been ruled out two weeks before the November series opener against South Africa.
Johnny Sexton returns to captain Leinster, with Ciarán Frawley coming in at fullback while Jimmy O’Brien shifts to right wing with Jamie Osborne on the left in a makeshift back three due to several injuries among their outside backs.
Robbie Henshaw returns to partner Garry Ringrose in midfield, as does Luke McGrath alongside Sexton at halfback. In the pack Cian Healy starts this week at loosehead, with Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong retained, while former Munster lock Jason Jenkins is restored to partner James Ryan. Max Deegan starts at blindside, and Scott Penny comes in at openside in the absence of Josh van der Flier, with Caelan Doris moving to number “8″.
On the bench, the one-time Munster scrumhalf Nick McCarthy is in line to win his 50th cap for Leinster.
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Akin to Frawley, Jack Crowley will start at fullback for the first time for Munster, having had a roving commission from the position after being introduced at half-time against the Bulls and dovetailing with Joey Carbery as a second playmaker last week.
The other backline changes see Rory Scannell and Conor Murray restored at inside centre and scrumhalf, as Shane Daly moves to the wing.
With Peter O’Mahony ruled out, Jack O’Donoghue returns in the backrow as captain, while Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox, Tom Ahern and John Hodnett also come into the pack as well. Ahern, Barron, Crowley, Hodnett and Scannell all make their first starts of the season.
James French is among the replacements and in line to make his second senior appearance for Munster. Academy duo Ruadhan Quinn and Patrick Campbell are also named in the replacements.
Munster have confirmed that O’Mahony, who had led the side in the last four games, didn’t come through training this week due to a neck complaint but will join the Ireland squad next week.
More than 43,000 tickets have been sold for the game so far.
“It’s a huge game for both teams,” said Cullen after his team’s captain’s run at the Aviva. “It’s great to be here at the Aviva and I believe there’s going to be a huge crowd, on a nice day — it hasn’t been fantastic this week but conditions are meant to be good for tomorrow.
“When there’s an Ireland squad announced in the middle of these weeks everyone has to be able to deal with the consequences of selection and non-selection in some cases.”
Commenting on Frawley’s selection at fullback, his first start for Leinster in the position, Cullen said: “Ciarán’s a great footballer, we have had some disruptions and injuries to the back three at the moment and we’ve a back three there with Jamie Osborne on the wing there, Jimmy [O’Brien] has moved on to the right.
“Ciarán’s come back in after that knock to his shoulder, he’s come off the bench and played 10 minutes last week; he gives us extra distribution, he’s another pair of hands and a very good broken field runner as well.
“He’s played 15 in the past for us [off the bench]. It’s good with Johnny, Robbie and Garry — there’s plenty of experience in the team. I’m looking forward to seeing how Ciarán goes.”
Despite both sides being shorn of several Irish frontliners, and Munster having won only two of the last dozen meetings (one of which was in the Rainbow Cup against a depleted Leinster side) Cullen maintained that the rivalry was as meaningful as ever.
“Definitely. There’s going to be 45,000 people here tomorrow and when we started off in the old Dooradoyle days there’d be 350 people there. It’s a huge occasion, the nature of the week on week — that’s the challenge.
“But, I said it after the game last week, for Irish rugby it has to be a point of difference; the way the provinces are supported, the sense of identity that each provincial team has — and they have their own unique identity.
“It’s important we celebrate that, we’re expecting a real, physical challenge and that’s what we’ve prepared for this week because we think that’s coming from Munster.”
As for a Munster side shorn of O’Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, Roman Salanoa, Craig Casey, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway, Simon Zebo, Chris Farrell and Malakai Fekitoa among others through injury or being rested, Cullen admitted: “We heard some reports about a few injuries and that’s the challenge.
“Some of the squads were pretty thin at the start of the season, which always places a bit more pressure on everybody else. Some teams will come through that better than others,” he said in apparent reference to the Emerging Ireland tour.
“We were ready for anything in terms of selection, because we heard a few rumblings and rumours about the potential guys who were maybe missing, and we tried to prepare accordingly.
“Eighty per cent of it is you have to focus on yourselves, and you have one eye on what the opposition are doing, but you have to make sure you get your house in order, that’s what we’re doing this week.
“There’s some good young players who featured in the Emerging Ireland tour, some of them came back last week and gave a great account of themselves against a good, physical Bulls team. We know they can deal with the physical part, so for us it’s to make sure we impose ourselves on the game well.
“We probably need to be more accurate than we were last week, in terms of some of our execution. The conditions played a part last week, hopefully they’ll be a bit better this week. We had a decent week’s training, so hopefully it translates to a performance.”
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Jimmy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jamie Osborne; Johnny Sexton (capt), Luke McGrath; Cian Healy, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Jason Jenkins, James Ryan; Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: John McKee, Andrew Porter, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jack Conan, Nick McCarthy, Ross Byrne, Rob Russell.
Munster: Jack Crowley; Shane Daly, Dan Goggin, Rory Scannell, Liam Coombes; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox; Jean Kleyn, Tom Ahern; Jack O’Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Scott Buckley, Dave Kilcoyne, James French, Jack O’Sullivan, Ruadhan Quinn, Paddy Patterson, Ben Healy, Patrick Campbell.
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).
