URC: Edinburgh vs Munster, Friday, the Hive Stadium, 7.35pm kick-off, live on TG4 and Premier Sports
It’s good news, bad news for Munster on the injury front in advance of their trip to Edinburgh on Friday night, another contest with implications for the URC playoff seedings.
Knowing that victory could move them to the top of the pile, at least until Leinster and Glasgow are in action on Saturday, Munster welcome back tighthead Oli Jager for a first appearance since February due to a knee injury. Brian Gleeson, who hasn’t played since the Ireland U20s Six Nations victory over France, also returns from injury to bolster the forward replacements.
Yet with two in the door, two depart as Joey Carbery and Peter O’Mahony have both been ruled out with knocks. With injuries remaining somewhat of a theme of Munster’s season, the province pointed out when naming their squad that Alex Kendellen and Gavin Coombes – named in the starting backrow for Friday – and replacement Tom Ahern have featured in all 21 URC and European fixtures so far this season. All hands on deck.
Yet as far as this year’s standard is concerned, injury woes have lightened for Munster in recent weeks. Antoine Frisch, Mike Haley and Coombes are frontliners who return to the starting XV having been rotated out for last weekend’s victory over Connacht. Fineen Wycherley is the other new face, while Alex Nankivell shifts inside one spot from outside centre and Jack O’Donoghue moves from number eight to blindside flanker.
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Friday marks the occasion of O’Donoghue’s 200th appearance for his home province. The Waterford native is just the 14th Munster player to hit that milestone. At the age of 30, he is the youngest to do so, a reflection on both his longevity over a 10-year career in an attritional position and, perhaps, his unfortunate provincial availability given the backrows in advance of him in the national reckoning.
While Munster are assured of their knockout place, the hunt for as high a seeding on the league table, and the home knockout benefits that accrue, rages on. Edinburgh for their part are on the edge of the playoff picture, currently sneaking into the postseason in seventh with Connacht just four points behind them.
Friday’s hosts come into the game on the back of three consecutive wins, albeit against somewhat favourable opposition in the Scarlets, Cardiff and Zebre. They have picked a strong side with plenty of Scotland Internationals available. Headline inclusions include Duhan van der Merwe on the wing and a frontrow featuring Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman.
The back row battle between the Edinburgh trio of Jamie Richie, Hamish Watson and Bill Mata opposite Kendellen, O’Donoghue and Coombes promises, as ever, to be a critical marker of breakdown superiority.
In Mata and Coombes, both sides rely on their respective number eights to bear the brunt of the heavy carrying load, an intriguing subplot in and of itself. Coombes leads the league for carries over the gain line this season, Mata is in third.
As ever when these two sides play each other, parochial eyes wander to the Edinburgh 10 shirt. Sure enough, Tipperary native Ben Healy is in situ, in partnership with Ben Vellacott at scrumhalf. If in doubt of what the former Munsterman’s primary task is with Edinburgh, he comfortably leads the league in kicks in play (142) and kick metres (4,197). Faced with such a threat, territory will be a challenge for Munster.
Enough to threaten the province which has won seven URC games on the spin? The smart bet says it’s unlikely.
Edinburgh: Goosen; Currie, Bennett, Lang, van der Merwe; Healy, Vellacott (co-capt); Schoeman, Ashman, Nel; Skinner, Gilchrist (co-capt); Ritchie, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: Cherry, Vente, Sebastian, Sykes, Crosbie, Price, Scott, Dean.
Munster: Haley; Nash, Frisch, Nankivell, Daly; Crowley, Casey; Loughman, Scannell, Jager; Wycherley, Beirne (capt); O’Donoghue, Kendellen, Coombes.
Replacements: Clarke, Donnelly, Ryan, Snyman, Ahern, Murray, Scannell, Gleeson.
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