Pro14 | Munster v Connacht line ups and preview
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The second Irish derby of the weekend pits Munster against Connacht at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Connacht lurk two spots below Johann van Graan’s men who will be hoping to close the gap between themselves and first-placed Edinburgh in Conference B.
The last time Connacht and Munster met was at The Sportsground on 21 December in Round 8 where Munster came away 19-14 victors after a tight arm-wrestle amongst the forwards while the respective kickers fed off ill-discipline.
Munster are sure to be hurting after their two-point loss to arch-rivals Leinster last round which will no doubt put some extra steel in the team’s spine. Connacht will have their tails up after a valuable win over the Ulstermen at the Aviva last weekend which will fuel their confidence going into this one. A win will secure Munster’s place in the Guinness PRO14 semi-finals and it is the first-ever meeting of Munster and Connacht at the Aviva Stadium/Lansdowne Road.
Team News
Munster
The Munster backline is unchanged with five players coming into the pack. Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne and Chris Cloete are all drafted into the side. Beirne is in line to make his first appearance since sustaining an ankle fracture away to Saracens last December. Shane Daly starts at full-back with last week’s try-scorers Andrew Conway and Keith Earls on either flank.
Damian de Allende and Chris Farrell pair up in the centres for the second time with Conor Murray and JJ Hanrahan in the half-backs. Loughman, Niall Scannell and Ryan pack down in the front row with Wycherley and Beirne starting in the engine room together for the first time. Captain Peter O’Mahony, Cloete and CJ Stander complete the starting XV.
Kevin O’Byrne, Liam O’Connor, Jack O’Donoghue and Jack O’Sullivan are named among the replacements and set to make their first appearances since the return to rugby. O’Donoghue sustained a concussion at training last week but has completed the return to play protocols.
Connacht
There are 14 changes from the side that impressively saw off Ulster last weekend, with Andy Friend keen to give game-time to more players after a long absence due to COVID-19. Among those starting is Sammy Arnold who makes his first Connacht appearance at outside-centre. The Irish international arrived in the summer and his debut comes against the side he joined from.
There’s also an inaugural start for powerful number 8 Abraham Papali’i. The New Zealander was signed from the Bay of Plenty and he forms a back row with Conor Oliver and Eoghan Masterson who is the only player retained from last week. Quinn Roux captains the side having recovered from injury to take his place in the second row alongside Niall Murray, with Paddy McAllister, Shane Delahunt and Dominic Robertson-McCoy completing the pack.
Sunday’s half-back pairing consists of Caolin Blade and Conor Fitzgerald, while Arnold will be partnered in the centre by Tom Daly.
The experienced Tiernan O’Halloran and Matt Healy are included in the back three, while there’s also a first appearance for Colm de Buitléar since January 2019. The winger from Carraroe played four times during 2018/19 while in the Connacht Academy, but hasn’t featured since suffering a serious achilles injury in the 2019/20 pre-season.
Line Ups
