URC: Lions vs Munster, Saturday 19th March, Emirates Airlines Park (Kick-off 12:00 Irish time, live on RTÉ)
Munster head coach Johann van Graan made five changes to the side, losing 29-24 to the Bulls for the second of two matches in South Africa, this at the iconic Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
There are three changes to the back line with Springbok Damian de Allende fit to start after a 20-minute comeo from the bench last week. Shane Daly is named on the left wing, while Jack Crowley takes over from Ben Healy in the No. 10 jersey.
John Ryan and John Hodnett come to the top in the Openside Flanker respectively while Scott Buckley, Keynan Knox and Liam Coombes are promoted on game day 23. 23 points in one stage; Elevation and the bulls physicality and contact were significant contributions to that deficit.
Munster defense coach JP Ferreira said: “As soon as it had cooled down in the last 30 minutes, the boys started to catch their breath and opened it.
“We are happy with the second half, but you can not get up to speed and in the first 15 minutes have a deficit of 13 points and then you try to pursue that. As it goes away from you, 26-3 in the Pause, you will always follow your tail.
Ferreira confirmed that Allende did not show any negative impact on the injury and was ready to go. The Munster defensive coach pointed to the new play pattern of the Lions, who were very proven in their 37-20 victory over Cardiff last weekend.
“You can definitely see the different style of play on the weekend than the one they had before. They want to speed up the game, play fast and use their guys on the edges to give them momentum and win lines and use their footwork against us. We had a week on the rise so I did not expect to have a slow start like we did (against the Bulls).
Emirates Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen said: “Last week’s victory was a real confidence booster for us but we are not getting ahead of ourselves. The hard work goes on and the intention to improve every week remains our theme. Munster is a fantastic side and have an impeccable record in this competition.We will strive to ensure that we play our strengths and execute the things we talked about this week effectively.
If monsters come to the physical field faster than last week, then they should be good enough to dispute the result.
Love: 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.
Replacement: PJ Botha, JP Smith, Ruan Dreyer, Ruan Venter, Emmanuel Tshituka, Nico Steyn / Ginter Smuts, Manuel Rass, Tiaan Swanepoel.
PATTERN: 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.
Replacement: Scott Buckley, Mark Donnelly, Keynan Knox, Eoin O’Connor, Chris Cloete, Paddy Patterson, Ben Healy, Liam Coombes.
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