Munster's Evan O'Connell handed Champions Cup debut as Ireland contingent return
RAPID RISE: Munster's Evan O'Connell retains his place in the second row. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho
Munster will welcome back their Ireland stars for Saturday’s Champions Cup pool opener against Stade Francais with Calvin Nash, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey and Peter O’Mahony all set to start at Thomond Park and Tadhg Beirne among the replacements.
The sixth available Autumn Nations Series participant, scrum-half Conor Murray, misses out due to a knock but the international quartet returning to the starting line-up are four of five changes from the team which kicked off the 17-10 URC win over the Lions in Limerick last Saturday.
Shane Daly is the other addition having returned from injury to score a try as a replacement against the South Africans to start at full-back on his 100th Munster appearance, replacing regular starter Mike Haley, who had been removed as a precaution last Saturday having passed all Head Injury Assessment tests.
With club captain Beirne part of a bench containing six forwards and two backs, hooker Diarmuid Barron retains the captaincy from last week to lead Munster in the Champions Cup for the first time.
Daly joins the returning Nash and fellow try scorer last week Thaakir Abrahams in the back three as academy wing Shay McCarthy drops out of the matchday squad, while Tom Farrell and Alex Nankivell continue their centre partnership.
Fly-half Crowley and scrum-half Casey will hope to start where they left off at Aviva Stadium seven days earlier when their half-back combination helped provide a spark off the bench for Ireland to secure a 22-19 victory over Australia.
In the forward pack, there is a Champions Cup debut for academy lock Evan O’Connell, who starts alongside Fineen Wycherley in an unchanged second row while short-term signing Dian Bleuler continues at loosehead and joins summer signings Farrell and Abrahams in making a first Champions Cup appearance for Munster.
Bleuler is part of an unchanged front row alongside Barron and John Ryan while former captain Peter O’Mahony begins his final European campaign with a return at blindside flanker in a back row also featuring Alex Kendellen on the openside and Gavin Coombes at No.8 as Jack O’Donoghue moves to the bench as the extra back-five forward to complement Beirne and John Hodnett.
Academy loosehead prop Kieran Ryan is poised for his Champions Cup debut off the bench while tighthead replacement and Munster’s record appearance maker Stephen Archer, who this weekend signed a contract extension to the end of the season, is set for his 290th cap.
Niall Scannell at hooker, scrum-half Paddy Patterson and fly-half Billy Burns are the other replacements, the latter also set for his first Champions Cup appearance for Munster following his summer move from Ulster.
S Daly; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; J Crowley, C Casey; D Bleuler, D Barron - captain, J Ryan; E O’Connell, F Wycherley; P O’Mahony, A Kendellen, G Coombes.
N Scannell, K Ryan, S Archer, T Beirne, J Hodnett, P Patterson, B Burns, J O’Donoghue.
J Jonas; C Laloi, J Marchant, P Boudehent, S Ezeala; Z Henry, T Motassi; C Castets, L Peyresblanques, F Gomez Kodela; P-H Azagoh, B Pesenti; P Huguet, R Chapuis – captain, Y Tanga.
L Petriashvili, M Alo-Emile, P Alo-Emile, S Turagacoke, A Timo, J Martin Scelzo, L Foursans-Bourdette, L Carbonel.
Luke Pearce (England)
