Leinster and Munster name teams for URC showdown in Aviva
Leinster and Munster have both named their teams for their mouth-watering URC showdown this Saturday in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Barring a pre-season game, it’s the first time that the two sides will meet since Munster dumped Leinster out of running for last season’s URC in a hotly contested semi-final.
Leo Cullen has named pretty much an Ireland XV for the clash, while Munster have made six changes to the side that beat Stormers last weekend.
Robbie Henshaw and Jack Conan are set for their first appearances of the season for Leinster, while Tadhg Furlong is set for this first start of the campaign.
Simon Zebo makes his first appearance of the season for the Munster and his first start at full-back for the men in red since 2018.
Leinster had dominated the fixture over the last five years, but last year’s URC semi-final defeat has breathed new life into the competitiveness of the rivalry.
LEINSTER:
15. Hugo Keenan
14. Jordan Larmour
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Jimmy O’Brien
10. Ross Byrne
9. Jamison Gibson-Park
1. Andrew Porter
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Joe McCarthy
5. James Ryan (C)
6. Jack Conan
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Caelan Doris
REPLACEMENTS: 16. Rónan Kelleher, 17. Jack Boyle, 18. Michael Ala’alatoa, 19. Ross Molony, 20. James Culhane, 21. Ben Murphy, 22. Ciarán Frawley, 23. Scott Penny
MUNSTER:
15. Simon Zebo
14. Calvin Nash
13. Antoine Frisch
12. Rory Scannell
11. Shane Daly
10. Jack Crowley
9. Craig Casey
1. Jeremy Loughman
2. Diarmuid Barron (C)
3. Stephen Archer
4. Jean Kleyn
5. Tadhg Beirne
6. Tom Ahern
7. John Hodnett
8. Gavin Coombes
REPLACEMENTS: 16. Scott Buckley, 17. Dave Kilcoyne, 18. John Ryan, 19. Brian Gleeson, 20. Alex Kendellen, 21. Conor Murray, 22. Tony Butler, 23. Shay McCarthy.
Latest Comments
The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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