MAGNERS LEAGUE Edinburgh v Munster: INJURIES TO Marcus Horan, Tony Buckley and Doug Howlett notwithstanding, Munster coach Tony McGahan has announced a strong team for a contest in which they have held the nap hand in recent times. The Irish province has beaten their Scottish opponents on the last five occasions that they have met.
Darragh Hurley and Julien Brugnaut, both of whom were introduced to good effect last weekend in the victory over Benetton Treviso, start as does Ian Dowling, who grabbed a brace of tries after replacing Howlett just before the interval. Niall Ronan is promoted to the starting backrow – Alan Quinlan is rested – and although listed at blindside flanker is more likely to fulfil the openside’s role.
David Wallace is a very effective number eight while Denis Leamy is hardly a stranger to the number-six jersey. The fact that all three can interchange positions, coupled with the innate athleticism and skill set augurs well in what should be a free flowing contest, both teams like to use the full expanse of the pitch.
Munster’s response to those early Treviso tries was both effective and emphatic and large tranches of the forward play, particular the maul were excellent.
McGahan will have addressed the issues in relation to the scrum and probably called for greater concentration and application from all eight forwards.
The Australian spoke about his unhappiness with his team’s defensive line speed the last day and it’s reasonable to assume he’s focused on these shortcomings during training this week.
Academy prop Stephen Archer, fresh from an impressive performance against Leinster in an A interprovincial last Friday, is named among the replacements as is a fit-again Felix Jones.
Edinburgh’s early-season promise has tapered off but they’ll have little trouble in getting up for this match. Their leading points’ scorer, Chris Paterson, returns after illness to a three-quarter line with plenty of pace. Invariably though it is the home side’s pack that sets the tempo and it is in this area that the visitors are certainly capable of managing an edge.
Munster know that if they can put together a couple of wins then for all their early-season travails, injury and otherwise, they’ll be pretty much where they would want to be ahead of the break for the November Test series.
EDINBURGH:C Paterson; J Houston, B Cairns, N De Luca, T Visser; P Godman, M Blair; K Traynor, R Ford, G Cross; S Turnbull, S MacLeod; A MacDonald, R Grant, S Newlands. Replacements: A Kelly, A Jacobsen, C Hamilton, A Hogg, G Laidlaw, A Turnbull, S Jones.
MUNSTER:P Warwick; I Dowling, L Mafi, J de Villiers, K Earls; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; Darragh Hurley, D Fogarty, J Brugnaut; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; N Ronan, D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: D Varley, S Archer, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, P Stringer, D Hurley, F Jones.
Referee:G Morris (Wales).
Verdict:Munster to win.
