MUNSTER COACH Tony McGahan will appreciate the presence of Ireland squad members Ronan O’Gara, Donnacha Ryan and Peter O’Mahony for a potentially tricky assignment in Italy. Benetton Treviso may have lost their last four matches in all competitions but they have already amassed six victories in the RaboDirect Pro12 this season.
The Irish province suffered their only defeat in matches between the teams the last time they visited Treviso. O’Gara and O’Mahony will certainly appreciate the game time while Ryan will be hoping that the face mask he sported in training will prevent further damage to a broken nose.
Felix Jones is named among the replacements. He will hope to don the red jersey for the first time this season. He’s endured a frustrating six months since damaging his foot/ankle while playing for Ireland against France in a pre-World Cup match at the Aviva stadium. He came through 80 minutes for Shannon in a Limerick derby and will be hoping for at least 20 minutes this afternoon.
In the absence of the injured Denis Leamy and Niall Ronan and with Donnacha Ryan in the secondrow alongside captain Mick O’Driscoll, the promising Dave O’Callaghan is given an opportunity at blindside flanker. Tommy O’Donnell, who has recovered from a knee injury, is on the bench.
It affords McGahan a chance to work with the bulk of his first choice team – there are arguably 11 on duty this afternoon – before several commit to the national squad for the next month. There are just 49 days until the Heineken Cup quarter-finals begin and Munster have only two league matches between the end of the Six Nations Championship and their European clash with Ulster.
Benetton coach Franco Smith welcomes back five players from the Italian squad – the club contribute 15 in total – for this match in an effort to try and stiffen the resolve of a team that fell away a little in the final quarter of the 42-8 defeat to Leinster at the RDS.
Halfbacks Fabio Semenzato and Willem De Waal will be important contributors for the home side but Treviso’s fate will be determined by how their pack fares. Munster might have their measure there.
BENETTON TREVISO: L Nitoglia; T Iannone, E Galon, A Sgarbi, B Williams; W De Waal, F Semenzato; M Muccignat, F Sbaraglini, P Di Santo; A Pavanello (capt) C van Zyl; P Derbyshire, B Vermaak, M Filipucci. Replacements: E Ceccato, A Allori, I Fernandez Rouyet, V Bernabò, G Padrò, G Garcia, E Gori, A Di Bernardo.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; J Murphy, D Barnes, L Mafi, S Zebo; R O’Gara, T O’Leary; W du Preez, D Varley, BJ Botha; D Ryan, M O’Driscoll (capt); David O’Callaghan, P O’Mahony J Coughlan. Replacements: D Fogarty, M Horan, S Archer, B. Holland, T O’Donnell, D Williams, S Deasy, F Jones.
Referee: N Hennessy (Wales).
Verdict: Munster to win.
