MUNSTER v GLOUCESTER- Musgrave Park Kick-off – 7pm: MUNSTER COACH Tony McGahan has handed former Leicester Tiger Johne Murphy his debut for the province in the unfamiliar position of outside centre. Murphy has played the majority of his senior rugby on either the wing or at fullback but given his footballing skills he should be able to adapt to the midfield remit.
It’s heartening to see the full recovery of Felix Jones because he is a young player with so much ability. Having recovered from the neck problem that left him sidelined for much of last season, he gets an opportunity at fullback where he played excellently a number of seasons ago when the Ireland Under-20 team won a Six Nations Grand Slam.
He could see an increased first-team presence in the short term because of the ankle injury sustained by the unfortunate Keith Earls. McGahan has been able to draw down more front-line players this week in the form of Doug Howlett, Peter Stringer, Tony Buckley and Alan Quinlan amongst others. Damien Varley, capped by Ireland for the first time during the summer tour is named at hooker while Denis Fogarty has recovered from injury to take his place on the bench.
Ian Nagle and Donnacha Ryan are named in the secondrow with Mick O’Driscoll among the replacements; so too Niall Ronan. Denis Leamy is once again chosen to lead the side.
For the younger squad players, matches of this ilk provide an opportunity to establish a pecking order when the internationals return for selection consideration over the next few weeks.
Tommy O’Donnell gets a chance to start in the backrow aware that Ronan and an excellent prospect in former underage international captain Peter O’Mahony are both looking for some game time.
Gloucester beat Ospreys in a friendly last week and will be looking to continue in the same vein tonight with a team that is expected to be a closer representation of a full-strength side than their hosts.
MUNSTER: F Jones; D Howlett, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, I Dowling; P Warwick, P Stringer; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley; I Nagle, D Ryan; A Quinlan, T O’Donnell, D Leamy (capt). Replacements: D Fogarty, Dave Ryan, S Archer, M O’Driscoll, N Ronan, P O’Mahony, B Holland, D Williams, D Barnes, S Deasy, S Zebo, I Dineen.
