Champions Cup: Munster v Gloucester, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Saturday, 5.30pm – Live on Premier Sports
Almost 23 years on from one of their most fabled days, Munster may not be in miracle territory but they certainly need a statement performance in response to last week’s grim 40-14 loss in Bath.
Reflecting the acute feeling that they let down their travelling Red Army, head coach Clayton McMillan has made something of a statement too, describing his side’s display in their opening Champions Cup fixture as “bordering on embarrassing” after wielding the guillotine to the starting XV.
McMillan makes nine changes in personnel, welcoming back Jack Crowley, Michael Milne, Jean Kleyn and Jack O’Donoghue, all of whom were ruled out last weekend, while also promoting Alex Nankivell and Michael Ala’alatoa, as well as recalling Mike Haley, Ben O’Connor and Niall Scannell.
With an additional four positional alterations, the net effect is that only Craig Casey and Gavin Coombes of last week’s starting XV wear the same numbers on their backs.
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McMillan said he was expecting “a really positive response” from his drastically rejigged team, adding: “Clearly, we didn’t get anywhere near where we wanted to be in Bath last week, which was almost bordering on embarrassing for all of us.
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“That embarrassment has been sitting in the pit of the stomach and there’s been a good energy around the park, and we know we’re not going to get anything for free this weekend. So, we need to see a response.”
Of the nine players omitted entirely from the match day 23 against Bath, only Fineen Wycherley (hand) is named among their injured list, along with Calvin Nash, Brian Gleeson and Oli Jager. As well as Jeremy Lughman, John Ryan and John Hodnett, two others from last weekend’s starting XV drop out of Saturday’s game, wingers Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams.
O’Connor, a former Cork hurler, ought to revel in being chosen for this first Champions Cup game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. With and with a record home attendance for a Champions Cup game assured, following the installation of a big screen at the City End the capacity has been set at 40,000. With Haley recalled at full-back, Shane Daly switches to the right wing in a newly configured back three designed with one eye on the inclement weather forecast.
“Probably the most significant changes have been in the back three, anticipating that the weather’s not going to be great in Cork and the guys that have been given an opportunity have probably demonstrated a real strength around their movement in the backfield and high ball catch. So that’s why we’ve gone there.”
With Nankivell unsurprisingly restored, Dan Kelly shifts to outside centre and Tom Farrell moves to the bench as McMillan rotates his midfield. Diarmuid Barron, Edwin Edogbo and JJ Hanrahan also move to a bench which reverts to 5-3.
But this team has a strong, well-balanced and most of all, highly charged look to it, with some quality in Edogbo, Ruadhán Quinn and Farrell on the bench. Nor does the radical surgery stop there.
After a decade in the AIL with Young Munster, tighthead prop Conor Bartley is named among the replacements and is in line for his Champions Cup debut, having signed short-term deals last season before being added to the senior squad despite the 30-year-old being restricted to just 17 minutes off the bench against the Scarlets. From farming stock, he is a natural footballer with great hands for a prop.
The pity, and the puzzle, is that from an altogether different standpoint, the Gloucester Director of Rugby George Skivington has rested his entire starting XV from last week’s 34-13 win over a Castres team which had made only three changes from the side which had beaten Perpignan in the Top 14 a week previously.
Nonetheless, a supposedly weaker selection can swing from the hip, as Harlequins have shown in their last two treks to Dublin to face Leinster, and as Munster know from many examples in the past, notably when almost losing as defending champions to a second-string Montauban side in 2006.
Gloucester welcome back three key figures from injury in tighthead Jamal Ford-Robinson, lock Arthur Clark, returning to captain the squad, and Jack Clement, who starts at number eight after picking up an injury on the opening day of the season.
Skivington also promotes seven of last week’s bench, including former Leinster winger Rob Russell and Charlie Atkinson, who scored two tries from fullback last week and now starts in place of the rested Ross Byrne.
Munster’s remodelled team also happens to have a sizeable Cork contingent, five in the starting XV and another two on the bench, for what should be a unique occasion.
“We enjoyed phenomenal support in Bath and that’s probably where the greatest embarrassment lay, that we gave them nothing to get excited about,” said McMillan, adding a big focus of this week has been around respecting the ball and building better pressure cycles to force opposition mistakes and create opportunities.
“There’s an opportunity in front of us this week to earn a little bit of respect back. There’ll be a lot of people in the team who are proud Munster men but they’d almost argue they’d be prouder Cork men, so they’re fully fizzed and ready to go.
“Collectively, we just know what we’re capable of achieving and we’d be disappointed if we don’t give a performance this coming weekend.”
No one, you’d venture, would be more disappointed than McMillan after making it abundantly clear to all that last week’s performance was simply not acceptable. They need a big one. Their season ow sort of hinges on it.
MUNSTER: Mike Haley; Shane Daly, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Ben O’Connor; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa, Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt), Tom Ahern, Jack O’Donoghue, Gavin Coombes. Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, Conor Bartley, Edwin Edogbo, Ruadhan Quinn, Paddy Patterson, JJ Hanrahan, Tom Farrell.
GLOUCESTER: George Barton; Josh Hathaway, Will Knight, Max Knight, Rob Russell; Charlie Atkinson, Mike Austin; Dian Bleuler, Jack Innard, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Cam Jordan, Arthur Clark (capt), Josh Basham, Harry Taylor, Jack Clement. Replacements: Kealan Freeman Price, Ciaran Knight, Afolabi Fasogbon, Danny Eite, Hugh Bokenham, Caio James, Rhys Price, Jack Cotgreave.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (WAL).
Forecast: Munster to win.
