RUGBY:THE SCALE of the task facing Munster in Reading appears to have grown by the day this past week. The latest defeat to Leinster has clearly had a seismic effect on them and, following on from Lifeimi Mafi's suspension and Tomas O'Leary's injury, Tony McGahan's selection – easily the most eye-catching ever for a Munster Cup opener – almost seems to constitute a changing of the guard.
Not surprisingly Marcus Horan and John Hayes lose out to Wian du Preez and the recalled Tony Buckley, but not only has David Wallace again been confined to bench duty, Alan Quinlan has been omitted from the 23-man squad altogether as James Coughlan is recalled at number eight for only his second Munster start of the season, with Denis Leamy moving to blind side.
Throw in the sidelined Paul O’Connell and Jerry Flannery and Munster will start without six of the long-established juggernaut who have a phenomenal 408 Heineken Cup appearances between them. That’s some well of streetwise savvy to be sacrificed in almost one fell swoop.
While Munster can call on the vast experience of Peter Stringer to replace O’Leary, the latter’s physicality around the fringes, kicking game and defensive covering will be missed, but McGahan hasn’t stopped tearing up the script with the pack.
Paul Warwick has paid the price for another low-key showing against Leinster and a couple of defensive blips.
Johne Murphy – having played centre and wing – makes his Munster Cup debut at full-back, while Denis Hurley is called up to the wing for his first game of the season and ditto the fit-again Keith Earls in midfield. The net effect leaves them with a few undercooked individuals and combinations.
It’s a brave selection by McGahan and co which clearly shows that reputations count for little. Perhaps it also signals that messrs Horan, Hayes and Wallace are gradually becoming impact players, and that McGahan and co realise this will be a high-tempo game in perfect conditions which requires plenty of mobility.
But Quinlan’s absence might weaken their line-out, not to mention a source of irritation for the home side, while you’d also have to think Warwick’s demotion might weaken their kicking game as well.
By stark contrast, London Irish come into this game confident, at home, virtually at full-strength with three rotational changes to their starting line-up from last week. They have rediscovered their mojo, with their highly influential wingers Topsey Ojo and Sailosi Tagicakibau back in harness and scoring freely. Indeed, they and young back-up winger JJ Jospeh have scored ten of their 17 tries in five games to date.
The hard-running and offloading of Samoan centre Sailala Mapusua and the creativity of Ryan Lamb is a potent mix and their pack certainly fronted up hugely in the RDS last year.
Munster have lost seven of a dozen visits to England in the pool stages, though they do have three ‘away’ wins in knockout there.
They’ll draw some comfort from the knowledge that they suffered defeats on this corresponding weekend in Sale five seasons ago and Wasps three seasons ago en route to reaching the Promised Land, as they did in Northampton last season. Yet on the latter two occasions they at least managed to extract a losing bonus point, which two years ago proved critical.
However, on all available evidence, and given how shorn they are of the kind of experience required for a daunting assignment such as this, that would be a hell of a return this evening.
LONDON IRISH: D Armitage; T Ojo, E Seveali’i, S Mapusua, S Tagicakibau; R Lamb, P Hodgson; C Dermody [capt], J Buckland, F Rautenbach, N Kennedy, B Casey, K Roche, D Danaher, G Stowers. Replacements: D Paice, M Lahiff, A Corbisiero, M Garvey, C Hala’Ufia, J Joseph, D Bowden, D Allinson.
MUNSTER: J Murphy; D Howlett, K Earls, S Tuitupou, D Hurley; R O’Gara, P Stringer; W du Preez, D Varley, T Buckley, D O’Callaghan, D Ryan, D Leamy [capt], N Ronan, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, M Horan, J Hayes, M O’Driscoll, D Wallace, D Williams, P Warwick, S Deasy.
Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Previous meetings: None. Formguide: London Irish: W L W W W. Munster: W W W W L. Leading H Cup points scorers: London Irish: Delon Armitage 47. Munster: Ronan O’Gara 1,138. Leading H Cup try scorers: London Irish: Delon Armitage 9. Munster: David Wallace 14. Betting (Paddy Powers): 8/13 London Irish, 20/1 Draw, 5/4 Munster. Forecast: London Irish to win.
