MUNSTER WILL REST captain Peter O’Mahony for their Heineken Cup first round match against Edinburgh.
Although O’Mahony has recovered from the concussion he suffered against Leinster last week, Munster left him out of the matchday 23 as they expect him to face a “heavy schedule” in the upcoming weeks.
Paddy Butler makes his first Heineken Cup start on the blindside instead, joining Niall Ronan and James Coughlan in the back row.
Rob Penney’s only other change is at scrum-half where Irish international Conor Murray comes in to replace Duncan Williams.
Murray came off the bench against Leinster for his first appearance of the season, with Penney describing his second-half cameo as “superb.”
Munster: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry, Stephen Archer; Donncha Ryan, Paul O’Connell Capt.; Paddy Butler, Niall Ronan, James Coughlan.Replacements: Damien Varley, James Cronin, BJ Botha, Donncha O’Callaghan, CJ Stander, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley.
what has cj stander done to penny?
He can’t stop scoring tries! Bit odd, but I’ve read that Penney is working on a rotating squad this season so my guess is he’ll def start next week in Thomand! Season’s going well so far so I’m concerned, our backrow strength is just sick at the moment! #SUAF
*not concerned :)
He has scored trys, but hasn’t really proved he’s better than the other back rows at doing the grunt work. Impact player off the bench when the opposition has already been beaten up is probably the best use of him.
Good to see Archer starting from an Irish perspective. We need all the tighthead options we can get. Michael Bent…. Who?????
James Cronin is a bit of a beast in his own right, good to see some decent front rows coming through.
Now all we need are centres!
If there’s one game from the next 4 (Embra, Gloucester, Glasgow and Ospreys) I’d rest POM it’d be this one.
Regarding CJ on the bench, I’d see this as a smart move on Penney’s part – use Butler for the early-game close-in battles and tussles then (hopefully) once Munster have got an upper-hand, launch CJ from the bench to blast holes in a tiring Embra defence. It’s a 23-man game now and that’s what encourages me most from this selection – Munster loose no level of strength, impact or ability with substitutes of the likes of Cronin, CJ or BJB.
Should beat Edinburgh comfortably without O’Mahony if Munster have intentions of winning this year.
Paddy butler over stander is a strange one
Looks like penny doesn’t fancy stander! I would def have him in!
Stander must have p****d in Penneys Cornflakes
Has to be one of the weakest back rows in Heineken Cup over the weekend!
right ya.
True, I’d prefer Heaslip in there……you’re some fool like!