Heineken Cup: Mullins-Henderson In The Middle

Mike Mullins and Rob Henderson will form the Munster midfield against Biarritz Olympique on Sunday, just as they did in the province’s final Pool 4 win over NEC Harlequins in January.

HEINEKEN CUP Quarter-final: Sunday, April 3
Biarritz Olympique v Munster, Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian, 3.00pm (live RTE 2, Sky Sports 2)

With new signing Brian Lima withdrawn from the squad earlier this week due to a quadricep muscle injury, experienced duo Mullins and Henderson take the centre berths.

Coach Alan Gaffney has made two enforced changes from the side which beat Harlequins 18-10 at Twickenham. Full-back Christian Cullen (shoulder) – whose full-back berth goes to Shaun Payne – and young flanker Denis Leamy (hamstring) – replaced by Ireland international David Wallace – are both on the sidelines.

With Payne shifting to full-back, John Kelly makes his first European start since the 20-18 October win at the Ospreys, on the right wing.

For the third successive time in this season’s Heineken Cup, Paul Burke will deputise for the injured Ronan O’Gara (knee) at fly-half. Burke kicked 18 points in te January wins over the Ospreys and his former club ‘Quins.

Lock Paul O’Connell – whose two-week suspension for punching Wales’ Robert Sidoli in Ireland’s final Six Nations outing runs out at midnight on Saturday – partners Donncha O’Callaghan in the second row.

UCC captain and scrum-half Frank Murphy – a squad addition for the knock-out stages – is also included amongst the replacements.

Veteran number 8 Anthony Foley captains Gaffney’s men in what is his 67th Heineken Cup appearance. It will also be a record-equalling 136th provincial cap for Foley, drawing him level with former team mate and current Shannon coach Mick Galwey.

Munster – who departed Shannon airport on Friday afternoon for Biarritz – are looking to secure a sixth successive Heineken Cup semi-final berth, at the Estadio Anoeta – the home of Spanish soccer giants Real Sociedad.

2004/05 Form: Biarritz: L12-25 v Wasps (away), W23-8 v Leicester Tigers (home), W41-10 v Calvisano (home), W48-17 v Calvisano (away), W21-17 v Leicester Tigers (away), W18-15 v Wasps (home)
Munster: W15-9 v NEC Harlequins (home), W20-18 v Neath-Swansea Ospreys (away), L12-19 v Castres Olympique (away), W36-8 v Castres Olympique (home), W20-10 v Neath-Swansea Ospreys (home), W18-10 v NEC Harlequins (away)

Top Scorers: Biarritz: Dimitri Yachvili 57 points; Jimmy Marlu 4 tries; Munster: Ronan O’Gara 41; Denis Leamy 3

Previous Meeting: Biarritz 0, Munster 1
(2001: Munster 38 Biarritz 29)

Best Finishes: Biarritz: Semi-finalists, 2003/04
Munster: Runners-up, 1999/00, 2001/02

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Biarritz: Nicolas Brusque; Jimmy Marlu, Damien Traille, Martin Gaitan, Philippe Bidabe; Julien Peyrelongue, Dimitri Yachvili; Petru Vladimir Balan, Benoit August, Denis Avril, Jerome Thion, Olivier Olibeau, Serge Betsen, Thomas Lievremont (Capt), Imanol Harinordoquy.
Replacements: Jean-Michel Gonzalez, Benoit Lecouls, David Couzinet, Thierry Dusautoir, Julien Dupuy, Guillaume Bousses, Jean-Baptiste Gobelet.

MUNSTER:

(15) Shaun Payne
(14) John Kelly
(13) Mike Mullins
(12) Rob Henderson
(11) Anthony Horgan
(10) Paul Burke
(9) Peter Stringer
(1) Marcus Horan
(2) Frankie Sheahan
(3) John Hayes
(4) Donncha O’Callaghan
(5) Paul O’Connell
(6) Alan Quinlan
(7) David Wallace
(8) Anthony Foley (Capt)

Replacements:

(16) Gordon McIlwham
(17) Jerry Flannery
(18) Trevor Hogan
(19) Jim Williams
(20) Frank Murphy
(21) Jason Holland
(22) Paul Devlin

Referee: Chris White (England)