Costello Makes Changes To Munster ‘A’ Side
Munster ‘A’ head coach Ian Costello has been forced to rearrange his starting line-up for tonight’s British & Irish Cup round 5 match against Rotherham Titans at Musgrave Park (kick-off 6.30pm).
In the originally selected team, Ian Costello made five changes to the side that secured 36-21 victory over Rotherham at Clifton Lane last time out.
One of those changes sees former Titan Sean Dougall return from a knee injury at openside flanker. Dougall had seven senior starts under his belt, including two in the Heineken Cup, before a knee injury against the Cardiff Blues sidelined him.
The only other change in the pack sees Barry O’Mahony also return from injury to anchor the scrum. The front five remain in situ with hooker Sean Henry taking on the captaincy role.
In the backs, a knee injury takes Denis Hurley out so Johne Murphy swaps the number 11 jersey for the full-back shirt with Ronan O’Mahony drafted into the back-three.
JJ Hanrahan, a late withdrawal from last weekend’s game as he provided cover for the senior squad, is back in the number 10 jersey alongside Cathal Sheridan.
The Munster ‘A’ management were forced into two late changes in personnel on Friday. The groin injury picked up by Keith Earls has seen Luke O’Dea promoted to the senior squad, so Darren Moroney will take over from him on the right wing.
Danny Barnes has also picked up a knock, bringing Scott Deasy in at outside centre alongside Ivan Dineen. The two vacant places on the bench have gone to Academy player Johnny Holland and Shannon clubman Richie Mullane.
Munster top Pool 7 with 13 points at present, four clear of their back-to-back opponents, but any ideas of complacency have been dismissed by defence coach Mike Prendergast.
“No I don’t see any risk of that,” he said after putting the squad through their paces in UL. “We’ve looked at our performance from last week and there are aspects of it that we weren’t happy with.
“Obviously there’s aspects we were delighted with. But the aim is to improve on that and that’s the mindset we are taking into this game.”
MUNSTER ‘A’ (v Rotherham Titans): Johne Murphy; Darren Moroney, Scott Deasy, Ivan Dineen, Ronan O’Mahony; JJ Hanrahan, Cathal Sheridan; James Cronin, Sean Henry (capt), John Ryan, David Foley, Ian Nagle, Brian Hayes, Sean Dougall, Barry O’Mahony.
Replacements: Duncan Casey, Alan Cotter, Philip Donnellan, Ryan Murphy, Brian Slater, Johnny Holland, Richie Mullane.