Munster Include John And Donnacha Ryan For Treviso Test
Munster head coach Anthony Foley has named his team for Sunday’s European Champions Cup round 6 match against Benetton Treviso, making two changes to the side that defeated Stade Francais last weekend (kick-off 2pm local time/1pm Irish time).
For Munster’s 150th European Cup game, John and Donnacha Ryan are introduced in the pack, with John named at tighthead prop after it was confirmed today that the prop will remain with the province until at least June 2019.
Munster’s seven representatives that were included in the Ireland RBS 6 Nations squad earlier this week are all named, including the welcome return of James Cronin to the matchday 23 after rehabbing an ankle ligament injury sustained against Leinster in December.
The other change to the front five sees Mark Chisholm makes way for Donnacha Ryan, with the Ireland international joining fellow Tipperary lock Dave Foley in the second row. The back row of Billy Holland, Tommy O’Donnell and captain CJ Stander remains in place.
With no changes in the back-line, Conor Murray and Ian Keatley link up once again at half-back along with the Rory Scannell-Francis Saili centre pairing and the back-three of Ronan O’Mahony, Keith Earls and Simon Zebo.
Full-back Zebo went on to share the honours of Munster’s leading try scorer last weekend, equalling Anthony Horgan’s tally of 41 tries.
MUNSTER (v Benetton Treviso): Simon Zebo; Keith Earls, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Ronan O’Mahony; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoye, Mike Sherry, John Ryan, Dave Foley, Donnacha Ryan, Billy Holland, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander (capt).
Replacements: Niall Scannell, James Cronin, Mario Sagario, Mark Chisholm, Robin Copeland, Jack O’Donoghue, Tomas O’Leary, Gerhard van den Heever.