Nash And Wycherley Among The Changes For Munster

Munster head coach Clayton McMillan has made six personnel changes for Saturday’s BKT United Rugby Championship game against the Ospreys at the Dunraven Brewery Field (kick-off 5.30pm).

Returning to the starting line-up, Fineen Wycherley and Calvin Nash have recovered from their respective hand and shoulder injuries. It will be only Ireland winger Nash’s second appearance of the season.

Jeremy Loughman, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, and Tom Farrell also come into the team, a week on from the province’s 31-3 bonus point win over Gloucester at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Samoan international Michael Ala’alatoa will make his first URC start since joining Munster on a seven-month deal. Niall Scannell and Loughman complete the front row, with Wycherley reunited with Springbok Jean Kleyn at lock.

Stand-in captain Jack O’Donoghue shifts to blindside flanker in one of two positional switches, while Kendellen slots in at openside and Gavin Coombes will make his fifth successive competitive start in the number 8 position.

Paddy Patterson is promoted from the bench to make his second start of the season, linking up with Jack Crowley at half-back. Farrell replaces the injured Dan Kelly (calf) to reform his centre partnership with Alex Nankivell.

Like Farrell, Mike Haley was a try scorer against Gloucester in the Investec Champions Cup, and he retains his place at full-back. Joining him in the back-three are the fit-again Nash and Shane Daly, who moves to the left wing for his eighth start of the campaign to date.

A Champions Cup debutant last weekend, Young Munster clubman Conor Bartley is a front row replacement again, alongside fellow forwards Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern, and John Hodnett.

The six-two bench split features Ethan Coughlan and JJ Hanrahan as the two backs. The province have confirmed that Oli Jager will return from a head injury in January, Brian Gleeson (elbow) is targeting a return next month, and Diarmuid Barron is following the graduated return-to-play protocols.

As third-placed Munster set their sights on a sixth victory in seven URC matches, Daly insisted: “The way we performed last weekend, I think if we did that against the Ospreys we probably wouldn’t come out on the right side of the result.

“They’re a tough team. We always struggle against the Ospreys, they’re hard to play against. They’re tough out, they stay in every battle and every game until the very end.

“We know it’s not going to be an easy game at all this week, so we need to get our stuff right. We’re very aware of where we stand and what we need to get better at.

“So just kind of focusing on ourselves and making sure that we get a performance that we’re proud of this weekend, and then hopefully that leads into a result into Christmas and to the other games.”

Acknowledging the need for McMillan’s men to convert more of their scoring chances, he replied: “Not getting individual in that area is so important and being able to keep your composure because sometimes the space is on the edge, and if you get caught too flat, you can’t get the ball away.

“You can’t get the ball to where the best space is. That’s when errors start to creep in. You start to drop the ball. You start to try to force things on the line more than if you took a step beforehand, you had a bit more time to see the picture or get the ball away.

MUNSTER (v Ospreys): Mike Haley; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Shane Daly; Jack Crowley, Paddy Patterson; Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell, Michael Ala’alatoa, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Donoghue (capt), Alex Kendellen, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Conor Bartley, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern, Ethan Coughlan, JJ Hanrahan, John Hodnett.