THE STORIES ARE everywhere across Munster’s matchday 23.
Take Ethan Coughlan, Conor Moloney, and Tony Butler, three young lads who were playing together for the Ennis RFC underage teams only a couple of years ago and are now on the bench for a Champions Cup clash.
19-year-old Patrick Campbell, the former Cork minor footballer who chose to chase the rugby dream just last summer and starts at fullback today against Wasps at the Coventry Building Society Arena [KO 3.15pm, BT Sport].
Daniel Okeke, also just 19, was playing for the Ireland U20s as recently as July and is now Munster’s starting number eight. Lock Eoin O’Connor is set to become one of the few Waterford men to play for the province at senior level. Scott Buckley and James French have had injury travails in recent years but they too get their first Munster starts as they combine with the experienced Dave Kilcoyne in the front row.
Replacement hooker Declan Moore was playing club rugby in Sydney only a few months ago, while replacement lock/back row John Forde isn’t even in Munster’s academy yet, as is the case with the aforementioned Moloney.
Sub wing/fullback Jonathan Wren is another young man who has had serious injury issues in the recent past but he makes the cut, while back-up loosehead Mark Donnelly has only been getting to grips with All-Ireland League rugby this season, like so many of these players.
They’re all brilliant stories in their own right but Munster have a whole book of them due to the well-publicised issues caused by a Covid-19 outbreak on their recent trip to South Africa. There had been some hope of senior men getting out of self-isolation to feature today but in the end, Munster are without 34 players.
It remains to be seen if head coach Johann van Graan or any of his fellow senior coaches have been able to travel for today’s game, but academy manager Ian Costello has been running the show in Limerick over the past fortnight. With an in-depth grasp of the province’s young talent and having only joined from Wasps last summer, he has been the perfect man to lead the charge.
Munster never entertained the notion of not fulfilling this fixture. Scarlets were forced to hand Bristol a walkover in their Champions Cup clash this weekend having been left in a similar position to Munster, although Cardiff’s much-weakened team put up a very creditable fight against Toulouse and only lost 39-7 yesterday.
Munster are in the UK with genuine intent to win this European fixture. It helps that a crop of eight international players didn’t travel to South Africa. Captain Peter O’Mahony, wing duo Keith Earls and Andrew Conway, inside centre Damian de Allende, halfbacks Conor Murray and Joey Carbery, prop Kilcoyne, and lock Tadhg Beirne all start today.
It has also helps that senior squad members Chris Farrell [another international], John Hodnett, and Roman Salanoa have all recovered from injuries very recently to be available to play.
Hodnett is still just 22 and makes his first Munster start in over a year after recovering from a long-term Achilles injury and a shorter-term ankle issue. Farrell is in the number 13 shirt, while Salanoa offers tighthead cover from the bench.
The front row has been the obvious concern for Munster and the early scrums will be intriguing. Kilcoyne is the only experienced player in their six-man front row unit, so he will need those around him to step up in a huge way. It is, in truth, a Munster pack that Wasps will certainly feel they can overpower.
The English side have actually had scrum issues in what has been a frustrating season so far. They are missing 18 senior players today due to injury, with that lengthy list including key figures like Joe Launchbury, Malakai Fekitoa, Dan Robson, and Jack Willis.
They’ve lost their last five games but do still have plenty of quality in the likes of the in-form number eight Tom Willis, thrilling 21-year-old back row talent Alfie Barbeary, and exciting out-half Jacob Umaga.
Wasps are the favourites for this game given the sheer level of inexperience in Munster’s matchday 23 – with 12 of them set for their debuts for the province – in comparison to the hosts’ selection.
But Munster’s history is littered with examples of them upsetting the odds in Europe in the most testing of circumstances.
It will take something remarkable here, but it does feel a little like today could be another one of those Munster days.
Wasps:
- 15. Marcus Watson
- 14. Zach Kibirige
- 13. Michael Le Bourgeois
- 12. Jimmy Gopperth
- 11. Josh Bassett
- 10. Jacob Umaga
- 9. Sam Wolstenholme
- 1. Tom West
- 2. Dan Frost
- 3. Biyi Alo
- 4. Sebastian de Chaves
- 5. Elliott Stooke
- 6. Alfie Barbeary
- 7. Brad Shields (captain)
- 8. Tom Willis
Replacements:
- 16. Gabriel Oghre
- 17. Robin Hislop
- 18. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen
- 19. Tim Cardall
- 20. Nizaam Carr
- 21. Thomas Young
- 22. Will Porter
- 23. Francois Hougaard
Munster:
- 15. Patrick Campbell
- 14. Andrew Conway
- 13. Chris Farrell
- 12. Damian de Allende
- 11. Keith Earls
- 10. Joey Carbery
- 9. Conor Murray
- 1. Dave Kilcoyne
- 2. Scott Buckley
- 3. James French
- 4. Eoin O’Connor
- 5. Tadhg Beirne
- 6. Peter O’Mahony (captain)
- 7. John Hodnett
- 8. Daniel Okeke
Replacements:
- 16. Declan Moore
- 17. Mark Donnelly
- 18. Roman Salanoa
- 19. John Forde
- 20. Conor Moloney
- 21. Ethan Coughlan
- 22. Tony Butler
- 23. Jonathan Wren
Referee: Romain Poite [FFR].
