Gaffney hands Munster debut to Flannery
Hooker Flannery, 24, rejoined the province after a two-year spell with Connacht, and is set to be an integral part of the set-up according to coach Alan Gaffney.
“He is a quality player and has got a lot of experience in his time with Connacht. We need players like him, especially in World Cup year, and I believe that he is good enough to make the grade at a high level,” Gaffney said.
Jason Jones-Hughes, the Australian-born Welsh international, who played against Leinster last week as a substitute makes his starting debut in tomorrow’s affair.
Trevor Hogan will partner Eddie Halvey in the second row with Munster fielding a particularly strong back row of Jim Williams, David Wallace and Denis Leamy.
In the half-backs, Eoin Reddan will be partnered by Killian Keane while Jeremy Staunton, scorer of all his side’s points in the win against Leinster, continues at full-back.
The inclusion of flanker Wallace was automatic once he was excluded from the Irish World Cup squad.
His availability for Munster has been welcomed by Gaffney although the coach admitted: “We would have preferred to see David with Ireland from his point of view. I know it has been disappointing for him but it does give us extra options at a time when our squad has been badly hit by defections and injuries.
“He is a top class player and will be of huge importance against a team like Llanelli.”
Gaffney admitted it could be a hard haul against the Welsh side as Munster seek to preserve an unbeaten competitive run at Thomond Park.
Connacht will be bidding to complete a hat-trick of victories over Cardiff in the Celtic League after beating the Welsh team by narrow margins in the last two years. The westerners were victors by 6-3 at the Arms Park two years ago and last year edged out Cardiff 23-22 at the Sportsground in Galway.
Cardiff went down 23-13 in their opening game of the Celtic League away to Glasgow last weekend and will hardly relish the visit of Michael Bradley’s side, 11-3 victors over Edinburgh in their opening game. Bradley has named an unchanged side from that encounter.
Cardiff will also be without second row forward Craig Quinnell, who was sent off for stamping in the Celtic League match against Glasgow last Friday and suspended for six matches by the Welsh Rugby Union disciplinary committee yesterday.
The Wales lock will also miss the Celtic League match against Leinster and is not free to resume playing until October 26.
Ulster take on Glasgow at Ravenhill and will be seeking to get their challenge back on track. Kenny Sinclair and Matt Proudfoot will make their Celtic League debuts for Glasgow.
Sinclair will be starting for Glasgow for the first time since May 2002, when he scored a try in the 37-20 win in the Welsh/Scottish League match against Swansea at Hughenden.
The scrum-half was still in the club ranks then, the professional team having borrowed him from Glasgow Hawks for the last four matches of that season.
Two of Glasgow’s try-scorers against Cardiff last week, Gareth Maclure and Sam Pinder, have been ruled out because of injuries and Glasgow have made four changes in personnel from last week’s starting XV.
CONNACHT: M McHugh, C McPhillips, D Yyapp, T Allnutt (captain), W Munn, E Elwood, C Keane, W O’Kelly, B Jackman, A Clarke, D Browne, A Farley, M Swift, M Lacey, J O’Sullivan Replacements J Fogarty, F Boiroux, M McCarthy, M Carroll, C O’Loughlin, D Hewitt, T Robinson.
MUNSTER: J Staunton, M Lawlor, M Mullins, J Jones-Hughes, S Payne, K Keane, E Reddan, S Kerr, J Flannery, M Cahill, T Hogan, E Halvey, D Leamy, J Williams, D Wallace.
Replacements: M McPhail C McMahon, F Murphy, S Keogh, D Sheehan, A Long, J Danaher.
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