Gaffney gives Wallace nod over Quinlan

WHEREAS coach Alan Gaffney occasioned little or no surprise when he announced his side to meet Castres in tonight’s Heineken European Cup tie in Castres, his opposite number, Christope Urios, unexpectedly made three changes to his anticipated line-up.

While it transpired that out-half Yann Delaigue and second-row David Barrier are on the injured list and are replaced by Xavier Sadourny and Lionel Nallet respectively, the choice of Laurent Marticorena ahead of former French international Richard Dourthe at outside-centre had not been anticipated. Apart from his undoubted class as a centre, Dourthe was also the side’s chief goal kicker. That role now passes to Sadourny. Urios has also gone for the Argentinian Rodrigo Capo Ortega ahead of the vastly experienced Romain Froment at number seven.

Alan Gaffney was also faced with a dilemma in the back-row where he has opted for David Wallace as Denis Leamy’s replacement at number seven ahead of Alan Quinlan. However, the latter sits on the bench and is sure to come into the fray some time in the second half, probably in place of Jim Williams who will be 36 on Wednesday next and may struggle to maintain the pace for the full 80 minutes.

Mossy Lawler fills in for another injury victim, John Kelly, on the right wing with Shaun Payne getting the nod ahead of Mike Mullins at outside centre. “We’ve run with the back-row that played against the Ospreys“, said Gaffney. “That meant leaving Alan Quinlan on the bench and that was a tough decision. The same applied when it came to number 13 between Mike and Shaun. As for their team, there are some aspects I didn’t expect. We knew that Delaigue was injured playing against Toulouse but reckoned he’d be okay.

“We haven’t seen Dourthe’s replacement play live although we have him on video. Froment has been in the starting line-up more often than not and we will be doing video analysis on the Argentinian.

“Delaigue has been a consistent player also so the amount of information we have on Sadourny. I assume he’s a goal-kicker with Dourthe on the bench. That does surprise me.

Munster:

C Cullen, M Lawler, S Payne,R Henderson, A Horgan, R O’Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, J. Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell, J Williams, D Wallace, A Foley (captain).

Replacements: J Blaney, G McIlwham, T Hogan, A Quinlan, M Prendergast, P Burke, M Mullins.

Castres team:

U Mol, B Fleming, L Marticorena, M Denney, D Bory, X Sadourny, A Albouy, J Fitzpatrick, M Ledesma (capt), A Galasso, L Nallet, N Spanghero, A Bias, R Capo Ortega, P Volley.

Replacements: R Vigneaux, J Deen, M Reggiardo, B Lhande, R Froment, R Dourthe, N Morlaes.

Ref: N Whitehouse, Wales.