Owen out as Dragons ring changes
The only alteration for the home side sees the return after a bout of pneumonia of Shaun Payne at full-back in place of Mossie Lawler.
The Dragons have made seven changes and welcome back Welsh International Hal Luscombe in the centre. Luscombe comes in for Sione Tuipulotu who damaged his shoulder last weekend.
Another interesting move is the inclusion in the centre of Jon Bryant for Ceri Sweeney who switches to fly half and so into a direct head-to-head with Ronan O’Gara, about whom he passed disparaging words before the first meeting of the sides. Craig Warlow is dropped to the bench while Gareth Baber comes in for Gareth Cooper at the base of the scrum.
In the forwards, Gethin Robinson replaces Rhys Thomas in the front-row, the 6ft 9 inch Luke Charteris comes in for Peter Sidoli in the second-row while Rhys Oakley replaces Andrew Hall at number six.
However, in the biggest surprise of all, Richard Bryan takes over the captaincy and No.8 position from Michael Owen.
Another top notch Welsh player, Kevin Morgan, is also among the replacements having recovered from an ankle injury.
“It looks like they are trying to strengthen their line-out by going with Luke Charteris from the start and they have put together what I would call a hardy back-row, three guys we have seen before and who won’t be in any way fazed by the Thomond Park atmosphere,” said Munster coach Declan Kidney.
“They have also bulked up their midfield with Luscombe, Jonathan Bryant and Sweeney. There will be surprise at the omission of Michael Owen but that’s probably down to finding a balance and of course with Kevin Morgan there as well, it means they have a very strong bench.”
Dragons Coach Paul Turner sees this as a big occasion in their season, even if they are already out of contention for pool honours: “We are certainly looking forward to visiting Thomond Park. It is a great place to play, although it promises to be a steep learning curve for a lot of our players.
“The Dragons have won at Thomond Park (6-16) the season before last so while we are aware no-one has beaten them on their home patch in the Heineken Cup, we have been there before and left with a result. I was delighted with the way everyone stuck at it last weekend. They were a bit too street-wise for us in the contact area.”
Luscombe’s return and the likelihood of the dangerous Morgan coming off the bench should add a decided edge to the Welsh attacking options.
Luscombe, especially, is looking forward to getting back into action and said last night: “It has been a frustrating time for me to be out injured especially as it happened at the start of our Heineken Cup campaign.
“Training has gone well all week and there is tremendous team spirit among the squad with everyone playing for each other. We travel to Thomond Park with confidence, there is no need to hit the panic button as there are only a few areas that are letting us down.”
The return of Shaun Payne should lend added thrust to what has been a distinctly disappointing Munster back division over the last few matches.
A full house at Thomond Park will hope for a lot more aggression in an area where Gary Connolly hasn’t delivered on the promise he displayed in his earlier matches.
Declan Kidney has been preaching all week about the need for ensuring a win first and foremost before chasing after the bonus point on offer for four tries but stressed: “We try to win every game by as much as we can.
“We don’t hold anything back and we won’t do so today. The Dragons may be out of the competition but that means they will go out to express themselves without too much pressure and that’s when they could be most dangerous.”
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