Veteran Quinlan returns to Munster fold for Blues clash
Quinlan has recovered from a long-term groin injury and is one of eight alterations to the 22-strong squad involved in last week’s huge victory over Newport Gwent Dragons, as coach Tony McGahan lives up to his rotation promise.
Denis Fogarty replaces Frankie Sheahan, Neil Ronan comes in for Donncha O’Callaghan, Quinlan for David Wallace, Tony Buckley for Marcus Horan, Mike Prendergast for Tomás O’Leary, Jeremy Manning for Paul Warwick, Rua Tipoki for Keith Earls, while John Hayes is back for Darragh Hurley.
Effectively, this squad is a mix and match from the last two games in the league, games that ended in victories over Edinburgh and the Dragons.
Team manager Shaun Payne pointed to the positives of being able to switch players without sacrificing any of the cutting edge shown this season.
“I think we’re very lucky to have a formidable core group of players; I don’t think that any one team in the last few games has been weaker than another. It’s where we are at the moment, and I figure we almost have an embarrassment of riches in the backline. There are lots of positions up for grabs, particularly in the back line, and that hasn’t always been the case,” he said.
Quinlan will be given significant game time and will most likely be named in the side from the off. Payne noted: “Alan has been bursting his guts to get back. We have had a hard job holding him back but he’s certainly ready for it now.”
Meanwhile, Munster A squeezed through for a narrow 7-6 victory over Ulster A at Musgrave Park yesterday.
Munster fell behind to a Paul Steinmetz penalty after 13 minutes having spent much of the opening spell defending their line. Munster came close to scoring when Tom Gleeson lost his marker and put Evan Ryan into space, but the full back was stopped inches from the line just before the break.
The second half continued in much the same manner — with defences on top — and Ulster had a second penalty from Steinmetz after 26 minutes.
That brought the desired response from the home side and Munster made a decisive line break a minute later.
The creativity came from Conan Doyle, who showed the Ulster defence a clean pair of heels. He made it 30 metres to the line and managed to wriggle out of a tackle to grab the touchdown for a try that substitute Tadhg Bennett converted.
Even though Shaun Payne admitted he would like to have seen more success in attack, the Munster manager did point to the importance of the fixture and more to follow in the season.
“This was our first game and both defences held firm throughout. It was a good exercise; we need more of these games to give our players experience. We have four further games organised and hope to arrange a couple more.”
MUNSTER SQUAD (v Cardiff): D. Hurley, D. Howlett, L. Mafi, R. Tipoki, B. Murphy, I. Dowling, R. O’Gara, J. Manning, P. Stringer, M. Prendergast, F. Pucciariello, T. Buckley, J. Flannery, D. Fogarty, J. Hayes, P. O’Connell, M. O’Driscoll, D. Ryan, N. Ronan, A. Quinlan, J. O’Sullivan, J. Melck.
MUNSTER A: E. Ryan, B. Carney, K. Lewis, T. Gleeson, C. O’Boyle, C. Doyle, M. Prendergast, D. Hurley, M. Essex, T. Ryan, M. Melbourne, I. Nagle, T. O’Donnell, B. Holland (captain), E. Grace.
Replacements: C. Sheridan for Prendergast (40), J. Coughlan for Grace, D. Foley for Nagle (both 47), D. Ryan for T Ryan (63), T. Bennett for O’Boyle (67), M. Kinsella for Doyle (75).
ULSTER A: J. Smith, M. Barker, M. McCrea, I. Whitten, T. Seymour, P. Steinmetz, P. Marshall, J. Carey, N. Hanna, B. Young, M. Wilson N. McCombe, F. Paulo, C. Henry (captain), W. Faloon.
Replacements: S. Philpott for Hanna (56), J. Watt for Seymour (58), P. Karayiannis for Carey (66), M. Entwhistle for Wilson (68), S. Lamb for Faloon, A. Telford for Marshall (both 73)
Referee: D. Philips (Leinster)
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