’Quins warm-up cancellation hampers Munster’s preparation
Premiership club Harlequins pulled the plug on a fixture arranged for the Stoop in London, claiming they had injury worries and were unable to field a strong enough team.
A frustrated Munster team manager Shaun Payne described the development as unfortunate and said the announcement was badly timed.
The news was relayed following the Ireland/Canada game on Saturday night, leaving no time to arrange an alternative fixture.
Munster had booked and paid for seats on an early morning scheduled flight yesterday — their north Munster-based players staying overnight on Sunday in Cork — and were due to return late last night after playing in what Payne said was a vital, much-needed fixture.
The manager bemoaned the fact that the province, following the cancellation of the game and another planned fixture earlier against Connacht A, lost out on what he described as crucial game time in the build up to next Tuesday’s clash at Thomond Park. They now go into that tie without a match since their last fixture against Ulster in Belfast on October 25.
Instead, coach Tony McGahan will attempt to replicate a match day situation at training sometime this week as Payne admitted: “We’ll be treading on water a bit, we’re all frustrated but we will have to make the best of it.
“Even though it’s not the same as a match, we will have the chance to have three full rugby sessions this week; we will have to be as positive as we can. One of the positives is that we don’t have any additional problems to worry about and Rua Tipoki has recovered from his recent injury,” he said.
Meanwhile, McGahan is likely to hold off on team selection for the big game until the weekend when he will have a better idea as to whether any of the Munster players on the national squad will be released.
He won’t have to worry about the availability of others such as Tipoki, Lifeimi Mafi and All Black legend Doug Howlett.
It will be a huge occasion for all three. Tipoki was captain of the New Zealand Maoris before his transfer to Munster, while Mafi, although holding a Tongan passport, has played for New Zealand at U19 and U21 levels.
The Munster winger Howlett, New Zealand’s record international try scorer, will be anxious to remind New Zealand coach Graham Henry of what he let slip through his fingers by excluding him from the team in a crucial World Cup game against France last year, thereby hastening a decision to move overseas.
Meanwhile, David Pollock will captain Ulster for the first time against Portugal at Ravenhill on Thursday night (7.30)
The former Royal School Dungannon and Irish schools star has a great track record as captain at lower levels, having led the Ireland U20 team to an unprecedented Grand Slam.
He also captained both the Ireland U19 and U21 sides that participated in the respective IRB Rugby World Championships.
Bryan Young is back to start at loosehead prop, the Ballymena man has been injured since mid-September, and will play alongside BJ Botha and Neil Hanna in the front row.
The backline is a mix of youth and experience, with former Leicester Tigers flyhalf Ian Humphreys filling the number 10 jersey instead of Niall O’Connor.
There are 10 replacements named for the fixture, with Ulster Academy members Chris Cochrane and last year’s Irish Examiner junior sports star for rugby, James Sandford, included alongside Ulster crowd favourites Kieron Dawson and Justin Fitzpatrick.
Ulster assistant coach Steve Williams believes it will be a tough match despite Portugal’s loss to Connacht on Sunday.
“We won’t be under-estimating this side, they showed plenty of fight against Connacht. This is a good chance for us to try and build on the Munster victory and also give some of our younger players a chance to show us what they can do,” said Williams.
ULSTER: B Cunningham, T Nagusa, D Cave, I Whitten, M McCrea, I Humphreys, C Willis, B Young, N Hanna, BJ Botha, M McCullough, E O’Donghue, T Anderson, R Diack, D Pollock (capt).
Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, D Fitzpatrick, K Dawson, I Boss, N O’Connor, P Steinmetz, C Henry, J Sandford, C Cochrane.
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