Munster name strong squad for Scarlets trip
It is a signal honour for Munster to provide the opposition to the West Wales side, previously known as Llanelli Scarlets, in their first match at a stadium which will cater for 15,000 spectators when fully operational.
It replaces the famous Stradey Park, which served as the headquarters of Llanelli RFC for the last 130 years and which has now been sold to help finance the new stadium, a joint venture between the rugby club and the Carmarthen County Council.
Munster currently lead the Magners League table with 22 points, nine clear of the Scarlets who, however, have a game in hand. Payne and coach Tony McGahan are clearly taking no chances and have included each of the nine players away on international duty over the past few weeks in the panel.
The only notable absentees are the injured Tipoki and Flannery, but the good news is that Denis Leamy and David Wallace respectively have recovered from the respective knocks they took against New Zealand and Argentina for Munster and Ireland.
However, there is still no sign of the name of former Auckland Blues back-row Nick Williams. He continues to recover from a shoulder injury that he was carrying when he arrived from New Zealand and the game against Connacht in Galway on November 28 is being targeted for his first appearance in the red jersey.
The squad underwent two sessions at the University of Limerick yesterday when the body language clearly indicated that they still haven’t come down entirely from the high that enveloped just about everyone after the amazing game against the All Blacks last week.
The initial sense of disappointment has worn off and now the players and everybody connected with the occasion are looking back upon it with considerable pride. Payne reflects a popular view when stating that it will also make for a better Munster team.
“The All Blacks game is a great platform to build on, especially for the lads involved,” he says. “They realise now that there’s another gear there if they need it. There is the realisation that they’re able to compete at that level. It just has to be a massive confidence to those fellows involved in that game and I think to the squad as a whole as well and I am very happy that the internationals were there to see the game. They saw how those lads played, I know they were all very excited and very proud of what the lads had done.
“There was talk that the support for the team and the atmosphere in the new stadium wasn’t as fervent as it used to be. That game totally blows such a theory out of the water. I have never personally seen it like that nor have I spoken to anyone who can recall an occasion like that at Thomond Park.
“You’d have to think the performance will be a reminder to the more established players that there is serious competition for places in the team. We all know the Irish squad performances weren’t up to their normal high standards and while it was great they got the results they needed, the Munster team coming out of the New Zealand game would be in slightly higher spirits than the lads coming back from the Ireland side. The bar has been set now and we don’t drop below that.”
The Scarlets will be without wing Mark Jones, out-half Stephen Jones and hooker Matthew Rees, all in the starting Welsh line-up against Australia on Saturday, as well as replacements Dafydd Jones and Martin Roberts.
MUNSTER: M Horan, D Fogarty, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, T Buckley, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, P O'Connell, D Ryan, N Ronan, J Coughlan, D Wallace, D Leamy, J O'Sullivan, P Warwick, I Dowling, D Howlett, A Horgan, B Murphy, K Earls, L Mafi, P Stringer, T O'Leary, R O'Gara.
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