Earls returns but Warwick and Quinlan dropped
By their own admission, Munster have not hit top gear this season and succumbed to their first defeat last Saturday with a 13-9 Magners League loss away to Leinster.
The consequences were further reaching when Lifeimi Mafi was cited for a dangerous tackle on Gordon D’Arcy and handed a seven-week ban that starts with this evening’s Madejski Stadium encounter in Reading.
Allied to long-term injuries to Felix Jones and Ian Dowling, Munster’s back-line options appeared severely reduced.
The comeback of Irish international Earls from a groin injury sustained in last season’s Magners League semi-final and an ankle problem picked up in pre-season is therefore timely.
Earls slots into Mafi’s outside centre berth in a side showing seven changes, two positional, from the line-up which started in the Aviva Stadium last weekend.
Peter Stringer replacse the injured Tomás O’Leary at scrum-half as expected, but McGahan’s decision to drop Paul Warwick from the full-back role is something of a surprise. Johne Murphy will wear the number 15 jersey while Denis Hurley moves to the wing, and Warwick must be content with a place on the bench.
Tony Buckley has recovered from the illness that forced him to miss the Leinster game and returns to the front row at tighthead while captain Denis Leamy moves from number eight to number six with James Coughlan taking over at the base of the scrum.
Alan Quinlan misses out on the 22 altogether, meaning he will have to wait to surpass Anthony Foley’s record of 2-1 Munster appearances.
The third member of the Munster back row, Niall Ronan, believes last weekend’s defeat will be just the tune-up needed to negotiate the English front-runners in this opening Pool Three tie. The Exiles top the Aviva Premiership after four victories from five starts that have earned them four bonus points and 17 tries.
“They look a fairly sharp outfit,” Ronan said. “They like playing it with ball in hand and have quality players right across the park with Bob Casey, Clarke Dermody, Declan Danaher, George Stowers along with the likes of Seilala Mapusua, Paul Hodgson and Topsy Ojo in the backs.
“I think they’ll look to run us off our feet. But we won’t dwell too long on them. We’ve done our homework and we concentrate on ourselves. The loss to Leinster will be put in perspective by this game. They (Leinster) are a good side, they kept London Irish out of the play-offs last year, so that game will stand to us despite the loss.”
Prolific Samoan winger Sailosi Tagicakibau, who will make his 100th appearance for London Irishm having come off the bench last week to score two second-half tries in the 40-24 defeat of Leeds, while Elvis Seveali’i starts at centre and Faan Rautenbach at prop.
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