Seven changes as Munster focused solely on Exiles clash

LOSING this afternoon’s final Heineken Cup game of the season at home to London Irish is not an option.

Hence, Munster coach Tony McGahan has picked a team for today, not the future.

There may be seven changes, two of them positional, from the side soundly beaten in Toulon last week, but the incoming personnel for today’s Thomond Park clash (3.30pm) represent not a new dawn for the province, rather a desire to finish a disappointing Heineken Cup campaign by qualifying for the second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

The 32-16 defeat at Stade Mayol last Sunday brings Munster back to a place in the late 1990s when European quarter-finals were a pipe dream. Two Heineken Cup titles and a remarkable record of qualification later, the last eight is the bare minimum expected by fans, players and management alike.

That has not been achieved and so Munster must cut its cloth accordingly, while protecting its outstanding record of success at Thomond Park.

The significant change is the demotion of Donncha O’Callaghan from the second row following his disciplinary aberration in taking out Toulon’s Rudi Wolf and earning a yellow card for which side paid a high price in France, conceding 13 points during the lock’s enforced absence.

McGahan has gone to great lengths this week to focus on the need for cool heads and strict discipline if Munster are to climb out of their current malaise and now the message has been delivered directly to O’Callaghan.

Yet the coach’s intent in selecting Mick O’Driscoll rather than 22-year-old Ian Nagle, who was this week elevated to the Heineken Cup squad as the one permitted addition, shows that for this weekend at least, the future can wait.

There is a nod to it with young backs Scott Deasy and Tom Gleeson named on the replacements bench, in addition to developing front rowers Mike Sherry and Darragh Hurley but by and large this is a team to do a job on London Irish.

Lock and back row Donnacha Ryan “tweaked” a hamstring in Toulon during his substitute’s appearance, although his injury was earlier in the week described as an ankle problem, and he sits this one out, while full-back Paul Warwick, declared fit in midweek following a heavy knock in the first half, was yesterday ruled out, while centre Sam Tuitupou picked up a hamstring injury in training.

The two positional changes see Johne Murphy take over at full-back and David Wallace, Munster’s only try scorer last weekend, switching to blindside flanker in place of James Coughlan, with Niall Ronan handed the openside berth in the back row, from where No.8 Denis Leamy retains the team captaincy ahead of squad leader Paul O’Connell, who makes his second start in as many weeks as he bids to build up to full match fitness.

In the backs, Lifeimi Mafi replaces Tuitupou at inside centre while Tomás O’Leary, omitted last Sunday from the Munster side and left out of Ireland’s preliminary Six Nations squad in midweek, is handed a start at scrum-half ahead of Peter Stringer.

As for the visitors, they have arrived in Limerick cock-a-hoop at last Sunday ending a miserable run of 10 defeats in succession when they quashed pool rivals Ospreys’ hopes of a fourth successive quarter-final with a morale-boosting win at Madejski Stadium.

When Munster visited Reading for the European opener last October, the Exiles were riding high in the Aviva Premiership and were deserving winners against McGahan’s side on a night when the province’s lineout failed to fire, Tuitupou picked up a suspension and they were mistakes aplenty.

There will be a much-changed lineout this time around with O’Connell back on the scene, while London Irish’s much-vaunted pair of locks Nick Kennedy and Bob Casey are minus one Casey, Matt Garvey continuing to keep the former Ireland second row out of the side.

Dan Bowden continues at fly-half instead of the more mercurial (others would call it frustratingly inconsistent) Ryan Lamb while Topsy Ojo moves to full-back following the eight-week suspension handed to England’s Delon Armitage on Thursday night following an altercation with a doping official.

Seilala Mapusua, whose exit from the club for Japan at the end of the season was announced this week, will again captain the Exiles and provide the sort of supercharged tackling and line-breaking at inside centre that Munster have sorely lacked of late, with Elvis Seveali’i outside him and Adam Thompstone called off the bench to occupy a wing across from speedy Saloisi Tagicakiba to complete a potent backline capable of posing Munster’s defence plenty of problems.

“The win against the Ospreys was fantastic, we worked hard and earned a result,” said London Irish head coach Toby Booth. “We need to keep that momentum rolling. Munster is an extremely well-resourced side and we expect it to be tough. The squad has prepared hard this week and we will fight tooth and nail to get a victory.”