Malone says Munster won’t be holding back
Munster coach Peter Malone has again given the captain’s armband to flanker Barry O’Mahony who joins brother Ronan (full-back) in the team, and Malone has named a useful backline that includes the experienced Andrew Conway and Ivan Dineen. Up front, Billy Holland and Paddy Butler bring the highest level of experience.
But Leinster have plenty experience in their ranks. Quinn Roux and Dominic Ryan, who captains the side, are the headliners up front. In the backs, Sam Coughlan-Murray, Noel Reid and Luke McGrath have build up a good bit of experience these past couple of years. Leo Auva’a and John Cooney are on the bench.
Having played at senior level last week, Malone expects there will be no holding back tonight by either side.
“It probably does make it more intense because the seniors locked horns last week in the Aviva. Both teams, being realistic, would follow similar patterns to the senior teams so there is a fair bit of video watching going on looking for clues,” he said.
It’s a major challenge as always, but Malone hopes Munster will be up to the task.
“It has developed well, two years ago was the game in the RDS on Good Friday. Last year was in Dooradoyle. So for the third year in a row we meet in the knockout stages. It has been a good rivalry, and traditionally we have gone fairly well against Leinster in the A class.”
LEINSTER A: D Hudson, S Coughlan-Murray, C O’Shea, N Reid, A Boyle, C Marsh, L McGrath, J O’Connell, J Tracy, M Kelly, Q Roux, T Denton, B Marshall, J Conan, D Ryan (capt).
Replacements: B Byrne, E Byrne, R Moloney, L Auva’a, J Cooney, S Crosbie, T Daly.
MUNSTER A: R O’Mahony, A Conway, C Bohane, I Dineen, L O’Dea, R Scannell, G Hurley, N Horan, N Scannell, B Scott, D O’Shea, B Holland, S Buckley, P Butler, B O’Mahony (capt).
Replacements: G Slattery, R Burke, S McCarthy, J O’Donoghue, B Haugh, D Johnston, N Kenneally.
