Keatley looks to bright future as new era starts for Munster
“It’s a tricky injury,” he said. “It is pretty much bruising of the pubic bone. You can think that it goes, and it comes back whenever. I have tried to manage it as best I can, but you still want to do a good pre-season.
“I haven’t missed anything over pre-season which is good because that sets you up for the season fitness-wise and strength-wise. It is still a little bit at me, but I know I can manage it, like I did at the end of last season.”
Keatley steps into the first XV for Anthony Foley’s first competitive game in charge despite not featuring in either of the two August warm-ups. There are six changes to the side that defeated London Irish seven days ago.
Simon Zebo starts, as does Andrew Conway. Dave Foley and Tommy Donnell, both of whom featured alongside Keatley and Conway with Emerging Ireland during the summer, are on the bench.
BJ Botha comes in to the front row while Shane Buckley will make his senior debut in replacing Robin Copeland at number eight, after Copeland picked up an injury against the Exiles last week.
Hooker Kevin O’Byrne and Australian centre Andrew Smith make their competitive bows for the province against an Edinburgh side that has experienced wholesale changes under the stewardship of Alan Solomons.
“I know him from his time down the years coaching Ulster,” said Foley. “A lovely man, an excellent coach. Very knowledgeable about the game.
“Last season they came in late so they missed pre-season. You put that in context this year and he has had a full pre-season with them and recruited the players. He has made 23 changes or something from the squad last year.”
The sides have met eight times this last two seasons, with the Irish province winning seven times. That said, the only loss is the one they still get asked about: a 29-23 Heineken Cup loss for Rob Penney’s side in Murrayfield last October.
“I don’t know about Rob but we were pretty mad ourselves,” said Keatley. “You don’t need to tell a player if he played bad or good. You know. You are going in Monday and dreading the review. We bounced back and played well after that match.
“We got out of our pool and made the semi-finals but sometimes you need a kick up the ass and Edinburgh gave that to us last season. Maybe it set up our season. We got to two semi-finals and we are looking to improve.”
R O’Mahony; A Conway, J Murphy, A Smith, S Zebo; I Keatley, D Williams; J Ryan, K O’Byrne, BJ Botha; D O’Callaghan (capt), B Holland; CJ Stander, S Dougall, S Buckley.
Replacements: Duncan Casey, Alan Cotter, Stephen Archer, Dave Foley, Tommy O’Donnell, Cathal Sheridan, Johnny Holland, Ivan Dineen.
J Cuthbert; D Fife, S Beard, A Strauss, T Visser; G Tonks, S Kennedy; A Dickinson, R Ford (capt), J Andress; F McKenzie, O Atkins; T Leonardi, H Watson, C Du Preez.
Replacements: J Hilterbrand, R Sutherland, WP Nel, B Toolis, M Coman, S Hidalgo-Clyne, N McLennan, P Burleigh.
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