Munster v Treviso: How the sides compare
CJ Stander captains Munster in an unchanged back row but Anthony Foley makes five changes in personnel and another two positionally from last Saturday’s Pro12 win at Edinburgh for this Champions Cup opener.
Former Wallaby Mark Chisholm replaces Dave Foley at lock for his Champions Cup debut, while hooker Mike Sherry comes in for Duncan Casey in his first European game for two years and BJ Botha returns at tighthead, Foley, Casey and John Ryan all moving to the bench.
There is a Euro debut for All Black centre Francis Saili at 13 alongside the incoming Denis Hurley, with Keith Earls switching from outside centre to the wing with Gerhard van den Heever suspended and Simon Zebo moving from full-back to the left wing, replaced at 15 by Andrew Conway. On the bench, there could also be a Munster debut for Argentina’s Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino and a European bow for academy fly-half/centre Rory Scannell.
Stand-in captain Stander leads Munster in Europe for the first time in the absence of Peter O’Mahony and with Paul O’Connell and Felix Jones no longer at the province there is a leadership vacuum to fill. The Irish-qualified No.8 will be determined to lead from the front and continuing some impressive, barnstorming form on both sides of the ball this season.
With a strong and settled pack the Munster forwards can take an early stranglehold on this game at the set-piece and provide the platform for a newly-configured and potentially exciting backline to cut loose and deliver the bonus-point victory necessary to get this pool campaign up and running.
Director of rugby Marius Goosen makes five changes from the side which sunk to its seventh consecutive league loss of the season last week at Connacht. There are also three key positional changes with Italy star Luke McLean reverting from fly-half to his more effective full-back berth, sending leading try scorer and place kicker Jayden Hayward to outside centre, which moves Tommaso Iaonnone onto the wing.
Italy scrum-half Edoardo Gori returns at half-back alongside restored fly-half James Ambrosini. There are key absentees in the second row with no Filo Paulo or Tom Palmer but Francesco Minto rejoins the back row alongside captain and Test team-mate Alessandro Zanni and No.8 Braam Steyn.
Italy scrum-half Edoardo Gori gave Ireland headaches during the World Cup pool game at London’s Olympic Stadium, comfortable on the ball and not once opting to kick the ball away from behind a ruck, he was a driving force for the Italians during a tense and closely-fought game.
With McLean restored at full-back in a back three with fellow internationals Ludovico Nitoglia and Tommaso Iaonnone, Munster will be wary of kicking loosely into the Treviso backfield.
The Italians’ counter-attacking, swift and incisive, can be a serious threat.
The X Factor
With 17,000 tickets sold, Thomond Park won’t be a sell-out tonight but the stadium is sure to be buzzing as European rugby returns to Limerick in the prime location on the TV schedule, 5:15 on a Saturday evening.
“Get the mist in over the stadium, get the lights going and get the crowd going, it’s an intimidating atmosphere,” said head coach Anthony Foley this week.
Bonus-point victory for Munster, just a question of how quickly they can overcome Treviso resistance.
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