McGahan gives youth a chance

Danny Riordan, Toby Morland and Damien Varley will make their Munster debuts in Friday’s friendly against Sale Sharks, while Julien Brugnaut has been named amongst the replacements.

Riordan, who has joined the province on a short-term deal from Connacht, will start on the right wing, while former Chiefs scrum half Morland will start in the half-backs alongside Jeremy Manning. Meanwhile, Varley, who lined out for Wasps last season, will assume the hooking responsibilities, with recently-arrived French prop Brugnaut having to make do with a seat on the bench.

With Munster’s Irish stars not considered for selection, the squad has a youthful look to it and, in total, nine players will be making their Munster debuts at Musgrave Park, including Academy products Dave Ryan and Tommy O’Donnell.

However, head coach Tony McGahan believes that he has named a strong line-up for Munster's first pre-season game of the season.

"Yes, it is by and large a young squad, but there are seven fully-contracted players in the starting line-up too," the Australian said.

"The internationals and Churchill Cup players are not available to us, while Doug Howlett and Lifeimi Mafi are carrying little niggles.

"Our pre-season has been disrupted because of the demands on our internationals, but having the entire squad together has been beneficial and allowed us to get back to team drills and our game plan.

"The players worked hard this past week. I'm more than happy with the work we were able to do.

“If I were to make a comparison to where we are now and where we were this time last year, I would say we are ahead at this stage in our preparations."

MUNSTER (v Sale Sharks): Scott Deasy; Danny Riordan, Tom Gleeson, Paul Warwick (capt), Danny Barnes; Jeremy Manning, Toby Morland; Dave Ryan, Damien Varley, Stephen Archer; Billy Holland, Ian Nagle; Nick Williams, Tommy O'Donnell, Kieran Essex.

Replacements (from): Mike Sherry, Julien Brugnaut, Dave O'Callaghan, Eoghan Grace, Conor Murray, Andrew Burke, Finbar Ahern, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Hayes, Ronan O'Mahony, Declan Cusack.