Earls retains centre role

Thu, 27 Sep, 2012 - 14:45

After a man-of-the-match performance at second-centre against the Dragons, Keith Earls will wear the number 13 jersey again on Saturday for Munster’s RaboDirect PRO12 meeting with defending champions Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium (6.30pm).

Head coach Rob Penney continues to shuffle his midfield selection, picking Casey Laulala at inside centre alongside Earls with James Downey named among the replacements.

Conor Murray makes his first start of the season after coming off the bench for Ulster and Dragons, while Donnacha Ryan and Peter O’Mahony are included for the first time in a match day squad this season.

Denis Hurley makes his return to action after recovering from tonsillitis which kept him side-lined for the Dragons game.

Wian du Preez, Mike Sherry and Stephen Archer form the front row. Behind them Donncha O’Callaghan locks down with Billy Holland in the second row.

Niall Ronan is again handed the number seven jersey with Paddy Butler and Tommy O’Donnell completing the back row.

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett ©, K Earls, C Laulala, S Zebo, R O’Gara, C Murray; W Du Preez, M Sherry, S Archer, D O’Callaghan, B Holland, T O’Donnell, N Ronan, P Butler.

Replacements: D Varley, D Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, D Ryan, P O’Mahony, P Stringer, I Keatley, J Downey.

Players not considered due to injury:

J Murphy (knee), F Jones (shoulder), L O’Dea (ankle), S Scanlon (back), I Dineen (stomach), T Smith (knee), P O’Connell (back), J Coughlan (groin), I Nagle (shoulder).