Burn injury rules CJ Stander out of final Munster game  

CJ Stander

CJ Stander will not get the opportunity to pull on a Munster jersey one last time after he and fellow burns victim Mike Haley failed to pass fit for the final PRO14 Rainbow Cup game of the season at Zebre on Friday (6pm).

The duo, along with team-mates Damian de Allende and RG Snyman sustained superficial burns last Saturday night when petrol was poured onto a fire pit. The two South African stars were immediately ruled out of the trip to Italy but there was hope Haley and Stander would recover from their wounds in time to travel to Parma.

It means Ireland and Lions back-row Stander played his 156th and final game for Munster in the home Rainbow Cup pool match against Cardiff Blues a fortnight ago having decided to retire from rugby at the end of this season and return to his native South Africa.

“For CJ and Mike it was just a case of running out of time and it’s important they and their injuries take the time to heal following last weekend’s accident,” head coach Johann van Graan said.

Munster may have hoped to field the pair in a potential Rainbow Cup final on June 19 but that opportunity has been denied following the cancellation of Benetton’s last-round pool game at Ospreys this Saturday. The unbeaten Italian side were handed four match points after three positive Covid-19 test results in the Welsh region’s squad and cannot now be caught at the top of the northern pool, rendering Munster’s game at Zebre a dead rubber.

It was thought Munster would give a run to their two British & Irish Lions tourists Conor Murray and Tadhg Beirne ahead of next week’s pre-tour training camp in Jersey but the pair have now been given a weekend off and van Graan has made seven changes to the team that secured the bonus-point win over Cardiff.

Skibbereen cousins Liam and Gavin Coombes start together for the third time on the wing and at No.8 respectively, with Matt Gallagher in for Haley at full-back. Centre Chris Farrell, loosehead prop Dave Kilcoyne, tighthead John Ryan, and captain and flanker Peter O’Mahony also return to the side.

Academy duo Thomas Ahern and Jake Flannery are among the replacements alongside Billy Holland and scrum-half Nick McCarthy, who are set to make their final Munster appearances. Holland will play in his 247th and final game for Munster if called upon from a bench once again featuring six forwards and two backs.

Tighthead Roman Salanoa is also included among the replacements on his potential return from an ankle injury.

“We’re looking forward to our final game of the season,” van Graan said. “Ideally, we would love to still be in with a chance to play for a final but it’s not to be and while guys were disappointed, we still have a competitive game to play.

“No different to any opportunity we get, the lads will want to play for each other and put in a performance and finish the season out on a high.

“We’ve again mixed the side with a good balance of experienced and younger players so it’s another 80 minutes of rugby, and with some players competing for Irish selection also there are plenty of motivating factors.

ZEBRE: J Trulla; G D'Onofrio, F Mori, E Lucchin, P Bruno; C Canna, M Violi; A Lovotti, L Bigi, M Nocera; D Sisi - captain, L Krumov; I Binachi, P J Leavasa, R Giammarioli.

Replacements: M Manfredi, D Rimpelli, N D'Amico, S Ortis, G Licata, N Casilio, F Di Marco, M Biondelli 

MUNSTER: M Gallagher; A Conway, C Farrell, R Scannell, L Coombes; J Carbery, C Casey; D Kilcoyne, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; P O’Mahony - captain, J O’Donoghue, G Coombes.

Replacements: K O’Byrne, L O’Connor, R Salanoa, T Ahern, B Holland, N McCarthy, J Flannery, C Cloete.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)