URC: Munster's Snyman set for first Thomond start as Rowntree and Wilkins go strong 

THOMOND BOW: RG Snyman during Munster rugby squad training at University of Limerick in Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran, Sportsfile

RG Snyman is set for his first Thomond Park start on Saturday after being named in Munster’s line-up for the must-win URC interprovincial clash against Connacht.

The double-World Cup-winning South Africa lock, who has made just 15 appearances in his almost four years at Munster due to illness and serious injury, has managed just four appearances off the bench at the Limerick stadium in addition to a start at Cork’s Virgin Media Park earlier this season. 

Yet having overcome pneumonia to make the XV on last month’s South Africa tour against the Bulls and the Lions, Snyman is set to showcase his talents in front at least 19,000 home supporters according to Friday morning’s ticket sales update from the province.

With three league games before the end of season play-offs, Munster are bidding to secure at least a home quarter-final draw while a win on Saturday in this Round 16 meeting will keep them in the hunt for a top-two seeding for the knockout stages. 

Graham Rowntree has made just two changes from the Munster starting line-up which beat the Lions 33-13 in Johannesburg last time out on April 27.

Alex Nankivell is restored to outside centre and will partner fellow close-season signing Seán O’Brien in midfield as Antoine Frisch, linked with a move this summer to a French club, drops to the replacements. 

The other change sees Conor Murray move to the bench, exchanging places with Craig Casey, who is handed the scrum-half berth behind an unchanged pack led by captain Tadhg Beirne, who starts in the second row alongside Snyman.

There are further changes to the bench with academy loosehead Mark Donnelly coming in for Josh Wycherley while Frisch’s inclusion sees Mike Haley drop out of the matchday squad.

Connacht’s Round 16 victory at the Dragons came at a significant cost, losing former Munster fly-half JJ Hanrahan for at least the rest of the season to an ACL knee injury, while veteran loosehead prop Denis Buckley (shoulder) and back-rower Cian Prendergast (thumb) were also ruled out of the trip to Thomond Park earlier in the week.

They will also be without Ireland wing Mack Hansen, whose expected comeback from a dislocated shoulder sustained against Munster in Galway on January 1 has not come soon enough for Saturday’s derby clash.

Prop Peter Dooley, back-rower Paul Boyle and number 10 and club captain Jack Carty are the players to fill the breaches for head coach Pete Wilkins as the westerners travel south with Oisín Dowling starting alongside Joe Joyce in place of Gavin Thornbury in the second row.

The fit-again Byron Ralston comes onto the left wing for John Porch.

Munster (URC v Connacht): S Zebo; C Nash, A Nankivell, S O’Brien, S Daly; J Crowley, C Casey; J Loughman, N Scannell, S Archer; RG Snyman; T Beirne; P O’Mahony, A Kendellen, J O’Donoghue.

Replacements: E Clarke, M Donnelly, O Jager, T Ahern, G Coombes, C Murray, J Carbery, A Frisch.

Connacht (URC v Munster): T O'Halloran; S Jennings, T Farrell, B Aki, B Ralston; J Carty, M Devine; P Dooley, D Heffernan, F Bealham; J Joyce, O Dowling; S Hurley-Langton, C Oliver, P Boyle.

Replacements: D Tierney-Martin, J Duggan, J Aungier, N Murray, S Jansen, C Blade, C Forde, J Butler.

Leinster (URC v Ospreys): C Frawley; J Larmour, J Osborne, R Henshaw, J O’Brien; R Byrne, L McGrath; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Furlong; R Molony, J Jenkins; R Baird, W Connors, C Doris.

Replacements: D Sheehan, M Milne, T Clarkson, J Conan, J van der Flier, J Gibson-Park, C Ngatai, T O’Brien.

Ulster (URC v Scarlets): M Lowry, E McIlroy; W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, R Herring, S Wilson; K Treadwell, A O’Connor; C Izuchukwu, D McCann, N Timoney.

Replacements: T Stewart, A Warwick, J French, H Sheridan, R Crothers, N Doak, S Moore, D Ewers.