Tadhg Beirne returns to captain Munster while Doris and Porter return for Leinster

John Ryan is in line to make his 250th appearance for Munster from the bench.

Wed, 24 Dec, 2025 - 11:55

Simon Lewis

Tadhg Beirne returns to captain a full-strength Munster line-up for Saturday’s URC interprovincial derby against Leinster at a sold-out Thomond Park as the champions travel to Limerick with Caelan Doris and Andrew Porter among their returnees.

Beirne, wing Thaakir Abrahams, scrum-half Craig Casey, prop Michael Milne, hooker Lee Barron, and locks Edwin Edogbo and Tom Ahern all come into the starting team for the round eight clash in Limerick as Munster bid to secure a back-to-back league double over their fiercest rivals for the first time since 2014-15.

Clayton McMillan’s side also show two positional changes from the team sent out at Bridgend last Saturday as Shane Daly moves to full-back from the left wing and Jack O’Donoghue switches from blindside to openside flanker, to accommodate the returning British & Irish Lion Beirne.

Another change from the matchday squad which secured a 26-10 bonus-point win over Ospreys comes on the bench as tighthead prop John Ryan is named to likely make his 250th Munster appearance. If deployed, the 37-year-old will become just the third player to reach the milestone with only Stephen Archer (304) and Donncha O’Callaghan (268) playing more times for their province.

Hooker Diarmuid Barron (head) and centre Dan Kelly (calf) both return from injury as replacements on a bench of six forwards and two backs.

Abrahams returns for the first time since the Champions Cup defeat at Bath earlier this month to join Daly and right wing Calvin Nash in the back three with an unchanged centre partnership of Alex Nankivell and Tom Farrell, while Casey replaces Paddy Patterson at number nine to partner fly-half Crowley.

Loosehead prop Milne, Lee Barron and tighthead Michael Ala’alatoa form the starting front row with the latter set to face his former province while Edogbo and Ahern make up the second row with Beirne and O’Donoghue in a back row anchored at No.8 by Gavin Coombes.

Diarmuid Barron, Jeremy Loughman and Ryan provide the front row cover with Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley and John Hodnett completing the forward replacements with Patterson and Kelly the backline replacements.

Leo Cullen’s Leinster will travel down the M7 looking to avenge their 31-14 Croke Park loss in round four on October 18 and there are 11 changes from the side which overcame Ulster at Aviva Stadium last Friday night.

Ireland and club captain Doris returns to lead the side from No. 8 in an all-new back row also featuring flankers Max Deegan and Josh van der Flier while loosehead prop Andrew Porter is back in the Leinster starting 15 for the first time since October having recovered from an arm injury. Porter’s front-row partners will be Ronan Kelleher at hooker and tighthead Thomas Clarkson.

James Ryan retains his position in the second row following his 100th Leinster appearance las weekend and will renew a partnership with Ireland and Lions team-mate Joe McCarthy, In the backline, Ciaran Frawley is retained at full-back despite ongoing speculation he is poised for a move to Connacht next season, while there are returns for Tommy O’Brien on the right wing, Robbie Henshaw at inside centre while Harry Byrne replaces Sam Prendergast at fly-half and Jamison Gibson-Park comes back in at scrum-half.

MUNSTER: S Daly; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; J Crowley, C Casey; M Milne, L Barron, M Ala'alatoa; E Edogbo, T Ahern; T Beirne (C), J O'Donoghue, G Coombes.

Replacements: D Barron, J Loughman, J Ryan, J Kleyn, F Wycherley, P Patterson, D Kelly, J Hodnett.

LEINSTER: C Frawley, T O'Brien, R Ioane, R Henshaw, J Lowe, H Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Clarkson, J McCarthy, J Ryan, M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris (C).

Replacements: J McKee, P McCarthy, T Furlong, D Mangan, S Penny, F Gunne, C Tector, A Osborne.