No Change For Munster

The Munster starting XV for Sunday’s Heineken Cup semi-final clash with Saracens, at Coventry’s Ricoh Stadium is the same as that selected for the quarter final against Gloucester three weeks ago.

On that occasion Tony Buckley was drafted into the starting XV in the minutes runnng up to kick-off after Marcus Horan suffered a back spasm in the warm-up. Horan returns to the starting side and the only changes to the match day squad are on the replacement bench where Federico Pucciariello replaces Buckley, Donnacha Ryan is included ahead of Anthony Foley and Barry Murphy, following on from his impressive showing against Ospreys last weekend,  returns after a long absence and gets the nod over Kieran Lewis.

Admitting there were several close calls, coach Declan Kidney said, “I’ve said before that we are very fortunate to have such a strong squad and with nearly everyone available, it’s always a very difficult side to pick. That in turn is a great reflection on the players themselves and on the medical/strength & conditioning staff who have done so well to have the players in the condition they’re in at this stage of the season. We’ve seen a lot of good performances in recent weeks and we believe the selection reflects that.”

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett,  L Mafi, R Tipoki, I Dowling; R O’Gara, T O’Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell (capt), A Quinlan,  D Wallace, D Leamy. Replacements: F Sheahan, F Pucciariello, M O’Driscoll, D Ryan, P Stringer, P Warwick, B Murphy.