Team News | Munster ‘A’ Side To Face Connacht Eagles

The Munster ‘A’ side has been named for Friday’s Interprovincial Championship clash against Connacht Eagles at CBC’s rugby grounds in Lansdowne (3pm).

The match will be live streamed on Access Munster and you can watch the game for just €4 here, there is no charge for current subscribers.

Academy back-row Ruadhán Quinn captains the side with fellow Academy members Evan O’Connell, Michael Foy, Jake O’Riordan, Gordon Wood, Fionn Gibbons and Ben O’Connor all starting.

Senior players Mark Donnelly, Brian Gleeson, Tony Butler, Andrew Smith and Liam Coombes all start with Academy player Shay McCarthy and senior players Edwin Edogbo and Patrick Campbell named among the replacements.

This will be Edogbo’s first appearance in red since he suffered an Achilles injury against Leinster in December 2023.

O’Connor starts at full-back with Coombes and Smith on the wings. The centre partnership of Wood and Gibbons remains in situ from last week with O’Riordan and Butler starting in the half-backs.

Up front, Donnelly starts at loosehead and he will be joined in the front-row by Cork Constitution’s Luke Masters at tighthead and Old Crescent’s Jonathan Byrne at hooker. UCC’s Conor Ryan joins O’Connell in the second-row while the back-row is made up of Foy, Quinn and Gleeson.

Among the replacements are Young Munster’s Arron Roulston, UCC’s Daniel McCarthy, Nenagh Ormond’s Joseph Coffey, UCC’s Andrew O’Mahony, Garryowen’s Tom Wood and Cork Constitution’s Eoghan Smyth.

Munster: Ben O’Connor; Liam Coombes, Fionn Gibbons, Gordon Wood, Andrew Smith; Tony Butler, Jake O’Riordan; Mark Donnelly, Jonathan Byrne, Luke Masters; Conor Ryan, Evan O’Connell; Michael Foy, Ruadhán Quinn (C), Brian Gleeson.

Replacements from: Arron Roulston, Daniel McCarthy, Edwin Edogbo, Joseph Coffer, Andrew O’Mahony, Tom Wood, Eoghan Smyth, Shay McCarthy, Patrick Campbell.