JJ HANRAHAN WILL start at inside centre for Munster’s make-or-break Champions Cup trip to Clermont Auvergne.
Hanrahan’s return comes following 48 hours of uncertainty about his future amid reported interest from the Northampton Saints.
The young playmaker now looks set to stay with his native province and head coach Anthony Foley has named him in a new-look midfield pairing inside Andrew Smith.
Foley’s only other changes are enforced ones with Dave Kilcoyne, James Cronin and Gerhard van den Heever all ruled out by injury.
The loss of two looseheads means a first European start for John Ryan who comes into the front row alongside Duncan Casey and BJ Botha, while Andrew Conway replaces van den Heever on the right wing.
Kick-off at the Stade Marcel-Michelin is at 3.15pm (Irish time) on Sunday.
Munster
15. Felix Jones
14. Andrew Conway
13. Andrew Smith
12. JJ Hanrahan
11. Simon Zebo
10. Ian Keatley
9. Conor Murray
1. John Ryan
2. Duncan Casey
3. BJ Botha
4. Dave Foley
5. Paul O’Connell
6. Peter O’Mahony (c)
7. Tommy O’Donnell
8. CJ Stander
Replacements:
16. Kevin O’Byrne
17. Eusebio Guinazu
18. Stephen Archer
19. Billy Holland
20. Robin Copeland
21. Duncan Williams
22. Denis Hurley
23. Johne Murphy
Great to get through but it’s not the one we wanted, Roll on the Huns on Sunday
@Alan Brazil: Jesus Alan. We have something in common. Big game for the hoops
@Alan Brazil: same craic every year , start to improve after getting knocked out of champions league..still though would have got some spanking in the group they would been in , Barca ,Dortmund, inter . Gone are the glory days when they could get a champions league result . .
I don’t know what has gone on with Lennon and Sinclair. Sinclair good for 20 goals a season and he’s been frozen out in favour of Lewis Morgan.. Lennon seems to make stupid decisions, Celtic clearly through with 20 mins to go and he leaves all his star players on with an important game on Sunday. Edwaurd then goes off injured..
@David Garland: Stop your whinging, they won 4-1 what more do you want? Get behind Lennon and the team rather than complain
An away win in Europe is rare. A score line of 4-1 is unheard of. Good to see the holy goalie back in Glasgow.
A nice double on Sunday would be nice. Starting with the Celts and finishing with 5 in a row.
Hail Hail.
Up the Dubs.
It’s not whining wanting to know why one of our better players is not even making the bench. As I said Sinclair contributes around 20 goals a season and by the looks of Rangers this season Celtic could do with his goals, he’s a far better option that Morgan who shouldn’t be near a Celtic jersey..
Very poor performance but still put 4 goals on the board. Great going forward but my good God the backline is woeful. Whoever scouted Boli needs sacking, that lad is a bomb scare. Hopefully Lennon can get it right before the transfer window closes and get in a few decent signings for a change.
Played well, can they meet rangers in group?
@Dougal67: not until the knock out stages, teams from the same country are kept apart