MUNSTER HAVE BEEN dealt a blow with confirmation that Donncha Ryan will miss Sunday’s Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulon.
Ryan, who was racing to recover from a foot injury, returned to light training this week but has not made the matchday 23 for the game at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille (3.30pm Irish time).
With Peter O’Mahony also injured it leaves coach Rob Penney with a back row of CJ Stander, Sean Dougall and James Coughlan. Tommy O’Donnell is the man to miss out and has to make do with a place on the bench.
There was better news concerning Casey Laulala who has recovered from a hand fracture to take his place alongside James Downey in midfield, while out-half JJ Hanrahan is named among the replacements after making good progress following a groin tear.
Elsewhere Penney has named the same front five that started the quarter-final win against Toulouse, with Damien Varley captaining the side on his first start in a Heineken Cup semi.
Toulon: Delon Armitage; Drew Mitchell, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Bryan Habana; Jonny Wilkinson (c), Sebastien Tillous-Borde; Xavier Chiocci, Craig Burden, Carl Hayman, Danie Rossouw, Jocelino Suta, Juan Smith, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Steffon ArmitageReplacements: Jean-Charles Orioli, Alexandre Menini, Martin Castrogiovanni, Virgile Bruni, David Smith, Maxime Mermoz, Michael Claassens, Konstantine Mikautadze
Munster: Felix Jones; Keith Earls, Casey Laulala, James Downey, Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Damien Varley, BJ Botha; Dave Foley, Paul O’Connell; CJ Stander, Sean Dougall, James Coughlan.Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, John Ryan, Donncha O’Callaghan, Tommy O’Donnell, Duncan Williams, JJ Hanrahan, Denis Hurley.
From a Leinster fan, I hope Munster go on and win it!
From a real leinster fan…Munster have no chance, they should concentrate on a Rabo runner up spot.
Swap henshaw with Lala and thats a real good team.
@scaldbag, bit of honesty there, we don’t want or need your opinion or your support, but it will be very embarrassing for ye when we stop Toulon, the Munster boys are able for the pressure.
Oooh….
@scaldbag and @Gerry
Can you please go away and have your predictable, every rugby comment section, argument somewhere else. It is beyond tiresome. How many up voted Gerry’s comment while down voting(pretty obvious Troll) Scaldbag. Hypocrisy.
Good Luck to Munster. As with most Irish fans, unless your team(Leinster) are in direct competition, you cheer for the green. Despite what Laporte says, they firmly believe they are already in the final. Never discount a team with O’Connell in it. When Munster wins, odds on, Laporte or Boudjellal will blame the referee.
This disgusting tactic has now become a fixture in the game because the authorities never take the necessary action. The Laporte penalty was pitiful. Cockerill gets a slapped wrist. Gatland does not even blink.
They are have now tried it out on Wayne Barnes, before the game. *see Johnny Watterson in the Irish Times.
Ballbag more like
Decent looking side best of luck hope they can win
Good to see JJ Hanrahan fit
How fit though? If its break glass in case of Keatley injury emergency then it’s another impact substitution gone.
Another Leinster supporter hoping Munster can do the job that we failed to do. Have a feeling they will do the job with Poc having a stormer.
Really don’t see the sense in having Varley as captain, he is too indisciplined!
Why not POC?
Can’t understand it either, Varley is a liability going by his recent performances. If anybody is going to get a yellow card tomorrow it’s him. Decent enough team otherwise but that Toulon lineup is ridiculous. My heart is saying we have a great chance at this but the head knows that we’ll need nothing short of the best Munster performance ever seen to overcome this team.
Munster2014, I don’t think Varley will be carded tomorrow but he could be on Sunday ;)
Think the Leinster game proved he struggles with dealing captaincy responsibilities. Sure Paulie would have been a safer choice.
The nerves …. Building :/ I hope the boys can do a job
Huge losses for Munster with the 2 lads injured but still a respectable side. Toulon are gonna be real hard to beat though…love to be down there for it
I don’t think it’s to be too hot down there for this one thankfully but reading through the team line ups is quite grim. Toulon are stacked in every position with absolute world class. That being said Munster rugby has always been about not really giving a toss about games that are won on paper. It’ll be a hell of a battle and hopefully Munster came come through with a win.
At this point I trust Penney knows what he is doing but I thought Hurley over the alternative options, particularly VDH seems a strange call to me. Assuming Dougal is in over Tommy because without Mahony we need a groundhog to counter their breakdown threat. While Tommy not been as good this season I thought he had been showing some form recently. As for JJ, I hope he is really fit and not just emergency cover because without him to spring off the bench we are looking very limited there. My heart says yes, my head says Munster (minus Mahony, Ryan, Sherry, Archer) VS. a World All-Stars Team circa 2009.
VDH is great going forward with ball in hand but he is not a convincing defender or first up rucker. Connacht got around him too often.
Liam Toland in the IT today outlines VDH’s deficiencies in defense, and indeed in clearing / protecting rucks when in attack. He has a lot to work on.
What is your problem with Dougall. He’s such an honest pro, gives everything to the jersey, works his arse off on the floor and gets his fair share of try’s. O’Donnell has quite done enough this season after last year to deserve the opportunity but I’m sure he’ll be excellent off the bench. Good luck to both of them. #suaf
Bloody fat fingers above. Sean Dougall is underrated. He is excellent at the breakdown and would expect him to mitigate Armitages impact by getting in on the deck before he does whilst the big boys have a royal rumble. He will be crucial. TOD isn’t a bad impact sub and will have a say.
Is kick off not 15.30 Irish time ?
Yes 3.30pm Irish time, Alan, thanks. Typo in Munster release caught me out.
Thanks Niall
A surprisingly divisive comment by Alan there
Big players chomp at the bit for the big game. This Sunday afternoon will live on forever.
Dougall instead of O’Donnell?!
In fairness, TOD has not been playing his best rugby this season. Will be good to spring him from the bench in the second half.
TOD has stepped back into his 2012 form. A good pre season and he will be back. Dougal is great on the deck and plays like a real open side. Good balance to the back row.
Just querying because the reaction of some Munster fans to Jordi Murphy ‘a Leinster reserve’- bring picked ahead of him on the Ireland bench suggested that O’Donnell was pretty much the best 7 everrr and could only be attributed to anti-Munster bias. If he’s not first choice for Munster then it starts to make more sense?
Same goes for Madigan I take it so!
the Jordi Murphy selection made no sense back then – when POM had to come off in Paris Ian Henderson replaced him despite the fact that Henderson was cover for the locks and Murphy was back-row cover. What was the point of Murphy being on the bench if Henderson was covering both positions?
because he also covers 7 and 8. What if POC/Toner gad got injured too?
for the record using the O Mahony injury is pointless as if O Donnell was in the bench Henderson would still have been the cover for 6.
Murphy can cover 6 and 8 at Intl level but not 7. Anyway, my point is that when we needed a backrow replacement in Paris we didn’t use our backrow cover on the bench. Why?
Murphy is not first choice for leinster either
Yes, but at the time many Munster fans argued it was stupid to pick a ‘Leinster reserve’ ahead of their starting 7, now come their biggest game of the season he isn’t
I think we all understood that from your first comment,bias often gets in the way,Madigan not selected in Leinsters biggest game!!
I’d have preferred Paddy Jackson to remain ahead of Madigan on the bench, Paddy is Ulster’s undisputed first choice
When you look at the Munster team on paper they look very weak. The backline is very poor. Only Murray would get into the Touloun backline.
I hope the Munster scrum can do some damage as otherwise it is very hard to see where Munster can pull scores from. Maybe the maul will work its magic. Hopefully the fans can lift the team to a higher level. Hope it is a great game. If the sun is shining the atmosphere should be special.
The difference between the benches alone is frightening but to the brave and faithful nothing is impossible! #SUAF
Sean Do
Earls v Habana, looking forward to that battle alone.
I think Munster have Toulon up front but that Toulon back line is a bit scary.