Munster want to win on the road
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:38
Munster make just two changes, one of those positional, to their starting XV from last weekend, for the trip to Murrayfield and the clash with Edinburgh on Friday.
The positional change sees Donnacha Ryan switch from blindside flank to lock as partner to Mick O'Driscoll in the second row, with Alan Quinlan joining the back row.
Otherwise, coach Tony McGahan keeps faith with the personnel, who opened with a Magners win, for Munster's first game on the road and the opportunity to start the process of improvement from last season.
"Our form away from home last season was poor, no question about that". McGahan readily accepts. "As this competition has evolved it's become harder and harder to win away from home.
"Last year, I think the best away form was that of Ospreys who won three, two of those coming at the back-end against ourselves and Ulster, Leinster won twice on the road. You look at sides who don't finish at the top, they're still very difficult to turn over in their own ground.
"One of our big things this year is addressing our form on the road. If you want to do really well in this competition you need to. To that end, you need a strong focus. You have to take into account that things aren't going to go your way. That's the reality of it but you need to deal with it and get on with. So this weekend's game is about addressing that.
McGahan travels with a particularly strong bench that includes international stars Ronan O'Gara, Tomas O'Leary and Donncha O'Callaghan for the first time this season and this trio will see action at some stage of the evening.
Munster: 15 Felix Jones, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Johne Murphy, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Ian Dowling; 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy (captain), 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Alan Quinlan, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Damien Varley, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Denis
Fogarty, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Donnacha O'Callaghan, 20 Peter O'Mahony, 21 Tomas O'Leary, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Danny Barnes.
Date: Friday, September 10
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 19.05 (18.05 GMT)
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant referees: Graham Knox (Scotland), Alan Forrest (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
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