SOUTHERN STINGS
Reds coach is wary of basement boys
M Haley; A Conway, C Farrell, R Scannell, D Sweetnam; T Bleyendaal, N Cronin; J Loughman, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, B Holland; F Wycherley, C Cloete, A Botha. Replacements: R Marshall, L O’connor, S Archer, D O’shea, G Coombes, A Mathewson, JJ Hanrahan, D Goggin.
M Banda; Y Penxe, M Rokoua, B Klaasen, B Basson; B Pretorius, S Ungerer; S Ferreira, M Willemse, DJ Terblanche; A Van Schalkwyk, JC Astle; S De Wit, M Burger, R Lerm.substitutes: A Van
Rooyen, A Tshakweni, P Scholtz, S Greeff, A Ntsila, S Pretorius, T Kruger, U Beyers. MUNSTER coach Johann van Graan has warned that they will underestimate the Southern Kings at their peril as the PRO14 resumes this evening. Munster will be expected to copperfasten their lead at the top of Conference A against a Kings who have lost 12 of their 14 games this season.
But van Graan said that they will pay a big price in Cork this evening (7.35pm) if they take their eye off the ball against his fellow South Africans.
“I think the thing that stands out is their speed, they have an incredible amount of speed.
“If you look at their tries, they score most of their tries from turnovers, so if you leak a turnover, especially on that 4G pitch, you are going to stand behind your poles because they have a huge amount of speed.
“The forwards seem to be the heart and soul of their team. Once they get into your 22 it’s a pick and go team. They try and narrow you up and then use their backs. They have two pretty strong centres, that new Fijian that is in there, incredible offloading game, so this will be another tough game.”
Van Graan is boosted by the availability of Irish international Chris Farrell, who returns to the Munster side six days after he helped Ireland secure that 22-13 win over Scotland in the Six Nations.
In all, there are seven changes to the Munster team that beat Dragons by the minimum in the PRO14 at Rodney Parade three weeks ago.
Andrew Conway, who missed out on the opening rounds of the Six Nations with an ankle injury, is also back in the starting 15 and will be looking for a big display in an effort to catch Joe Schmidt’s eye. Niall Scannell, John Ryan and Billy Holland all come back from international camp to take their place from the start.
There are four changes in the backline with Conway in on the right wing, Farrell and Rory Scannell form the new centre partnership and Neil Cronin starts at scrum-half.
Niall Scannell is in at hooker with John Ryan preferred at tighthead prop. Chris Cloete is the only other change, he begins at openside flanker against his former club.