MUNSTER V SHARKS

possible, with skipper Peter O’Mahony one of eight starting who played for Ireland during the summer.

Van Graan believes the new competition will leave little room for error but the South African is looking forward to it, starting against a Sharks side who include former Munster players Gerbrandt Grobler and Thomas Du Toit.

Games

“What we’ll find with the United Rugby Championship is it is going to be competitive,” added Van

Graan.

“There’ss There nno perceived ‘easy’ games, there’s not a lot of games where you can put in a perceived second- string team, this is going to be a battle week in, week out.

“We are playing against a battle- hardened team, the Sharks have gone through Super Rugby and now they’ve gone through Currie Cup.

“They played the Currie Cup final two weeks ago, this is our first hit- out of the season. It’s a massive challenge for us from an intensity and fitness point of view.

“Then, you hit the Stormers which are one of the very best teams in the Southern Hemisphere historically, which is brilliant from a northsouth point of view.” MUNSTER: M Haley; A Conway, D Goggin, R Scannell, S Zebo; J

Carbery, C Casey; D Kilcoyne, N Scannell, J Ryan; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; P O’Mahony, J O’Donoghue, G Coombes. Replacements: D Barron, J Loughman, K Knox, RG Snyman, T Ahern, R Osborne, B Healy, C Cloete.

SHARKS: C Bosch; Y Penxe, W Kok, M Louw, T Abrahams; B Chamberlain, R Pienaar; K Mona, K van Vuuren, T du Toit; L Roets, G Grobler; D Richardson, H Venter, P Buthelezi. Replacements: F Mbatha, N Mchunu, K Mchunu, H Andrews, R van Heerden, M Gumede, S Nohamba, J Ward

Ref: C Evans ( Wales)