This team, and squad, selection from Johann van Graan is spot on.
Munster can seal second spot in their Guinness PRO14 conference on Friday by defeating Cheetahs down in South Africa. Currently lying second in Conference A, seven points back from Glasgow, the Irish province look set for a quarter final in the coming weeks.
Cheetahs can still overtake them, and make their route to the final tougher, so they will be throwing everything at the visitors.
Munster, on the other hand, have a Champions Cup semi final coming up against Racing 92, in Bordeaux, and are trying to manage their squad as best they can whilst on their mini tour. To that end, van Graan has rested CJ Stander and Jean Kleyn completely while Ian Keatley, Dave Kilcoyne, Stephen Archer, Rory Scannell and Rhys Marshall are all named on the bench.
The most sensible selection of them all sees James Hart get another run in the No.9 jersey. That would mean Conor Murray does not start at all on the South African tour and will have not started a game for three weeks by the time the European semis roll around.
Murray is key to Munster’s success this season and van Graan is right to go easy on him. At the tail-end of Munster’s Champions Cup quarter final win over Toulon, Murray took some damage to his right shoulder while tackling Malakai Fekitoa:
Murray’s arm hung listlessly for a while after he picked himself off the turf and he was replaced by Hart soon after. That shoulder was the same one he injured against Wales, in Cardiff, last March.
Van Graan is playing this selection call right. Hart will hopefully give Munster 50-60 minutes and Murray can get a run out in the closing stages to give him some game time before the trip to Bordeaux.
Munster supporters will be delighted to see Dan Goggin get another run in midfield while Andrew Conway, Simon Zebo and Darren Sweetnam all make the back three.
🔴TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT🔴
Head Coach Johann van Graan has named his Munster side for the Guinness PRO14 clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein tomorrow night.
Full details | https://t.co/S6pT9ZndIq#CHEvMUN #MunsterInSA🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/xCNjqbFIfP
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) April 12, 2018
With the European semis fast approaching, Munster will be hoping to avoid any other serious injuries – seven senior players are already out – while also hoping to stave off the Cheetahs push for second spot.
Connacht have also released their team for Friday’s league encounter with Glasgow:
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT | Here's your starting XV to take on @GlasgowWarriors at Scotstoun tomorrow night:
Full details ⬇️https://t.co/fgnhh1ZMJr#GLAvCON #StrongerInGreen pic.twitter.com/Gw36QNughY
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) April 12, 2018
This is last chance saloon for the westerners and Jarrad Butler has been asked to lead them out at Scotstoun.
