URC: Munster v Ulster, Thomond Park, Saturday, 5.30pm – Live on Premier Sports 1
Perhaps only the Texians at the Alamo faced longer odds against the overwhelmingly superior resources of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna than Ulster do in Limerick. And we know how James Bowie and his buddies fared back in 1836.
Richie Murphy’s side are 28-point underdogs with a line-up that shows 15 changes from the run-on team that lost to Leinster in Belfast last weekend. Three academy players, flankers James McKillop and Tom Brigg and winger Aitzol Arenzana-King will make their Ulster debuts.
Winger Ben Moxham makes his first start since November 2023 after suffering two ACL ruptures, Cork-born tighthead prop Bryan O’Connor has 26-minutes in game time for the province this season, while number eight Lorcan McLoughlin has four appearances, replacement tighthead Tom McAllister has two, with just one for Jonny Scott, who can cover several positions in the backline.
Ulster are ravaged by injury. Props Angus Bell (foot), Scott Wilson (ankle) and Tom O’Toole (hand), and centres James Hume (neck) and Jude Postlethwaite (hand) join Nick Timoney (hip), James McNabney (knee), Rob Herring (calf), Robert Baloucoune (elbow), Rory McGuire (shoulder) and Stewart Moore (knee) on a ridiculously long injury list.
A Challenge Cup semi-final date with Exeter in Belfast next Saturday forced Murphy’s hand as he couldn’t afford to risk any more frontliners.
But despite being callow in experience, there’s an abundance of youthful talent. Charlie Irvine and Joe Hopes are graduating to senior contracts next season with the former making the most of his opportunities in the current campaign.
King, a former minor footballer with Meath, joined from the Leinster academy last summer and won an Under-20 Grand Slam with Ireland 2022 alongside McLoughlin, Ben Carson and James McCormick. Brigg who swapped Blackrock for Queen’s University, is an underage international, as is McKillop.
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Michael Lowry captains the province for the first time, while Ethan McIlroy is deployed in the unfamiliar role of outside centre. Templeogue’s Eric O’Sullivan (135 caps) has more appearances for Ulster than the rest of the pack combined.
Munster, in contrast, show just one change from the team that hammered Benetton in Treviso. Oli Jager takes over from Michael Ala’alatoa, who drops to the bench. Head coach Clayton McMillan was justifiably proud of last weekend’s display against a challenging backdrop of off-field matters. The pressure now is to maintain a presence at the business end of the URC.
Ulster’s 28-3 home win over Munster in January hasn’t been forgotten, especially the 22 unanswered points in the second half. An abject display from the visitors left a disappointment that lingers. “If we get another punch on the nose, it’s probably a knockout, isn’t it?” said McMillian. “We can’t afford that, so we don’t have a choice.
“We have to front up, and if revenge or any of those types of emotions come into it for individuals, then whatever it takes to get the job done. But we haven’t talked about it (the defeat in Belfast) a lot internally.
“For me personally, (and) as a coaching group, it was one of those performances that you look back on and just get disappointed, because you fell a long, long, long way short of what we know we’re capable of.
“We’ve lost plenty of other games this year where we’ve actually shown a bit of fight. That was one where we fell well short, and those are the ones that linger in the memory longest.”
The home side have struggled to backup quality performances since their early-season winning streak, but that’s exactly what they’re charged with doing against a rival that sits one-point above them in the URC table.
They’ll look to their big-game players, particularly captain Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Alex Nankivell, to be forthright in imposing their considerable talents. The rest will follow and pick up the cudgels. There’s plenty of pace and power throughout the Munster team. The key is to be focused, precise and ruthless.
For Ulster it’s more of a ‘run and gun’ philosophy, trying to set a high tempo in the game, keep the ball off the ground, get it to the edges and limit the number of scrums. That’s just for starters. While scratch sides can click in attack, it is the organisation and cohesion in defence where things can unravel quickly.
Murphy will learn a great deal about the aptitude of individual players after this test. He’ll encourage his players to swing freely and chase the four tries that would provide a tangible reward to take home, because finishing within seven points or daydreaming about a win seems outlandish on paper. On grass, no less so.
MUNSTER: Shane Daly; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Andrew Smith; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Oli Jager; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (capt); Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes. Replacements: Lee Barron, Michael Milne, Michael Ala’alatoa, Edwin Edogbo, Brian Gleeson, Ben O’Donovan, Dan Kelly, Alex Kendellen.
ULSTER: Michael Lowry; Aitzol Arenzana-King, Ethan McIlroy, Ben Carson, Ben Moxham; Jake Flannery, Conor McKee; Eric O’Sullivan, James McCormick, Bryan O’Connor; Harry Sheridan, Charlie Irvine; James McKillop, Tom Brigg, Lorcan McLoughlin. Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Tom McAllister, Joe Hopes, Marcus Rea, Dave Shanahan, James Humphreys, Jonny Scott.
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
