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Rugby

06th Oct 2017

Ireland’s fastest rugby player named in Leinster team to play Munster

Hold on tight

Patrick McCarry

Andrew Conway would want to get his skates on.

Leinster and Munster have shown their selection cards ahead of this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 clash at the Aviva Stadium.

While Leinster have welcomed back one Lion, Robbie Henshaw at centre, there is no sign of another, Sean O’Brien. Instead, Josh van der Flier starts at No.7 with Jordi Murphy and Jack Conan keeping him company in the back row.

The Munster backline is radically different. JJ Hanrahan starts at fullback with Tyler Bleyendaal named at inside centre and Ian Keatley the third, and starting, No.10 in the Munster backline.

Peter O’Mahony, Tommy O’Donnell and CJ Stander are in the back row for the second weekend running, teeing up a battle of the No.8s between Stander [red corner] and Conan [blue corner].

Andrew Conway is on the right wing for Munster and he is tasked, on his return to Dublin, with shackling the attacking threat of Ireland’s fastest rugby player. Leinster captain Isa Nacewa revealed on SportsJOE Live, earlier this week, that Daly set the team record for sprints.

IRELAND’S FASTEST RUGBY PLAYERS

  • Barry Daly (Leinster) – 10.5 metres per second.
  • Rory Scholes (Connacht) – 10.0 m.p.s
  • Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) – 9.97 m.p.s
  • Simon Zebo (Munster) – 9.85 m.p.s

LEINSTER: Joey Carbery; Adam Byrne, Rory O’Loughlin, Robbie Henshaw, Barry Daly; Johnny Sexton, Luke McGrath; Jack McGrath, James Tracy, Tadhg Furlong; Devin Toner, Scott Fardy; Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.

Replacements: Seán Cronin, Cian Healy, Michael Bent, Ross Molony, Jordi Murphy, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ross Byrne, Fergus McFadden.

MUNSTER: JJ Hanrahan; Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Tyler Bleyendaal, Keith Earls; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, John Ryan; Robin Copeland, Billy Holland; Peter O’Mahony, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander.

Replacements: Rhys Marshall, Liam O’Connor, Stephen Archer, Mark Flanagan, Jack O’Donoghue, Duncan Williams, Rory Scannell, Alex Wootton.

Saturday’s match kicks off at 2pm and is live on both Sky Sports and RTE Radio.