Joey Carbery will continue his quest to force his way back into the Ireland squad, as he starts for Munster in tomorrow’s URC clash away to Benetton (2.30).
Carbery keeps his place ahead of Ben Healy, who replaced him after 50 minutes of last weekend’s Champions Cup defeat in Toulouse.
The axed Ireland out-half will look to deliver an accomplished display in the hope of catching Andy Farrell’s eye and earn a recall before the end of the Six Nations.
Carbery will make his 50th Munster appearance, while Healy is also in line for the same milestone off the bench.
Niall Scannell captains his home province for the second time, with head coach Graham Rowntree making eight personnel changes and one positional switch for the trip to Treviso.
Liam Coombes, Malakai Fekitoa and Paddy Patterson come into the backline with Josh Wycherley, Roman Salanoa, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O’Sullivan and Alex Kendellen joining the pack.
Fineen Wycherley makes his first appearance in almost four months after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Shane Daly moves to full-back in the absence of the injured Mike Haley with Calvin Nash and Coombes on either wing.
Fekitoa and Frisch start together in midfield with Patterson and Carbery at the half-back.
Josh Wycherley, Scannell and Salanoa make up the front-row, with Jean Kleyn and Fineen Wycherley in the engine room. O’Sullivan, John Hodnett and No 8 Alex Kendellen complete the starting XV.
Academy forwards Mark Donnelly, Cian Hurley and Ruadhan Quinn are among the replacements.
Prop Donnelly is set for his first appearance of the season while 19-year-old Quinn, who has been named in the Ireland U-20s squad for the Six Nations, became the province’s youngest player of the professional era against Zebre last October.
Stephen Archer, Neil Cronin and Rory Scannell all return to the squad with Cronin set for his first appearance since the win over South Africa ‘A’ at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
On the injury front, Keynan Knox (knee) returned to full training this week.
Meanwhile, John Ryan was unavailable due to family reasons, which means that the tighthead may have played his final game for Munster before he moves to New Zealand to join the Chiefs ahead of the start of the Super Rugby season.
Munster – S Daly; C Nash, A Frisch, M Fekitoa, L Coombes; J Carbery, P Patterson; J Wycherley, N Scannell (capt), R Salanoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; J O’Sullivan, J Hodnett, A Kendellen. Reps: D Barron, M Donnelly, S Archer, C Hurley, R Quinn, N Cronin, B Healy, R Scannell.
