Munster

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Munster are set to welcome their Ireland internationals back for Sunday's Investec Champions Cup pool encounter with Toulon at Stade Felix Mayol (13:00 GMT).

Tadhg Beirne, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley and Tom Farrell were all rested for last week's United Rugby Championship loss to in-form Ulster in Belfast.

However, Munster head coach Clayton McMillan will be without John Hodnett (thumb) and Alex Kendellen (ankle) because of injury.

Centre Alex Nankivell is fit after picking up a knock against Ulster, while prop Oli Jager has resumed full training after three months out following a concussion against Edinburgh on 18 October.

Munster opened their Champions Cup campaign with a resounding 31-3 win over Gloucester before suffering a heavy 40-14 loss away to Bath.

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Munster head coach Clayton McMillan felt his side were "poor" in their United Rugby Championship loss against Ulster on Friday night but said his side will "bounce back" from a poor run.

After making a strong start to the campaign, Munster have struggled over recent weeks and have now lost four of their past six including back-to-back Irish derbies against Leinster and Ulster.

Against the latter at Affidea Stadium, Richie Murphy's side had only a narrow 6-3 lead at half-time before tries from Tom Stewart, Jake Flannery and Bryn Ward after the restart secured a comfortable 28-3 win for the hosts.

The result put an end to Munster's three-game winning run against Ulster and saw the northern province jump above their Irish rivals in the table.

"We trained well during the week and expected a much better performance across the board," McMillan told BBC Sport NI.

"We didn't get it, and we weren't allowed to get it through a quality, physical Ulster side, so full credit to them.

"They [Ulster] won the scraps on the ground and were able to build a little bit of momentum off that, the breakdown was poor, we lost races and we carried high. We had a couple of good moments but, overall, were poor again."

The defeat dropped Munster to sixth in the URC table before they turn their attention to the Champions Cup and Sunday's game against Top 14 side Toulon (13:00 GMT).

McMillan added he needs to "find out what will bring a turn of form" before their trip to the Stade Mayol.

"It is just our execution, which is becoming a recurring theme so, first and foremost, the coaches will look at ourselves before we look at the players," said the head coach in his first season at Thomond Park.

"We need to reflect again and start thinking about what will bring a turn of form. We are hanging in there, but we haven't been that compelling with anything that we have done.

"We have a good group and we will bounce back, but you would like to have a bit more consistency and not have to go through performances like that to get a response."

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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy says there is a "great buzz" around the northern province this season.

Friday night's 28-3 interpro triumph over Munster lifted the side into second place in the United Rugby Championship and they have won six of eight games played in the league this season.

Having finished 14th last season, above only Zebre and Dragons in the table, it has been a dramatic turnaround at the Affidea Stadium so far in 2025-26.

"There's a great buzz down in the changing room," said the head coach in his second full season in the job.

"There's confidence growing. There's a real belief. There's a real hunger. The atmosphere on a daily basis is great.

"The lads are turning up and they're hungry for work."

Murphy has been impressed by the contributions of 21-year-old pair Bryn Ward and Joe Hopes in recent weeks and feels it was important to increase the depth of his panel this season after a host of experienced departures in recent summers.

"There's a few others that we want to try and get in over these next couple of weeks to try and build out our squad because that's one of the things that is going to be really important come the back end of the tournament.

"The challenge in training is a lot better now because, one, we've a healthier squad than we did last year and those young guys are learning from the experience.

"Our older guys, the Iain Hendersons, the Rob Herrings, the Jacob Stockdales, Nick Timoneys, they're really driving the place forward.

"The young lads are really hungry as well, so it's great."

In their latest victory, Ulster had led only 6-3 at half-time in snowy conditions but made their dominance count in the second half with three tries and 22 unanswered points to ensure they would leapfrog Munster in the table despite not picking up the four-try bonus point in the final minutes.

"Just early on in the game, we couldn't quite break them down and we didn't look after the ball quite well enough, but we put them under a hell of a lot of pressure and I suppose that told in the second half," Murphy added.

"I still think we tried and we tried hard to play [in the first half].

"We were the team that were trying to move the ball to space and get our big ball carrying wingers into the game and I thought we'd done that really well, just probably a little bit disappointed that we couldn't get that final try."

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Leinster have named fit-again Andrew Porter and captain Caelan Doris in their starting team to face Munster in Saturday's United Rugby Championship interprovincial derby at Thomond Park (19:45 GMT).

Prop Porter is included in a Leinster starting XV for the first time since October after recovering from an arm injury.

Ireland internationals Robbie Henshaw, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Max Deegan and Josh van der Flier are among the other players drafted in by Leo Cullen, who makes 11 personnel changes in total.

Leinster began their series of Irish interpros by defeating Ulster 24-20 at the Aviva Stadium on Friday to make it four wins from seven outings in the competition so far.

Munster meanwhile make seven changes from the side that started Saturday's bonus-point win over Ospreys in Wales on Saturday, a result which saw them climb to second in the table.

Captain Tadhg Beirne, Thaakir Abrahams, Craig Casey, Michael Milne, Lee Barron, Edwin Edogbo and Tom Ahern all come into the starting XV.

There are two positional changes as Shane Daly moves to full-back and Jack O'Donoghue switches from blind-side to open-side flanker.

John Ryan is set to make his 250th appearance for Munster off the replacements' bench, becoming only the third player after Donncha O'Callaghan and Stephen Archer to hit the milestone for the province.

He is joined among the replacements by Diarmuid Barron and Dan Kelly who both return from injury.

Munster: Daly; Nash, Farrell, Nankivell, Abrahams; Crowley, Casey; Milne, Barron, Ala'alatoa; Edogbo, Ahern; Beirne, O'Donoghue, Coombes.

Replacements: Barron, Loughman, Ryan, Kleyn, Wycherley, Patterson, Kelly, Hodnett.

Leinster: Frawley; O'Brien, Ioane, Henshaw, Lowe; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Clarkson; McCarthy, Ryan; Deegan, van der Flier, Doris (capt).

Replacements: McKee, P McCarthy, Furlong, Mangan, Penny, Gunne, Tector, Osborne.

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Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey has signed a two-year contract extension at Munster to remain with the province until at least 2028.

The 26-year-old has made 104 appearances for Munster since his debut in 2019, scoring 22 tries.

Casey was part of the Munster side that won the United Rugby Championship in 2023, featuring 18 times across the campaign.

He captained Munster for the first time in their 34-21 win over Scarlets in the URC in September and has scored two tries in three appearances for Clayton McMillan's side this season.

The 24-capped Ireland international won the Grand Slam with Andy Farrell's side in 2023 and the Six Nations title in 2024.

He captained Ireland for the first time on the 2025 summer tour and led the side to victories over Georgia and Portugal.

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Head coach Clayton McMillan says Munster "weren't good enough overall" in a 40-14 defeat by Bath in their Investec Champions Cup opener.

Hosts Bath took an early lead when they were awarded a penalty try and key Munster player Tadhg Beirne was sent to the sin bin.

Tries from Miles Reid, Henry Arundell and Tom Dunn secured the bonus-point for Bath.

Edwin Edogbo touched down for Munster's first score but Beno Obano soon grabbed Bath's fifth try.

Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey scored Munster's second try before the break but the English side secured their win when Ted Hill crossed late on.

"I think at 28-0 after 22 minutes, we were just too inaccurate and the small things become the big things at this level," McMillan said on Premier Sports.

"They got the wind in their sails and it was tough to come back from.

"Outside of that, we showed enough to show that we can compete with the best.

"But we weren't good enough overall today."

McMillan felt the decision to send Ireland second row Beirne to the sin bin after only eight minutes was "a little tough".

Munster will look to respond at home to Gloucester in their second Pool Two fixture in Limerick on Saturday.

"We get a yellow card and they get a penalty try, it was a tough one to swallow," McMillan added.

"But we need to own the stuff that we needed to be better at, and there was lots."

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Munster will be without Jack Crowley for their Champions Cup opener against Bath as the out-half has been ruled out with a leg injury.

Crowley picked up the injury in his side's United Rugby Championship defeat against the Stormers last weekend and is set to be out for "one to two weeks".

Head coach Clayton McMillan has made five changes from the side that started the 27-21 loss at Thomand Park, which was their first defeat of the season.

Fromer Leinster prop Michael Ala'alatoa is set for his Munster debut off the bench after joining until the end of the season from Clermont Auvergne.

JJ Hanrahan comes in to replace Crowley and he partners Craig Casey in the half-backs with fellow summer arrival Dan Kelly coming into the backline.

Jean Kleyn returns from international duty with South Africa to start in the pack with Michael Milne and John Hodnett.

Shane Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Thaakir Abrahams start in an unchanged back three with Kelly and Tom Farrell in midfield.

Captain Tadhg Beirne, Hodnett and Gavin Coombes are in the back row.

Munster: Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Dan Kelly, Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Craig Casey; Michael Milne, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Tom Ahern; Tadhg Beirne (C), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Lee Barron, Jeremy Loughman, Michael Ala'alatoa, Edwin Edogbo, Ruadhan Quinn, Ethan Coughlan, Alex Nankivell, Alex Kendellen.

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Next five fixtures: Stormers (H), Bath (A, Champions Cup), Gloucester (H, Champions Cup), Ospreys (A), Leinster (H)

The international break came at a bad time for Clayton McMillan.

Having started his reign with five wins - highlighted by an impressive dismantling of Leinster at Croke Park - the New Zealander must now ensure his side's early-season momentum has not been disrupted by the Test window.

Across five URC wins and a victory over Argentina XV, McMillan has used 47 players, and his hand has been strengthened this week, with Thaakir Abrahams, Diarmuid Barron, Conor Bartley, Mike Haley, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen and Niall Scannell all returning to training.

Highly-rated second row Edwin Edogbo is also nearing a return from a head injury, while former Leinster prop Michael Ala'alatoa will join from Clermont in December until the end of the season.

Munster will aim to make it six from six when they host pacesetters Stormers at Thomond Park in a top-two encounter on Saturday (17:30 GMT) before beginning their Champions Cup campaign away to Bath on 6 December.

While the Stormers will be without their South Africa internationals - including Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu - a win against a side who already have a points difference of +118 would be another eye-catching statement of intent from Munster.

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Munster have named five returning Ireland internationals in their squad ahead of Saturday's match against Stormers at Thomond Park (17:30 GMT).

Captain Tadhg Beirne, Tom Ahern, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley and Tom Farrell have all been included after international duty.

New signing Michael Ala'alatoa, who has signed a contract until the end of the season, is not included.

In addition to the returning Ireland internationals, Shane Daly, Diarmuid Kilgallen, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams and Jeremy Loughman also come into the starting line-up.

Casey and Crowley are paired at half-back while Farrell, who won his first two international caps in the autumn, starts at centre alongside Nankivell.

Beirne captains the side and joins Jack O'Donoghue and Gavin Coombes in the back row.

Ahern, who did not feature for Ireland in November matches despite being named in Andy Farrell's wider squad, will start in the second row.

Munster and Stormers are unbeaten this season going into Saturday's contest in Limerick.

Munster: Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, John Ryan; Tom Ahern, Fineen Wycherley, Tadhg Beirne (capt), Jack O'Donoghue, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Michael Milne, Ronan Foxe, Edwin Edogbo, John Hodnett, Ethan Coughlan, Tony Butler, Dan Kelly.