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Conor Murray on verge of long-awaited return

Conor Murray on verge of return after lengthy injury absence. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Conor Murray could make his first appearance since playing for Ireland in the June series against the Wallabies after being named in Munster’s 23-man squad for their game against Zebre this weekend.

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The province revealed earlier this week that the scrum half had returned to full training following his neck injury and now he’s been named on the bench for the PRO14 game against Zebre on Sunday.

Murray, Chris Farrell and Conor Oliver make their return to the matchday squad and are all named on the bench, while Ronan O’Mahony makes his first appearance of the 2018/19 season.

Tyler Bleyendaal continues his captaincy from inside centre and Academy player Gavin Coombes makes his first start in the Guinness PRO14.

There are several changes to the starting XV who claimed a 30-26 win over the Cheetahs in South Africa earlier this month.

Mike Haley continues at full-back as O’Mahony returns on the right wing with Alex Wootton maintaining his position on the opposite flank.

Rory Scannell starts in the 13 shirt with Bleyendaal completing the centre partnership.

Neil Cronin and JJ Hanrahan combine in the half-backs.

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The pack sees Jeremy Loughman, Kevin O’Byrne and Stephen Archer in the front row with Fineen Wycherley and Darren O’Shea partnering in the second row.

Coombes is joined by Chris Cloete and Arno Botha in the back row.

Academy player Sean O’Connor is named among the replacements.

Munster: Mike Haley; Ronan O’Mahony; Rory Scannell, Tyler Bleyendaal (C); Alex Wootton; JJ Hanrahan, Neil Cronin; Jeremy Loughman, Kevin O’Byrne, Stephen Archer; Fineen Wycherley, Darren O’Shea; Gavin Coombes, Chris Cloete, Arno Botha.

Replacements: Mike Sherry, Brian Scott, Ciaran Parker, Sean O’Connor, Conor Oliver, Conor Murray, Bill Johnston, Chris Farrell

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You may also like: Ireland’s captain Rory Best says being awarded an OBE was “one of the greatest things” he has achieved.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
France player ratings vs England | 2025 Six Nations

Sorry my delivery on that joke was a bit bland. But to reply to the couple of good points you make, to me it just seemed like they had no plan with why Gatland was staying on. I mean the plan seemed to be “just get us a win against Italy and we can continue on as we are”, which is just terrible if that’s what Gatland was trying to achieve for Wales imo.


Did it just happen to be Italy that he saw his team weren’t able to achieve his vision of success? I mean Italy are a very good side so its by no means a lost cause to not look like world beaters. Sure his focus should have been on more transient factors like growth and style for a full rebuild, not trying to avoid the wooden spoon.


Which brings me to you main point, that would be exactly what the benefit of dropping down a tier would be. A chance to really implement something, get good at it, then take it up a level again once you’re ready. Even for Italy it must have been an incredibly brutal environment to have been trying to develop as a side.


Not saying of course that the other EU teams would be any better, but it might be better for everyone if say ‘years of tough losses’ are shared between countries, rather than see Wales go through this journey two, three, possible four years in a row. Of course the main reason they don’t want to miss just one 6N season is because it would probably tank the game in their country missing out on all that revenue. I have always said they should look at widening the revenue share, there are plenty of competitions that have systems to keep bottom teams competitive, and the 6N would only make more money if it was a tierd competition with prom/rel.

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