Seán O’Brien comes into the Munster midfield as they look for momentum at Lions’ den

Munster coach Graham Rowntree has made one change to his side for tomorrow’s crunch clash with the Lions in Johannesburg, with Seán O’Brien coming in for Alex Nankivell.

After beating the Bulls up the road in Pretoria, Munster now have a real chance to make a push for a place in the top two of the URC and Rowntree has decided to largely stick with a winning formula.

Simon Zebo keeps the No 15 jersey despite the return of Mike Haley to the matchday 23, with Calvin Nash and Shane Daly on the wings and Antoine Frisch partnering O’Brien in midfield.

Conor Murray continues at scrum-half, partnering Jack Crowley as Craig Casey gets the all clear to resume his role on the bench after coming through the concussion protocols.

Up front, Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell and Stephen Archer continue in the front-row, with Tadhg Beirne and RG Snyman in the engine room and Peter O’Mahony, Alex Kendellen and Jack O’Donoghue in the back-row.

An injury to John Hodnett sees Rowntree change his bench formula by reverting to a 5/3 split of forwards and backs, with Haley joining Casey and Joey Carbery in covering the backline,

Eoghan Clarke, Josh Wycherley and Oli Jager are the front-row replacements, Tom Ahern and Gavin Coombes cover the back-five.

The Lions, who beat Leinster well last week, make one change to their team with Jordan Hendrikse coming in at full-back.

Lions: J Hendrikse; R Kriel, E Cronje, M Louw (capt), E van der Merwe; S Nohamba, M van der Berg; M Naude, J Visagie, R Dreyer, W Alberts, R Delport; JC Pretorius, E Tshituka, F Horn.

Reps: PJ Botha, JP Smith, A Nklabakanye, R Nothnagel, R Venter, S Sangweni, N Steyn, G Lombard.

Munster: S Zebo; C Nash, A Frisch, S O’Brien, S Daly; J Crowley, C Murray; J Loughman, N Scannell, S Archer; RG Snyman, T Beirne (capt); P O’Mahony, A Kendellen, J O’Donoghue.

Reps: E Clarke, J Wycherley, O Jager, T Ahern, G Coombes, C Casey, J Carbery, M Haley.

Stormers v Leinster

Leinster: Henry McErlean, Liam Turner, Ben Brownlee, Charlie Ngatai, Rob Russell, Sam Prendergast, Cormac Foley, Michael Milne, John McKee, Michael Ala’alatoa, Brian Deeny, Jason Jenkins, Rhys Ruddock, Scott Penny (CAPT), Max Deegan

Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Ed Byrne, Thomas Clarkson, Conor O’Tighearnaigh, Diarmuid Mangan, Fintan Gunne, Charlie Tector, Martin Moloney

Dragons v Connacht

Dragons: J Williams; R Dyer, S Hughes (c), A Owen, E Rosser; C Evans, R Williams; R Jones, E Dee, C Coleman; B Carter, M Screech; H Keddie, T Basham, A Wainwright.

Replacements: J Benjamin, R Martinez, L Yendle, G Nott, S Lonsdale, C Hope, W Reed, J Westwood.

Connacht: T O’Halloran; S Jennings, T Farrell, B Aki, J Porch; JJ Hanrahan, M Devine; D Buckley, D Heffernan (c), F Bealham; J Joyce, G Thornbury; S Hurley-Langton, C Oliver, C Prendergast.

Replacements: D Tierney-Martin, P Dooley, S Illo, O Dowling, J Butler, C Blade, C Forde, P Boyle.

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