PREVIEW | Munster travel to take on Scarlets in the third round of the URC

Munster narrowly got the better of Scarlets in last season 27 – 30 win in Parc y Scarlets thanks to a last minute penalty kick from Ben Healy.

Munster are on the road for the first time in the 2021/22 URC season as they travel to Llanelli to face Welsh side Scarlets. Scarlets are fresh off the back of their first URC wins against the Lions, overcoming a slim round one loss to Edinburgh.

Scarlets have only lost one of their last six home matches across the PRO14, Rainbow Cup and United Rugby Championship. Munster however, have lost just twice away from home in any competition in 2021 so far, meaning both teams have an impressive record to maintain come Sunday.

Scarlets are set to welcome back three of their players from the 2021 summer Lions tour to South Africa, namely scrum-half Gareth Davis, hooker Ken Owens and prop Wyn Jones.

A Scarlet to watch out for is undoubtedly young out-half Sam Costelow, who kicked a stunning 16 points for the Welsh side in their 36 – 13 win over the Lions last weekend.

Munster however are looking to capitalise off their strong start to the season with two bonus point wins over the Sharks and Stormers. The last time Munster travelled to Parc y Scarlets was when they snatched the win by the slimmest of margins thanks to a long range last minute penalty kick from Ben Healy.

Kick-off for the game is 2:00pm on Sunday, October 10th and the game will be live on on URC TV, RTÉ, S4C, Premier Sports & SuperSport.

The officials for the game will be referee Ben Blain (SRU), assistant referees of Craig Evans (WRU) & Simon Mills (WRU) while the TMO for the fixture is Neil Paterson (SRU).

Teams

Munster: Matt Gallagher; Calvin Nash, Liam Coombes, Dan Goggin, Shane Daly; Ben Healy, Neil Cronin; Jeremy Loughman, Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Archer; Thomas Ahern, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (C), Chris Cloete, Jack O’Sullivan.

Replacements: Kevin O’Byrne, Josh Wycherley, John Ryan, RG Snyman, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Jack Crowley, Jack Daly.

Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl; Tom Rogers, Jonathan Davies (capt), Scott Williams, Steff Evans; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Samson Lee, Lloyd Ashley, Aaron Shingler, Blade Thomson, Dan Davis, Sione Kalamafoni.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, WillGriff John, Tom Price, Shaun Evans, Kieran Hardy, Dan Jones, Johnny Williams.