Saracens and Munster set for Coventry classic

Adam Kyriacou
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The first Champions Cup semi-final of the weekend will play out on Saturday when heavyweight duo Saracens and Munster face off in Coventry.

George Kruis will make his 50th European appearance this weekend, with the second-row having made his debut in the competition back in the 2010/11 season and was instrumental in Sarries’ back-to-back successes.

Scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth’s long-awaited return from injury will see him reach a century of games in Europe from the bench.

Captain Brad Barritt has recovered from an ankle injury to slot back in at inside centre alongside Alex Lozowski.

The duo, and Kruis, are three of 10 changes to the starting XV that suffered defeat at Bristol Bears last weekend.

Liam Williams comes back in on the wing while Ben Spencer and Owen Farrell are the half-back pairing.

USA international Titi Lamositele keeps his place in the front-row and is joined by Mako Vunipola – his first Sarries appearance since January – and Jamie George.

Maro Itoje partners Kruis in the boiler and Billy Vunipola starts at number eight.

Meanwhile, Munster head coach Johann van Graan has made 12 changes to the side that earned an impressive win away to Benetton in Italy last weekend as Mike Haley, Darren Sweetnam and Jack O’Donoghue keep their places.

Captain Peter O’Mahony leads the side on his 50th Champions Cup appearance. O’Mahony has started each of his 49 appearances in the competition to date, including all 23 of the province’s Champions Cup games over the last three seasons.

Haley starts at full-back with Andrew Conway and Sweetnam on either flank.

Rory Scannell and Chris Farrell form the centre partnership with Conor Murray and Tyler Bleyendaal in the half-backs.

Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and John Ryan pack down in the front-row with Jean Kleyn and Tadhg Beirne in the engine room.

O’Mahony, O’Donoghue and CJ Stander complete the starting XV.

Keith Earls misses out due to injury having failed to make it through this week’s training.

The teams:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 David Strettle

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Rhys Marshall, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Alby Mathewson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Dan Goggin

Date: Saturday, April 20
Venue: Ricoh Arena
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)

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