{"id":8508,"date":"2026-01-01T13:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=8508"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:36:21","slug":"ulster-v-munster-iain-henderson-returns-as-munster-ring-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=8508","title":{"rendered":"Ulster v Munster: Iain Henderson returns as Munster ring changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Tom Stewart retains his place at hooker and is joined by Australia prop Angus Bell and Tom O&#8217;Toole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Henderson and Joe Hopes make up a new-look second row, while Cormac Izuchukwu shifts to flanker and is joined in the back row by Nick Timoney and Bryn Ward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Doak returns at scrum-half in an otherwise unchanged backline, which comprises of Jack Murphy, Zac Ward, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Werner Kok and Jacob Stockdale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Rob Herring and Eric O&#8217;Sullivan will make their returns from injury on the bench. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">For the visitors, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, Craig Casey, Tom Farell, Gavin Coombes and Edwin Edogbo are among those who will miss the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Paddy Patterson and JJ Hanrahan come in at half-back for Casey and Crowley, while Calvin Nash returns on the wing and Dan Kelly starts at centre alongside Alex Nankivell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In the pack, hooker Diarmud Barron will captain Munster alongside Josh Wycherley and Michael Ala&#8217;alatoa, while Springbok Jean Kleyn and Fineen Wycherley start in the second row. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The back row is made up of Tom Ahern, who shifts to flanker from lock, John Hodnett and Alex Kendellen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/irish\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Stay up to date with the latest news in Irish rugby here.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Ulster: <\/b>J Stockdale; W Kok; J Hume, S McCloskey; Z Ward; J Murphy, N Doak; A Bell, T Stewart, T O&#8217;Toole; I Henderson (capt), J Hopes; C Izuchukwu, N Timoney, B Ward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Replacements: <\/i>R Herring, E O&#8217;Sullivan, S Wilson, H Sheridan, D McCann, C McKee, J Flannery, J Postlethwaite. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Munster:<\/b> M Haley; C Nash, D Kelly, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, P Patterson; J Wycherley, D Barron (capt), M Ala&#8217;alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; T Ahern, J Hodnett, A Kendellen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><i class=\"ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2\">Replacements:<\/i> L Barron, J Loughman, C Bartley, J O&#8217;Donoghue, B Gleeson, E Coughlan, T Butler, S O&#8217;Brien.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c9wxkr1w1qjo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Stewart retains his place &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[251],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}