Springbok centre Damian de Allende will miss Munster’s crucial Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash against rivals Ulster due to injury.

Damian de Allende has anchored the Munster backline since moving to Limerick in 2020 and his name was notably missing from the lineup announced for Saturday’s match. The club confirmed the 58-Test centre is unavailable for selection having suffered an abdominal injury during the week.

Meanwhile, De Allende’s Bok teammate Duane Vermeulen and compatriot Rob Herring will start at No 8 and hooker respectively for Ulster.

Ulster are third on the table with five wins from seven matches while Munster, coached by embattled former Bok assistant Johann van Graan, are seventh with a 4-2 record.

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Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Seán French, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Fineen Wycherley, 4 Thomas Ahern, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 John Ryan, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Jack O’Donoghue, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Shane Daly

Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Ben Moxham, 12 James Hume, 11 Ethan McIlroy, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Greg Jones, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Alan O’Connor (c), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Marcus Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Angus Curtis, 23 Rob Lyttle