Holland definitely out for Munster’s clash in Glasgow
Definitely ruled out is Jason Holland, still recovering from an ankle injury while Denis Leamy (shoulder) and Conrad O'Sullivan (knee) both picked up knocks in the 33-26 defeat to Neath Swansea Ospreys on Saturday.
The Munster Under 21 side will also be in action on Friday evening when they play their final game in the interprovincial championship. They take on Leinster in Thomond Park (6pm) with both sides capable of winning the championship, although all the cards are stacked in Munster's favour.
As things stand, the Brian Hyland coached side are five points clear of second placed Leinster and Munster also hold a 42+ points advantage. So Leinster face a task similar to what faced the Munster senior side in the Heineken Cup last year when Gloucester visited Thomond Park.
Munster team manager Niall O'Shea will be reminding his charges of that turnaround: " Anything can happen in this game, we saw that last year in that famous game. You can never take things for granted. We played Leinster earlier this year in Donnybrook and although we won they gave us by far our toughest game. Since then they look to have improved and last weekend ran in eight tries against Ulster so they have the firepower if we allow them."
Munster, the defending champions, won the title last year under coach Pat Cross with just one loss to Connacht in the opening game.
This time around Hyland is in charge with former international Phillip Danaher as his assistant and O'Shea continuing as manager. The trio make no secret of their desire to retain the title with a 100% record and the last game affords them that opportunity in a season that saw the championship being played on a home and away basis for the first time.
From a selection; point of view they'll wait until after training on Wednesday evening before finalising their side. Number 8 Brendan O'Connor and centre Breffni O'Donnell picked up knocks in the win over Connacht and they'll be given every opportunity to prove their fitness before the team is named.
Shane O'Connor (Cork Con) is expected to be back in consideration having missed the game against Connacht through injury while the Munster management will have been heartened by the performance in Galway of full-back Richard Lane who scored two tries in his first full game of the campaign.
Perpignan's newly-signed Irish lock Mike O'Driscoll will be out of action until mid-December after suffering a right knee injury, club doctor Christian Fourniols confirmed Tuesday.
The former Munster player, who joined Perpignan this summer, picked up the injury during the first 15 minutes of Sunday's Southern Radio Challenge loss at French rivals Brive and was replaced by Christophe Porcu. The Irishman suffered a serious right knee sprain and ruptured ligaments.
Ulster take on the Leinster Lions this Friday night at Ravenhill in the quarter-final of the Celtic Cup, kick off 7.30pm.
Alan Solomons has named an unchanged back line with scrum-half Kieran Campbell fit to play despite taking a knock on the ankle last weekend against the Gwent Dragons.
In the front row, Bryan Young will make his second Ulster start while Paul Shields replaces Matt Sexton who has been sidelined for a couple of weeks having received a bump on the head against Gwent Dragons, with Nigel Brady coming onto the bench. In the second row Matt McCullough makes his first start since the pre-season friendly against Orrell, with Rowan Frost dropping to the bench. Neil Best returns to the starting XV in a re-shuffled back row in place of Roger Wilson with captain Andy Ward moving to blind-side flanker and Tony McWhirter coming in a No. 8.
ULSTER v Leinster: B Cunningham, S Young, R Constable, S Stewart, T Howe, A Larkin, K Campbell; R McCormack, P l Shields, B Young, M Mustchin, M McCullough, A Ward (Captain), N Best. T McWhirter
Replacements: Nl Brady, S Shawe, R Frost, R Wilson, R Spee, S Mallon, J Topping
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