Worry for Kidney as five in fitness race for showdown

IN CONTRAST to Leinster, for whom everything has gone very smoothly, Munster have several injury worries ahead of next Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final at Lansdowne Road.

Loose head prop Marcus Horan and flanker Denis Leamy are troubled by calf and ankle injuries respectively, Ronan O’Gara continues his recuperation from the hamstring strain he carried into the quarter-final against Perpignan and the gashed knee he sustained in the same game. Utility back Tomas O’Leary is also bothered by a hamstring while hooker Jerry Flannery retired early in Saturday night’s Celtic League victory over Edinburgh Gunners after getting a knock on the achilles tendon.

The official line is that Horan remains a serious doubt although he watched Saturday’s game alongside Leamy from the Thomond Park stand. There was no sign of O’Gara, who was recently hospitalised for five days when the deep cut on his knee became infected.