Blow for Scarlets as Peel misses Munster clash

DWAYNE PEEL has been forced to pull out of the Scarlets team for this evening’s Celtic Cup Final at Lansdowne Road with a neck injury (KO 5.30pm).

British and Irish Lion-in-waiting Peel has failed to recover from the blow suffered during last week’s semi-final victory over the Ospreys and is out of today’s clash with Munster.

However it is not thought that the injury will prevent him from checking in with the rest of the Lions squad at their Vale of Glamorgan-base next week.

“I’m really disappointed to be missing out this afternoon. I’ve felt the effects of last weekend’s tackle all week and unfortunately my neck still isn’t right,” said Peel.

“It’s a shame to miss the final because we’ve all worked hard at pulling our game together and the Celtic Cup gives us a chance to take something away from our season.”

For Munster, the news is Ronan O’Gara is back, and John Kelly is out.

O’Gara plays his first match in almost two months, having recovered from a serious knee injury, with Paul Burke reverting to the bench.

But John Kelly, who sustained a facial injury in last Sunday’s bruising semi-final win over Leinster, has been forced to drop out and is replaced by former Rugby League player Paul Devlin.

They are the only two changes from the side that defeated Leinster 23-17.

“We owe Llanelli one after the way we let ourselves down in the most recent meeting of the sides at Stradey Park”, says Alan Gaffney, the Munster coach who takes charge of the side for the last time before returning to his native Sydney on Tuesday.

“Even some of our best players dropped the ball cold on that occasion and the side as a whole were bitterly disappointed at the way they performed. That’s an additional spur and, of course, we also want to end the season with some silverware.”

Given that the game is taking place in mid-May and this is the last staging of the Celtic Cup, it’s hardly an occasion that will live long in the memory of either side, no matter what the outcome. For now, though, it offers both sides some consolation for their disappointing campaigns to date.

Munster are always looking for a good reason to hype up an occasion and they may have been given it during the week when Llanelli coach Gareth Jenkins described them as “limited.”

MUNSTER: S. Payne; P. Devlin, M. Mullins, R. Henderson, A. Horgan; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, P. O’Connell, D. O’Callaghan, A. Quinlan, D. Wallace, A. Foley capt. Replacements: J. Flannery, G. McIlwham, T. Hogan, D. Leamy; M. Prendergast, P. Burke, J. Storey.

SCARLETS: B Davies; G Evans, M Watkins, T Selley, A Havili; C Thomas, M Phillips; P John, M Rees, J Davies, V Cooper, C Wyatt, S Easterby (capt), A Powell, G Thomas. Replacements: D Maddocks, A Gravelle, A Jones, G Quinnell, C MacDonald, G Bowen, S Finau.

Referee: J. Jutge (France).