Cullen makes long awaited return as Kidney rests five

CHRISTIAN CULLEN is set to make a sensational return for Munster when they travel to Scotland for tomorrow night’s Celtic League fixture with Border Reivers (7.30pm).

Cullen has been included in a squad of 23; a squad without Denis Leamy, Shaun Payne, Peter Stringer, Tomas O’Leary and Paul O’Connell, who have all been rested.

It’s not certain whether Cullen will start, but it seems he will certainly be given a run with John Kelly and Rob Henderson ruled out for at least two weeks.

Cullen has endured a disastrous injury run since his arrival over two years ago. He has undergone three operations for a damaged shoulder and, on the verge of making a comeback, pulled a hamstring a few weeks ago.

The news from inside the camp suggests he is “flying,” determined to make an impact as the season draws to a climax.

Munster will have to adjust from the frenzy of Lansdowne Road last week to the relative quiet of the Netherdale as Border Reivers’ normal attendance is less than 1,500.

However, a Reivers official suggested yesterday that this game might attract the biggest gate of the season: “We had our biggest crowds for the games against Edinburgh and Leinster. Now that Munster have got to the Heineken Cup final, there is sure to be a degree of interest.

Border Reivers have lost their last three matches in the Celtic League since beating Glasgow Warriors 20-8 at Firhill on March 3.

Even though they have crawled their way up the table to overtake Glasgow and challenge for Scotland’s second guaranteed place in next year’s Heineken Cup, the Reivers have won just one of their last nine games against Irish opposition: 17-15 against Connacht in Galway on September 24.

But victory tomorrow would keep Reivers on course for a Heineken Cup spot next season, and Munster coach Declan Kidney is known to have a huge degree of respect for this side. After securing a narrow, and fortunate, 9-7 win in the opening league game of the season, Kidney remarked; “we’ll see how good or bad a team this is at the end of the season.”

The fact that they could play in Europe next year indicates that they aren’t that bad, and Leinster certainly struggled to win by a point just a couple of weeks ago.

Even though Munster have lost their last two away games at Ulster and the Dragons, they have won all five previous encounters against the Reivers, including that narrow 9-7 victory at Thomond Park.

MUNSTER (from): F Pucciariello, J Hayes, F Roche, E McGovern, D Fogarty, J Flannery, D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll, T Hogan, J O’Sullivan, D Wallace, S Keogh, A Foley, M Prendergast, F Murphy, R O’Gara, J Manning, I Dowling, A Horgan, P Devlin, T Halstead, M Mullins, C Cullen.

Referee: T Hayes (WRU).