Munster near full strength as Cup squads submitted

THE Heineken Cup squads were submitted to European Cup Rugby Ltd yesterday, but won’t be made public for a few days while the ERC completes an eligibility check.

Munster might wait until as late as Monday, but have named a strong side to take on Ulster at Musgrave Park tomorrow night (7.30) in a crucial Magners League clash.

Munster are back close to full strength. Christian Cullen has recovered from injury but with Trevor Halstead still not fully fit Shaun Payne has been given the number 12 shirt alongside John Kelly in the centre. Anthony Horgan is named on the right wing and Ian Dowling on the left.

John Hayes is ruled out but Munster are fortunate to have Marcus Horan and Frankie Sheahan back in action.

Denis Leamy is out with a hamstring injury, but Munster and Irish flanker Alan Quinlan is back to keep the back row looking pretty imposing, just behind new captain Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan.

But Munster coach Declan Kidney is under no illusions.

“Ulster are the number one ranked Heineken Cup side in Ireland and are playing well right now,” he said. “Their performance last time out points up what a good side they are.

“The Magners League is hugely competitive, and it’s difficult to do well if you don’t get something out of your home games. They did the double over us last year, so on the one hand there is an incentive in that for us. But then again, they’ll have no fears about travelling down here.”

Although most of the squads had already been finalised many weeks ago, there has been a deal of fine-tuning in the last couple of weeks throughout Britain, Ireland, France and Italy.

For instance, James Downey has lined out with Munster on an ad-hoc basis in the Celtic League, but now joins up with Calvisano in Italy for the rest of the year.

That leaves a vacancy for Munster in the back division, even if they await the return of Barry Murphy, who is almost back to full fitness after breaking a leg against Ulster last season.

Kidney is busily preparing for this clash with Ulster and declined to elaborate on the selection of his European squad yesterday.

He said: “We need to talk to some players; we have submitted the squad to ERC, but we want to let all players know where they stand before anything becomes public knowledge.”

Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson also said the province’s squad wouldn’t be released until everyone had been notified. But if Munster can be expected to make at least one signing from outside the province, Dawson insisted there wouldn’t be any surprises in the squad.

Meanwhile, Ulster lock Lewis Stephen looks likely to be out of rugby for 12-14 weeks after sustaining a leg injury in Wednesday’s A match against Munster in Cork. Stevenson has dislocated the fibula head of his left leg and will undergo surgery tomorrow.

MUNSTER: C Cullen; A Horgan, J Kelly, S Payne, I Dowling; R O’Gara, P Stringer; M Horan, F Sheahan, F Pucciariello; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell capt; A Quinlan, D Wallace, A Foley.

Replacements (from): F Roche, T Ryan, A Kyriacou, M O’Driscoll, T McGann, B O’Meara, T O’Leary, E Hickey, M Lawlor, T Halstead, C O’Boyle.