Payne: Munster looking to future

MUNSTER team manager Shaun Payne is looking to the future, starting at Musgrave Park tonight (7pm) when the reigning Magners League champions take on London Irish.

A week after a new-look Munster side produced a stunning display to defeat the much more experienced Sale Sharks, there is a warm feeling in the province about the future. Payne doesn’t believe everything in the garden is rosy, but he is happy with work in progress.

As the coach Tony McGahan yesterday made four changes to his starting XV, from the side that took the field against Sale, Denis Hurley (for Scott Deasy), Niall Ronan (Nick Williams), Tony Buckley (Stephen Archer), and Denis Leamy (Kieran Essex) were welcomed back into the fold of an increasingly competitive environment.