Payne focuses on the positives

MUNSTER manager Shaun Payne yesterday attempted to put a positive spin on the province’s front row crisis by describing the loss of five players as “a big opportunity for a couple of lads”.

The Magners League champions head to Edinburgh on Friday without the services of John Hayes (suspended), Dave Ryan, Tony Buckley and Jerry Flannery (all injured), along with Marcus Horan who is undergoing medical tests to determine the nature of his sudden ‘light-headedness’ against Treviso on Saturday.

Munster may have to rely on the relatively inexperienced trio of Julien Brugnaut, Darragh Hurley and Stephen Archer to anchor the scrum in Scotland, while a vacant front-row space has been left in the 26-man squad announced yesterday, with academy prospects Pa O’Regan and Dave Kilcoyne in contention for a call-up.