Booth picking from position of strength

LONDON IRISH head coach Toby Booth will be dealing with a virtually full deck when he selects his matchday squad to face Munster on Saturday in their Heineken Cup opener in Reading.

The Aviva Premiership leaders will be missing three long-term injury victims for the Pool C showdown at the Madejski Stadium but the rest of the squad emerged unscathed from the 40-24 league victory over Leeds Carnegie last weekend and Booth will also welcome the return of several key men to the set-up in time to face a Munster team he labelled “The Red Machine”.

“Tom Homer and Chris Hala’ufia are back in training this week which is fantastic, which means the only long-term ones we’ve got left are Paulica (Ion), Adam Thompstone, and Steffon Armitage. They’re definite no’s but everyone else is pretty much there or thereabouts, which is remarkable,” Booth said.