O’Leary set for return to action

IRELAND scrum-half Tomás O’Leary returns to competitive rugby on Saturday.

O’Leary, who damaged his eye in a freak training accident last month, will line out for Munster either against the Ospreys in the Magners League in Swansea or in an A game against Moseley in Birmingham earlier that day.

Munster assistant coach Anthony Foley said O’Leary has come through contact work in training and is anxious to see game time at the weekend.

Foley said: “Tomás will be involved in one of the games. Kevin Maggs (the former Ireland centre) works in Moseley as backs coach. We were looking for games with the AIL finishing up and the run-in to a busy end of the year and that is how it came about.”

Ospreys or Cardiff Blues are heading the race to join Munster, Leinster and Ulster in the Magners League play-offs and that adds spice to a game that means precious little to the visitors who have secured a home semi-final.

But Foley stressed his side wouldn’t be complacent: “Playing a side for the fourth time in a season brings a lot of familiarity. Hopefully, we’ve learnt from our wins and our defeat to the Ospreys and will take that into Saturday. If we get a result in Swansea, that will put a spring in our step going into the Harlequins game a week later. But we can’t let complacency creep in.”

Foley was thrilled, but not surprised, with the victory over a near full-strength Scarlets last week, especially as Munster fielded only three of their regular starting side.

He reasoned: “The other coaches and myself have worked with these guys and we understand how good they are. We go out expecting to win these games even though some of the guys wouldn’t be household names. But they’re here two or three years and we have high expectations of them. The level of intensity they brought to the game was very pleasing. Any time there was a tackle contest, the Scarlets were going backwards or there were two or three Munster men in there making it difficult for them to win quick ball.”

Meanwhile Andrew Trimble and Paddy Wallace will miss Ulster’s Magners League run-in while Springbok prop BJ Botha could also have played his last game for the province. Both Trimble and Wallace picked up fractured thumbs during last week’s defeat to Leinster and will be out for up to six weeks at least while Munster-bound Botha is to undergo an MRI scan today to ascertain the extent of a knee injury which he sustained in the Heineken Cup game against Northampton.

Along with prop Tom Court who is is still suffering from slight concussion, the trio will sit out this Friday’s interprovincial derby against Connacht at Ravenhill.

ULSTER Squad v Connacht: (Forwards): J Cronin, T Court, BJ Botha, P McAllister, B Young, R Best, N Brady, A Kyriacou, R Caldwell, N McComb, D Tuohy, J Muller, T Barker, P Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, W Faloon, C Henry, R Diack. (Backs): R Pienaar, P Marshall, I Humphreys, N O’Connor, I Whitten, N Spence, M McCrea, D Cave, S Danielli, T Seymour, C Gilroy, C Gaston, J Smith, A D’Arcy.