Munster and Leinster primed for first serious test

THE battle for Irish domestic rugby supremacy continues at the Aviva Stadium on Friday (8pm) between two times Heineken Cup champions Leinster and Munster, with a sell-out increasingly likely.

Ticket sales are approaching 42,000 and Leinster appear to be confident of reaching the capacity of 51,700 in the coming days, knowing that strong team announcements could boost the attendance.

Apart from the usual fall-out after a competitive and physical game in the 36-28 victory over Edinburgh in Murrayfield last week, Leinster have no fresh injury concerns and expect to have Jonathan Sexton and Isa Nacewa in the line-up to provide Munster with their sternest test of the RaboDirect Pro12 campaign.

Leinster and Irish prop forward Mike Ross will reach the significant milestone of his 50th cap while Rob Kearney is also expected to play in his 106th appearance for the province.

Munster coach Tony McGahan will be picking from a full deck when he sits down to select his side.

Tomás O’Leary and Peter O’Mahony were both forced to retire in Friday’s game against Aironi, but will train today.

Meanwhile, Jerry Flannery’s future is looking brighter after getting positive news following a consultation with a German specialist last week. He remains unavailable alongside David Wallace, Felix Jones, Mike Sherry, Peter Borlase and Troy Smith.

Skipper Paul O’Connell took positives rather than negatives from last week’s less than convincing home win over Aironi, stating: “I enjoyed the game and our scrum was excellent.”

He’s looking forward to Friday, noting: “It’s probably the highest level you can go in Europe at the moment. Leinster, with their record, with the playing squad they have, it’s going to be a massive step up for us and again the following week against Northampton.

“So it’s really good preparation for us but we really need to learn fast and hit the ground running next weekend.”

Meanwhile Connacht’s flanker Johnny O’Connor has been ruled out of his side’s trip to play Ulster in Ravenhill on Saturday evening in the Pro12.

O’Connor suffered a calf injury in the warm-up before Saturday’s clash with Cardiff Blues and had to cry off.

“Johnny pulled his calf in the warm-up to the Cardiff game. We are waiting on results of a scan but it doesn’t look good for him. Whatever the results are he won’t be playing this weekend for us,” said assistant coach Dan McFarland.

“He will be a major loss as the energy and work rate that he brings to the game for us will be greatly missed in Ravenhill.”