Hayes set to finally bow out

JOHN HAYES’S short-term deal to continue playing for with Munster looks set to end on schedule in the New Year, Munster have confirmed.

Hayes, 38 last month and capped 105 times by Ireland, had delayed his intended retirement at the end of last season, both to serve as cover for Ireland’s World Cup front rows and then on a short-term contract with his province after injuries to props Darragh Hurley and Peter Borlase made them unavailable for the opening rounds of the Heineken Cup pool campaign.

Borlase is now fit again and played for Munster A in the British & Irish Cup last weekend and head coach Tony McGahan said that with the New Zealand-born prop on the way back to first-team reckoning, Hayes would not be kept on beyond his current deal.