Youngsters keep McGahan’s Reds in fine fettle

MUNSTER travel to Ravenhill for Friday’s RaboDirect Pro12 in high spirits after a side lacking a number of leading players defeated Connacht 24-9 in John Hayes’s swan song at Thomond Park on Monday evening.

Although forced to accept they will again be without skipper Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Conor Murray, and also Keith Earls and Donncha O’Callaghan who were available for the Connacht game, because of the terms of the national management programme, coach Tony McGahan is enthused at the manner in which several of his younger players, including Sean Scanlon, Luke O’Dea, Billy Holland and Paddy Butler, stepped up to the plate against Connacht.

“The side Connacht picked coming here after the narrow defeat by Gloucester meant we were expecting a really tough game and I was delighted with the way the players stuck to their task,” said McGahan, whose side is now one point behind second-placed Ospreys and seven adrift of Leinster. “We have a strong squad and are having a decent run of it for the last six or seven games. With John [Hayes] going out, we had our own motivation and I’m delighted with the way a lot of guys stood up and put in a very decent performance.