Rugby: Kidney hopeful ahead of semi-final

Munster warm-up for their Heineken Cup semi-final against Stade Francais in Lille on 21 April by taking on a Rest of Ireland team on Good Friday with coach Declan Kidney hoping it is not a case of too little, too late.

"As a squad, we have had only four training sessions since we played Biarritz in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals back in January so it is good to be back and have a week together," he said.

"The game against the Rest of Ireland will be our first game in 11 weeks, so there is plenty of work for us to get through between now and the Stade Francais game.

"Apart from the injuries to back row forwards Alan Quinlan and David Wallace, a number of players are nursing knocks from club games, including scrum half Peter Stringer."

Last season Munster beat Stade Francais 27-10 at the quarter-final stage of the Heineken Cup in the only previous meeting between the reigning Irish and French champions.

"The difference between our preparation for the game against Stade Francais last season and now is that last year the players had come off an international season and were going well," said Kidney.

"This time, we have been starved of international rugby because of the foot and mouth problem and some of the players who have been playing club rugby are now injured.

"Our main focus is to forget what has gone and to get ourselves right.

"The fact of the matter is that we have a match in under two weeks' time and we will be up against an excellent side.

"Their strength in depth is awesome.

"We don't have the element of surprise that we did last year and that makes it even harder for us."