Gaffney announces 26-man squad

Munster coach Alan Gaffney has chosen to announce a 26-man squad ahead of their make-or-break Heineken European Cup quarter-final at Welford Road on Sunday.

Gaffney said: "It has to be the hardest part of this job, when you have to tell a player he's not starting.

"Well actually it's not, the hardest part is when you have to tell a player he's not even in the starting squad. That's the really tough part."

Gaffney will leave it until later in the week before selecting his final 22 players.

"They all want to play, to be involved and they're all good enough. But what we have to do is come up with the best combination for a particular game. We owe that much to our supporters and to the squad itself."

MUNSTER SQUAD: M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, J Blaney, S Kerr, P O'Connell, D O'Callaghan, M Galwey, M O'Driscoll, E Halvey, A Quinlan, D Leamy, J Williams, A Foley; P Stringer, D Malone, R O'Gara, M Lawlor, J Kelly, A Horgan, K Keane, M Mullins, J Holland, R Henderson, J Staunton, D Crotty.