Munster travel to Glasgow for a critical clash

MAGNERS League table toppers Munster begin a critical phase in their season when they travel to Firhill this Friday night for a round 13 tie with the Glasgow Warriors.
Munster, who have lost only one of their last four meetings with the Warriors, currently enjoy a three point lead over great rivals Leinster at the summit of the League table. Just six series of games remain to be played in the competition this season.
Tony McGahan’s men are due to host Leinster in a crunch Magners League tie at Thomond Park on Saturday week, April 4.
Munster’s clash with the Warriors on Friday night is due to begin at 7.45pm and the game will be televised live on Setanta Sports.
Munster welcomed their Irish Grand Slam winning players into their set-up this week.
However, several front-line Irish players are not expected to be involved in Friday night’s tie.
The Munster squad to face the Warriors was set to be unveiled this Wednesday afternoon and the panel was expected to include Denis Leamy, Mick O’Driscoll and Peter Stringer who began Saturday’s crunch RBS Six Nations Championship tie with Wales on the replacements’ bench.
Munster will approach Friday night’s game at Firhill in confident mood. The province have won their last five games in all competitions. The Magners League side remain unbeaten since their shock 11-37 defeat at the hands of Ulster at Thomond Park on January 3.
Munster’s only loss to a Scottish side in their last ten meetings since October 2006 was a 18-21 defeat to Glasgow at Musgrave Park in May of last year. Glasgow Warriors, for their part, have lost their last three matches in the Magners League since their 25-20 victory over Scottish rivals Edinburgh at Firhill Arena on January 2. However, Glasgow are unbeaten at Firhill against all Irish opponents since Leinster won there 21-18 in May 2006.
Meanwhile, the Ospreys will bring their biggest ever travelling support to Limerick for their Heineken Cup quarter-final tie with Munster on Easter Sunday.
However, the Welsh club has announced that will not be taking up their entire allocation of 6,400 tickets for their quarter-final clash.
The Ospreys have confirmed that their tickets have now been withdrawn from public sale.
A statement on the Ospreys official website said: “We’re thrilled with the enormous demand we’ve had for tickets, and look forward to seeing our biggest-yet travelling contingent of Ospreylians.
“While we couldn’t hope to outnumber what will prove a vast sea of Munster fans, we have no doubt our travelling support will make a noise to reckon with. . . Having now given ample opportunity for our OWN supporters to secure their tickets, we have decided to herewith return all unsold tickets to Munster Rugby to distribute according to their own ticket policies.”
Munster Rugby indicated that returned tickets would be ‘distributed based on Munster Branch ticket guidelines’ and further details would be confirmed this week. Further ticket updates will be available from the Munster Rugby website.

Colm Kinsella