The fixture is the first of three Munster will play against Guinness Premiership opposition in the coming weeks. Tony McGahan’s men face London Irish, again at Musgrave Park on Friday, August 21 and complete their programme of friendlies away to Leicester Tigers a week later.
Munster and their opponents this Friday night, the Sharks were drawn in the same pool in last season’s heineken Cup. The second of their two meetings at Thomond Park in January ended in an emphatic 37-14 win for Munster. The victory ensured the Irish province’s passage into the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for an 11th successive season.
Munster must plan without the services of their Lions players, Paul O’Connell, Keith Earls, Ronan O’Gara, David Wallace and Donncha O’Callaghan for Friday night’s game. The quintet are due to return to competitive action for round four of the Magners League in late September.
The Munster squad and management flew home this Wednesday from a week-long intensive training camp at the Browns Sports & Leisure Centre in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Included in the 43 strong squad were newcomers this season, French international prop Julien Brugnaut, former Garryowen hooker Damien Varley who played his rugby with London Wasps last season, Kiwi scrum-half Toby Morland, former Connacht player Danny Riordan and one-time Ireland Under-20 full-back Felix Jones.
Also included on the Portugal trip were scrum-half Tomas O’Leary and hooker Jerry Flannery, both reported to be making excellent progress from their respective injuries.
Munster coach Tony McGahan is set to field an experimental side for Friday night’s game in Cork with at least some of the province’s new signings expected to feature in the fray.
Co-incidentally the Sale Sharks spent the opening week of their pre-season at the Browns Sports and Leisure Centre in Vilamoura.
Sale Sharks have already had two pre-season games, a 5-12 defeat to Montpelier last week in Millau and a 19-22 reverse at the hands of Albi, when the English Premiership side fielded a mix of young and experienced players.
Sale arrived in Munster this Wednesday to begin preparations for Friday night’s game in Cork.
Sharks coach Kingsley Jones sees the Munster game as the key part of his squad’s build up to the season and he is expected to include the likes of Charlie Hodgson, Andrew Sheridan, Luke Abraham, Ben Cohen and fully fit again Dwayne Peel in his squad for the trip to Munster.
Also expected to feature in the Sale side on Friday night are newcomers, Scotland international Gavin Kerr, David Seymour, who joins from Saracens, and the Fijian international Sisaro Koyamaibole, who played with Toulon last season.
Match tickets for the match at Musgrave Park were still available earlier this week. They are priced at €25 for the West Stand, €20 for uncovered seating, €15 for adult terracing and €5 for schoolboys.
Further details are available on munsterrugby.ie or by telephoning the Ticketmaster hotline on 0818 719 300.
Meanwhile, 15 Munster players have been included in the 37-strong Irish squad which will be involved in a three-day training camp in Limerick from Sunday.
The camp, which runs from Sunday until Wednesday, August 19, will feature Munster’s Lions players, Paul O’Connell, John Hayes, Ronan O’Gara, Keith Earls, Donncha O’Callaghan and David Wallace.
Four Munster players, Denis Fogarty, Felix Jones, Barry Murphy and Niall Ronan, who were involved in Ireland’s first camp in Belfast at the end of July, make way for the returning players.
Irish coach Declan kidney said: “The Belfast camp was productive in that we were able to continue to work with the players and pick up where we left off from the summer tour and the Churchill Cup.
“A lot of players are being given an opportunity and from that point of view as well, we were happy with the spread of players we were in contact with in Belfast.”
Irish rugby squad
Neil Best (Northampton), Rory Best (Ulster), Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Tony Buckley (Munster), Tom Court (Ulster), Sean Cronin (Connacht), Leo Cullen (Leinster), Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster), Ian Dowling (Munster), Keith Earls (Munster), Stephen Ferris (Ulster), Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster), Jerry Flannery (Munster), John Hayes (Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Shane Horgan (Leinster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Robert Kearney (Leinster), Denis Leamy (Munster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster), Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), Paul O’Connell (Munster), Mick O’Driscoll (Munster), Ronan O’Gara (Munster), Tomas O’Leary (Munster), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Peter Stringer (Munster), Devon Toner (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster), David Wallace (Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster), Brett Wilkinson (Connacht).
Colm Kinsella
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment