De Villiers gives Munster a timely boost

SMARTING Munster received a boost ahead of Friday night’s crunch Magners League tie with the Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park (kick-off 7.05pm) with confirmation that Western Province have cleared the way for Springbok centre Jean de Villiers to join up with the Irish province next week.
De Villiers, who will be based in Limerick during his time with Munster, is now likely to make his debut for the Magners League holders in the clash with the Newport Gwent Dragons on September 27 at Cork’s Musgrave Park.
The 28-year-old is set to join up with his new team-mates next week after the Springboks complete their programme of Tri Nations games in New Zealand this weekend.
Munster, still smarting after their disappointing opening round Magners League defeat away to Glasgow Warriors, welcome back the vastly experienced duo of Alan Quinlan and John Hayes for this Friday night’s crucial meeting with the Cardiff Blues at Thomond Park. (7.05pm)
Quinlan, who returns after a 12-week suspension, and prop John Hayes were named in Munster’s extended 25-man squad for the big game.
Munster manager Shaun Payne said Alan Quinlan had now put the disappointment of missing the Lions trip as a result of his ban behind him.
“Alan struggled tremendously with missing the Lions trip,” Shaun Payne said.
“I don’t know of a fellow who wanted to make trip to South Africa more. It was a crushing blow for him. He is training away and is having a great time at training.
“He is really looking forward to getting back on the pitch. He wants to pull on a jersey, get back on the pitch and get the disappointment behind him with a couple of good performances.
“The off-season was a struggle for him. But he has put it behind him and is training well.”
While Hayes missed last Friday night’s Magners League opener with the Glasgow Warriors at Firhill, Munster struggled in the scrums and the front row was penalised on a number of occasions by Welsh referee James Jones.
Payne said: We were very disappointed with our overall display in Glasgow. The scrum didn’t go well for us at all. There is plenty of work to be done this week.
“We need to give credit to Glasgow. They are strong in that area.
“It was unusual to have two half-backs yellow carded during the course of the game. We shipped a number of penalties before the two yellow cards. Discipline is an area we will be looking at very closely as well.”
Munster coach Tony McGahan must plan without the services of Paul Warwick for Friday night’s clash with the Blues. The versatile Warwick will be sidelined for a further two to three weeks as a result of a foot injury.
Other absentees from the Munster squad for the first competitive home game of the season at Thomond Park include the province’s Lions contingent, as well as injured players, Jerry Flannery, Nick Williams, Ian Dowling, Tomas O’Leary and Ciaran O’Boyle.
In relation to the impending arrival of Jean de Villiers, Payne explained: “Jean de Villiers will be arriving here in the middle of next week.
“Everything has been sorted out with Western Province in South Africa. There was speculation about releases not been signed, but that is not the case. We would not play him next week against the Scarlets as he is coming to Ireland from New Zealand.
“We will looking to involve him around Magners League week four when we play the Dragons in Musgrave Park.”
The Cardiff Blues are also looking for their first win of the campaign having suffered a one-point defeat to Edinburgh in their opening League fixture last weekend.
No Welsh side has won at Thomond Park since the visit of the Dragons in march 2004 and the Blues have lost on each of their three visits to Limerick.
Munster squad v Cardiff Blues: Danny Barnes, Felix Jones, Scott Deasy, Denis Hurley, Doug Howlett, Barry Murphy, Tom Gleeson, Lifeimi Mafi, Jeremy Manning, Toby Morland, Peter Stringer, Marcus Horan, Tony Buckley, Julian Brugnaut, John Hayes, Denis Fogarty, Damian Varley, Mick O’Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Alan Quinlan, Billy Holland, Tommy O’Donnell, Niall Ronan, Denis Leamy, James Coughlan.

Irish squad
Limerick-born Conancht hooker Sean Cronin is one of six uncapped players named in Irish coach Declan Kidney’s 34-man panel for a training camp in Dublin next week.
The two-day camp is part of the Grand Slam winners’ preparations for the three upcoming November internationals against Australia, South Africa and Fiji.
While former Shannon star Cronin is among the 20 forwards named in the squad, there is no place for Munster flanker Alan Quinlan, who is free to play again after serving a 12-week suspension. Limerick scrum-half Eoin Reddan, currently playing with Leinster, is included in an irish camp for the first time this season.

Tony Buckley (Munster), Tom Court (Ulster), Sean Cronin (Connacht)*, Leo Cullen (Leinster), Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster), Keith Earls (Munster), Stephen Ferris (Ulster), Luke Fitzgerald (Leinster), Jerry Flannery (Munster), John Hayes (Munster), Cian Healy (Leinster)*, Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Marcus Horan (Munster), Shane Horgan (Leinster), Bernard Jackman (Leinster), Shane Jennings (Leinster), Robert Kearney (Leinster), Denis Leamy (Munster), Fergus McFadden (Leinster)*, Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster), Paul O’Connell (Munster), Mick O’Driscoll (Munster), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Munster), Tomas O’Leary (Munster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (/Munster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster)*, Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster)*, Andrew Trimble (Ulster), David Wallace (Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ulster), Brett Wilkinson (Connacht)*.
* Denotes Uncapped players.

Colm Kinsella