MUNSTER will be without their international second row Gabriel Fulcher for the match against Australia at Thomond Park tomorrow. Fulcher withdrew from the side yesterday because of a wrist injury sustained playing for Ireland on Saturday. His place will be taken by Darn Kirby (Old Crescent).

Munster finalised their replacement line-up for the match and the six on the bench will be Brian O'Meara (Cork Constitution), Aidan O'Halloran (Young Munster), Mick Lynch (Young Munster), Ian Murray (Cork Constitution), Frank Sheehan (UCC) and Len Dinneen (Old Crescent). While Fulcher's experience and line-out ability will be missed and his withdrawal is a blow to Munster, Kirby is an accomplished player who has played for the province this season.

The Australian team will not be announced until this morning. The original intention had been to announce the side after they arrived in Limerick late yesterday afternoon. But the management decided to defer selection.

While the wrist injury sustained by Ireland full back Jim Staples in the international may not be as serious as initially thought, the Australian captain John Eales will take no further part in the Wallabies tour.

Eales has a fractured eye socket and it is anticipated that he will be out of the game for about six weeks. He got the injury in a collision with Ireland centre Mark McCall and left the field in the 65th minute.

Eales will stay with the party until the end of the tour but the Wallabies yesterday sent for the ACT second row John Langford as a replacement.

Staples had to go off after 14 minutes because of the injury to his right wrist. It was feared that this might be a recurrence of the injury that forced Staples out of the World Cup in South Africa in the summer of 1995. Staples is due to have the wrist X-rayed in London but Ireland manager Pat Whelan was optimistic yesterday that the injury may not be serious.