MAGNERS LEAGUE:IN WHAT is perhaps a commentary on our economic times more than anything else, Leinster have returned almost 4,000 tickets of their 6,500 allocation for this Saturday's Magners League summit meeting with Munster.
Despite that, virtually all of those tickets had been snapped up in Munster outlets by yesterday evening, and while a few remained on sale the expectation is that the televised Thomond Park showdown will be a 26,000 sell-out.
Munster have won all 13 of their competitive home games this season but Leinster are seeking a sixth successive win over their arch rivals. Munster hold a 12-point lead over Leinster (who lead a trio of clubs on 55 points thanks to having more wins than the Ospreys and a superior points difference from Ulster) heading into a potentially pivotal weekend featuring three clashes involving the top six.
Indeed, were Munster to end their losing sequence against Leinster, and the Scarlets and the Cardiff Blues lost away to Ulster and the Ospreys, then Tony McGahan’s men would be the first team to secure a top-four play-off place with three more matches remaining. Furthermore, they would be within one more win – with treks to the Scarlets followed by a home game against Connacht – of ensuring a home semi-final.
McGahan will recall the Test duo of Donncha O’Callaghan and David Wallace to an extended squad today after they were rested for the win away against Cardiff, while Paul Warwick is also back in Munster after a visit home to Australia last week for family reasons.
Damien Varley, who limped out of the game against Cardiff Blues, is fully recovered and took a full part in the squad’s training session at the Cork Institute of Technology yesterday, as did Denis Hurley, who has fully recovered from a knee injury.
Against that, the utterly misfortunate Tomás O’Leary will see a specialist later this week for further examination on the freakish eye injury he sustained while training with Ireland, and is also ruled out of the Challenge Cup quarter-final away to Brive on Saturday week. However, he is expected to be in the frame for the Scarlets’ game a week later.
Jerry Flannery (calf) undergoes a surgical procedure in Santry this week after which medics will further assess his injury.
The hope within Munster is that this will finally resolve the repeated calf problems which have dogged the Munster and Irish hooker for the last two seasons and give him a credible shot at the World Cup in New Zealand in September, albeit at the expense of the remainder of this season.
Ian Dowling (hip) will see a specialist again early next month and Barry Murphy (foot) has two more weeks of rehab to undergo before he can return to training.
The highly regarded 22-year-old Clonmel lock Dave Foley injured his shoulder playing for UL Bohemians on Saturday and will be out of action for three to four weeks.
Tom Gleeson was also present in CIT but took no part as he recovers from a hernia operation but is expected to be in consideration for the Scarlets game.
