JOHNNY WATTERSONtalks to the Munster manager, who feels it is vital they get an away win against the Ospreys, a team he really respects

LIBERTY STADIUM will welcome a strong Munster side on Saturday regardless of how coach Tony McGahan whittles down the squad before travelling to Wales this week for their return to the Magners League. Far from resting front-line players as both Leinster and Ulster have done, Munster have named no less than nine players who featured for either Ireland or South Africa in the final match in the November Guinness Series last weekend in Croke Park.

A backline that may contain Keith Earls, Tomás O’Leary, Ronan O’Gara and Jean de Villiers is joined by a pack in which Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, David Wallace, John Hayes and Springbok prop Wian du Preez are possible starters. The 25-man squad, who are in training camp in Ballykisteen Hotel, also contains a selection of the successful Ireland A side, who were also unbeaten this year. Hooker Jerry Flannery, who sustained a broken nose with Ireland, is not included for this week’s action, while Marcus Horan, who attended training as a spectator, remains sidelined.

Munster will face an Ospreys side that has a serious problem at scrumhalf. Following the hamstring injury to Wales and Lions wing Shane Williams, who was back-up for the position, Ospreys have now lost all three nines as well as Williams with the newly-signed Rikky Januarie, who is on a short-term contract, the only scrumhalf still standing.

Of the three scrumhalves originally named in the Ospreys Heineken Cup squad, Mike Phillips is currently recovering from ligament damage to the knee, Jamie Nutbrown has damaged ligaments in his leg and Tom Isaacs has been ruled out for the season following a shoulder operation.

“I suppose the selection for this week is a balancing act between what is best for the players and what is best for the team,” said Munster manager Shaun Payne.

“There are still one or two (international) players we didn’t pick for this weekend and with just one game before the double header against Perpignan in the Heineken Cup there is a bit of a balancing act to be done.

“In a sense it is out of our control but the way we would see it is we want to try and have the correct preparation going into very important back-to-back matches against a strong French side.

“Jerry (Flannery) is fine. We felt he just needed a rest and so he has been left out of the squad. Pauli (O’Connell) started in all of the matches (against Australia, Fiji and South Africa) but Donncha (O’Callaghan) didn’t. Pauli’s rest will come when we get these games completed. That is certain.”

O’Gara is one of the likely players to take to the pitch in Wales. The Irish outhalf last played a competitive match against Australia in the first of the international fixtures in November. Leinster’s Jonathan Sexton was put in to the position for the game against Fiji at the RDS and held on to the position for the final Test. Hayes also had five weeks of inactivity prior to the autumn series and is another likely starter at tighthead prop.

“Another consideration is that we do not want to take away from this weekend and what challenge the Ospreys represent in the Magners League,” added Payne. “This is very important for us as well. Winning at home is one thing but we have got to also win a lot of our away games too and Ospreys is one of the sides in the competition that we really respect.

“Obviously some of their senior players are missing and the scrumhalf problem is well documented but I think that at the moment they have one of the best squads in Europe.”

There was some concern that swine flu in France could disrupt next week’s Heineken Cup matches after a French League game last week involving Perpignan and Bayonne was called off when three of the Perpignan players came down with swine flu. Brive, who is in Leinster’s pool but play London Irish in the next Heineken Cup match, were also in quarantine this week over swine flu concerns.

An ERC spokesperson said yesterday that this weekend’s matches are still going to go ahead in France with Perpignan scheduled to face Montpellier. However, reports on French rugby websites have pointed out that the time has been changed for Perpignan’s match as the broadcaster of French League games, channel Canal +, needs a fallback option in case the match not going ahead.

MUNSTER SQUAD: D Fogarty, D Varley, W du Preez, T Buckley, J Hayes, D O’Callaghan, D Ryan, P O’Connell, M O’Driscoll, A Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace, J Coughlan, N Williams, T O’Leary, P Stringer, R O’Gara, P Warwick, L Mafi, J de Villiers, D Howlett, I Dowling, K Earls, D Hurley, F Jones.