WITH a break from the Six Nations Championship, it’s Munster against Scarlets in the URC at Musgrave Park this Friday night (kick-off 7.35pm) taking centre stage over the weekend.
Graham Rowntree’s side have four matches remaining in the competition and are well in the chase for a top eight finish which would qualify them for the knock-out stages.
Munster, who have won all bar one of their last seven URC outings, currently rest in fifth place in the table standings. Their opponents (12th in the league) have been in a rich vein of form of late and are unbeaten in their last six competition fixtures – including an impressive rout of Edinburgh a fortnight ago.
Internationals Joey Carbery, Jack Crowley, Gavin Coombes, Roman Salanoa, and Ben Healy have all been released back to Munster.
Craig Casey, Peter O’Mahony, Dave Kilcoyne, and Conor Murray remain in camp with Ireland.
On the injury front, RG Snyman is back to full fitness and available for selection, while only slight concerns remain around the availability of Calvin Nash, Jack O’Donoghue, Paddy Patterson, and Jack O’Sullivan.
On the treatment table are Liam Coombes, Keith Earls, Tadhg Beirne, James French, Liam O’Connor, Chris Moore, Mike Haley, Tom Ahern, Eoin O’Connor, Paddy Kelly, Jack Daly, and Andrew Conway.
After this weekend, Munster will fulfil their final home fixture of the season against Glasgow Warriors at Thomond Park on March 25. Thereafter, the squad will be camped in South Africa ahead of a Champions Cup last 16 meeting with Sharks, and a couple of URC ties against Stormers and Sharks again.
Teams that finish inside the top four at the league’s end will have home advantage in the quarter finals, scheduled for the start of May.
Meanwhile, Rowntree and some players will attend next week’s important fundraising Munster Rugby London Dinner at The Londoner Hotel on Thursday next.