Ryan Injury Not As Bad As Anticipated

Medical examination has shown that Donnacha Ryan suffered nothing worse than bruising to a shoulder in the course of the Ireland Scotland RBS Six Nations game on Sunday.

Word on Sunday evening in the hotel near Milan's Linate Airport, where the Munster squad were overnighting ahead of departure for Dublin on Monday, was that the second row had sustained an injury that could rule him out of the Heineken Cup quarter-final equation.

However following an MRI scan yesterday it was revealed that Ryan received a bruised shoulder but had thankfully not sustained any major structural damage. He will undergo rehab treatment over the next week and is expected to be in contention for a place in the team to play France.

Meanwhile Munster have their only squad session of the week, ahead of the Ospreys game, in Cork on Thursday. The squad emerged injury free from the clash with Treviso and they also expect to have both Niall Ronan and Doug Howlett in contention for the Ospreys game should they come through that training session unscathed.

Howlett took part in training last week while Ronan did too and then capped a full eighty for Shannon on Saturday by scoring his side's final try in their 28-17 win over Old Belvedere.