Munster Ready for Action

It was sunny and very chilly in Treviso this morning when the Munster team went outdoors to go through their routine line-out drills under the watchful eye of assistant coach Brian Hickey.

It was sunny and very chilly in Treviso this morning when the Munster team went outdoors to go through their routine line-out drills under the watchful eye of assistant coach Brian Hickey and front-row coach Paul McCarthy.

The session was conducted in the car park of the Maggior Hotel watched by a large group of Munster supporters who are over for the match. The backs ran their drills nearby, their session monitored by coach Alan Gaffney who expressed his satisfaction with the preparation.

“With the obvious exception of the Frank Sheahan (cry-off), things have gone fine since we arrived here. I am sorry to lose a player of his experience but James (Blaney) will give a good account of himself of that I have absolutely no doubt. The mood in the squad is good. They know they face a difficult afternoon. This will be tough but hopefully they can settle down early and play the game they want to play.”

Yesterday evening Treviso began to swell with the red shirted Munster supporters beginning to arrive in large numbers. The Fields Of Athenry was given full vent as the red army prepared to lend their support to a side that must be the most popular and best supported in the game.

Munster Team:

Shaun Payne; John Kelly, Mike Mullins, Rob Henderson, Anthony Horgan; Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer; Gordon McIlwham, James Blaney, John Hayes; Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell Jim Williams (Capt), David Wallace, Anthony Foley

Replacements: Frank Roche, Simon Kerr, David Pusey, Stephen Keogh, Eoin Reddan, Jeremy Staunton, Jason Holland.

Munster v Benetton Treviso Heineken Cup – Round 5 Saturday, January 24th. Kick-off 2.30pm (local time)