Selection Headaches for Munster

Many of the 60-plus Celtic front-line Test troops will be back on Celtic League duty this weekend – with a maximum 25 points up for grabs from the final five rounds of the tournament.

Many of the 60-plus Celtic front-line Test troops will be back on Celtic League duty this weekend – and with a maximum 25 points up for grabs from the final five rounds of the tournament there is every chance of some major movements in the table before the 15 May curtain comes down on the campaign.

But for Munster, who jumped two places to sixth with their 37-12 five-pointer win over Glasgow Rugby, there are still selection problems on two fronts.

“Not all our current internationals will be available for the trip to Celtic Warriors on Friday night,” said Munster’s Director of Rugby, Alan Gaffney.

“A fair number of them are pretty battered and bruised and will be spending time with the physiotherapists and doctors, but it will be good to have the fit ones back and available for selection.

“That said, we had a real buzz going through the squad at the weekend with the victory over Glasgow Rugby – particularly as we scored some nice tries – and we were pretty happy with the performance.

“Last weekend 21 out of our 34 contract players were not available and some of our internationals have played in just two of the 17 Celtic League rounds.

“It does mean we have broadened our base of players but it was not part of the plan to play all six of our development players together in one game!

“So, although some of the Test guys will be available I can see it being more of a case of not who we put in but worrying about who we leave out. It is going to be hard on some of the players to miss out.

“The Warriors are a very handy and strong Welsh side with lots of experience and pace. I am the first to admit they smashed us at forward when we played them earlier in the tournament.

“When we played them at Thomond Park we were fortunate – in fact extremely fortunate – to win the game. If it had been a boxing match they would have won it on points so we expect another huge challenge.”