Wet ‘n Windy In Glasgow

It was wet and windy in Prestwick Airport when the Munster squad’s Aer Arann charter landed ferrying the side to Glasgow for the Magners League clash with Glasgow Warriors

It was wet and windy in Prestwick Airport when the Munster squad’s Aer Arann charter landed this afternoon ferrying the side to Glasgow for the Magners League clash with Glasgow Warriors.

Munster welcome back Ian Dowling from injury and Anthony Horgan, Mick O’Driscoll Alan Quinlan and Anthony Foley from international camp ahead of what will be a tough encounter with a Glasgow side chasing their first victory in this year’s League.

Quinlan will take his place on the bench alongside Brian O’Meara who is drafted into the squad straight away having just joined the Munster side as cover forinjured duo Chris Delooze and Duncan Williams.

Probably no surprise that Declan Kidney takes the decision to give Dowling, Horgan, O’Driscoll and Foley a run immediately even if the decision meant that man of the match last weekend James Coughlan slips out of the 22 as does Academy player Tom Gleeson.

Dowling takes over from Gleeson, Horgan comes in in place of Mossy Lawlor while O’Driscoll partners Chris yatt in the second row with Donnacha Ryan on the bench.

With just a six day turnaround the availability of the newcomers gives Kidney an opportunity to integrate them into the side while at the same time freshening things up at the start of what will be a long season.

News on the injury front is positive in respect of Christian Cullen who was included in the extended squad having recovered from the calf twinge that ruled him out of the Borders game. Barry Murphy continues to make good progress and is hoping to make an appearance in an A game later this month while Denis Fogarty’s shoulder surgery has been completed successfully and Jerry Flannery’s recovery is on schedule for a return early in the New Year.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Warriors head coach Sean Lineen has made a total of five changes (one positional) to the starting line up for the team to face Heineken Cup champions Munster on Friday 15 September from the team who lost to Llanelli Scarlets last week. In the backs, winger Colin Shaw drops to the bench to make way for Hefin O’Hare, who swaps wings with Thom Evans. New signing Sean Marsden makes his Glasgow debut at outside centre in place of Graeme Morrison and stalwart scrum half Graeme Beveridge replaces fellow internationalist Sam Pinder, who joins the bench.

In the forwards, the one change comes in the back row where John Barclay replaces Donnie Macfadyen at openside flanker. Lineen said: “The combination needs freshened up as last week it didn’t work as well as we would have liked. There are a number of players pushing for places and on top of that, there are still guys who are coming back from injury so I really want to give these players a chance. It’s a long season and we have a lot of competition within the squad, especially in the centre and in the back row where there are a lot of youngsters coming through. I’m looking forward to see how this line-up blends.”