Gaffney Returns to Musgrave Park

Former Munster Coach Alan Gaffney looks ahead to his return to Musgrave Park this Friday evening with Saracens in tow to face Munster. (kick off 6.30pm)

Gaffney, who coached Munster for three seasons, makes his return to Musgrave Park on Friday night (kick off 6.30pm).  Although he admitted he is looking forward to catching up with a few faces and seeing some familiar faces – he knows the job in hand is to get his side ready for their opening Guinness Premiership match against Heineken Cup champions Wasps the following weekend.

In naming a squad of 26 for the trip, Gaffney has included Brent Russell with the full back likely to get his first action for the Men In Black. The Saracens Director of Rugby will name his starting XV later this week.

“I am looking forward to going back and it will be good to catch up with some of the guys,” explained Gaffney who won the Celtic League, Celtic Cup and twice made the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup in his spell with the province. “But we have a job to do and that is get the guys ready for the Wasps game. We’re going over to Munster with a pretty strong squad and we’re looking to give the guys as much game time as possible.

“Most of them have only had 40 minutes of action so far this season so they need that time out in the middle. We know it’s going to be a very hard game even though Munster will be missing a number of guys on World Cup duty. They had a terrific result out in America to beat the national team so we’re know we are in for a tough battle and a fierce test – but that’s what we want being so close to the season.

“What we’re looking to get out of the game is to run through our patterns, set piece, keep our composure, run through the phases and make sure we get our structures right. We’ll be looking to keep things pretty simple in terms of our game plan and just make sure we execute things correctly and achieve what we want to. It’s going to be a good hit out and both I and the guys are looking forward to it.”

Saracens squad v Munster

Forwards: Yates, Lloyd, Cairns, Kyriacou, Mercey, Ryder, Vyvyan, Fullarton, Chesney, Matadigo, Hill, Hall, Gustard, Skirving, Seymour

Backs: De Kock, Dickens, Jackson, Ross, Thrower, Scrabrough, Russell, Powell, Sorrell, Haughton, Penney