Squad Update

After a two week break from provincial rugby Munster will return to PRO12 action on Friday night against Newport Gwent Dragons in Rodney Parade at 7.30pm.

The squad gathered in UL today for the first full session of the week with latest short-term signing Pat Howard in attendance after making the move from Western Province last week.

On the international front Stephen Archer was released from Ireland’s training camp to attend today’s session while 7 of his colleagues were involved in the Aviva on Sunday with Dave Foley and Robin Copeland both making their international debuts.

On the injury front Barry O’Mahony was unfortunate to pick up a foot injury while training today and he was taken to hospital this afternoon for further assessment.

Shane Buckley, who sustained a shoulder injury in the B&I Cup game against Nottingham, returns to full contact training this week while Gerhard van den Heever who sustained a mid-foot sprain in the PRO12 Cardiff game will make a return to limited contact this week.

Keith Earls (knee) is making good progress with his rehabilitation and is on target with his expected timeline for return in early 2015, while Damien Varley (foot) has successfully recovered from his post-op healing and is currently commencing his rehab process.

Donnacha Ryan (toe), Mike Sherry (shoulder), James Cronin (ankle) and Cian Bohane (knee) are all continuing with their rehabilitation. Bohane is now ten weeks post-op and is out of his knee brace.

A number of players continued with their club commitments at the weekend and lined out in the Ulster Bank League. In the Division 1B Shannon v UL Bohs encounter on Friday night in Thomond Park Bohs' hooker Kevin O’Byrne sustained a concussion and is now following return to play protocols. O’Byrne was joined by academy back-row Jack O’Donoghue when they lined out against Luke O’Dea and academy colleagues Niall Horan, Sean McCarthy, Stephen Fitzgerald and Jack Cullen.

Garryowen were at home to Ballymena on Saturday with the O’Mahony brothers Barry and Ronan both in action in Dooradoyle. Barry touched down for a try while academy winger Alex Wootton showed impressive form in scoring a hat-trick in the 32-24 victory. Academy scrum-half Jamie Glynn also picked up some valuable game-time.

In Division 1A Cork Con’s Munster representation included Ivan Dineen and academy players Max Abbott and Darren Sweetnam, while Dave O’Callaghan featured for Dolphin and he was joined by academy players Ryan Murphy and Rory Scannell.

Development prop Martin Kelly lined out for a Young Munster side that included academy centre Dan Goggin and out-half Gearoid Lyons.

Munster’s round 8 PRO12 encounter against Newport Gwent Dragons will not be televised on Friday night but match updates will be tweeted here.