Hayes And Wallace Expected To Be Fit
John Hayes and David Wallace, who both retired injured in Munster’s Magners League victory over Glasgow Warriors last Saturday, are expected to take part in Wednesday’s squad session which is scheduled to take place at Cork Institute of Technology.
And further good news for Munster is that Doug Howlett, who missed the Glasgow game with a calf strain, is also expected to train, along with Tony Buckley and Sam Tuitupou who have both recovered from the illness that forced them out of last weekend’s squad.
The Munster squad will train in Cork on Wednesday and Limerick on Friday, before departing from Shannon Airport for Toulon at 11am on Saturday morning.
The province have a make-or-break Heineken Cup encounter with Toulon, the current Pool 3 leaders, this Sunday at Stade Felix Mayol (kick-off 4pm local time/3pm Irish time).
Munster are just two points behind Philippe Saint-Andre’s side with two rounds of the pool stages and must get a result in the south of France as they bid to qualify for their 13th successive quarter-final.
It is a ‘season defining game’ according to lock Donncha O’Callaghan, who turned in a man-of-the-match display in last Saturday’s 22-20 Magners League win over Glasgow in Cork.
“A win before a Heineken Cup game always puts you in good form and a lot of things went well for us, even though I’m sure the coaches will find things we need to improve on,” he said.
“Europe is what it has always been about. It’s a massive week, a cup final week. Yes, it’s a season defining game but we figured this one probably would, we figured that in this pool it would come down to (what happens in) one or two games particularly.
“This is it, we have two games to go and it’s all on the line, but it is where we want to be.
“There is a huge standard expected of this team and the players take that on, although sometimes people can be overly harsh.
“Still, we do know that we have to up things this week, this is what we love, cup final rugby, we’re reared on it – bring it on.”