Munster Prepare For Ravenhill Trip

Munster head coach Tony McGahan has named a 31-man squad for Friday’s RaboDirect PRO12 derby clash with Ulster at Ravenhill (kick-off 7.05pm).

The selected squad includes all the notables other than Peter O’Mahony, who is recovering from a jaw injury, and a number of Ireland internationals who are unavailable for selection due to the IRFU player management programme.

Donncha O’Callaghan, Munster captain Paul O’Connell, Donnacha Ryan, Conor Murray, Ronan O’Gara and Keith Earls will all sit out the second of the province’s festive fixtures.

In addition there is no place for the rested Danny Barnes who, after 11 starts so far this season plus three appearances off the bench, benefits from Munster’s player welfare policy.

Tony McGahan’s squad are training today in Cork and the team and replacements to play Ulster will be announced on Thursday afternoon.

MUNSTER Squad (v Ulster) – Backs (13): Johne Murphy, Denis Hurley, Sean Scanlon, Luke O’Dea, Danny Barnes, Simon Zebo, Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams, Tomas O’Leary, Tom Gleeson, Will Chambers, Scott Deasy, Lifeimi Mafi.

Forwards (18): Marcus Horan, Wian du Preez, John Ryan, Stephen Archer, Dave Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, Denis Fogarty, Sean Henry, Damien Varley, Billy Holland, Mick O’Driscoll, Ian Nagle, Niall Ronan, David O’Callaghan, Tommy O’Donnell, Denis Leamy, Paddy Butler, James Coughlan.