Foley To Join French Side Pau

Munster second row Dave Foley will leave the province at the end of the current season to join Top 14 club Pau in France.

In making the move to the French club, Dave Foley follows in the footsteps of his former Munster colleagues James Coughlan, Paddy Butler and Sean Dougall.

A product of the Munster Academy, the Clonmel native made his debut against Connacht in April 2010 and went on to win his first European cap against Gloucester in January 2014.

The 28-year-old made his 84th and final Munster appearance against the Scarlets at the end of February as he rehabs a wrist injury for the remainder of the season.

On the international front, the Tipperary lock has two Ireland caps having made his Test bow against Georgia in the 2014 GUINNESS Series. He has also represented Emerging Ireland on two tours – Georgia in 2013 and Romania in 2014.

Meanwhile, fresh from making his Ireland debut against England last Saturday, Andrew Conway (pictured below receiving his first cap) joined returning internationals John Ryan and Niall Scannell in UL on Monday afternoon, while man-of-the-match Peter O’Mahony is expected to link up with the Munster squad later in the week.

Simon Zebo, Donnacha Ryan, CJ Stander, Conor Murray and Keith Earls will all enjoy a down week of rest and recovery, with Murray and Earls looking to come back from their respective shoulder and shin knocks.

On a positive note, James Cronin (finger) and Alex Wootton (shoulder) will take part in full training with Munster this week. Jean Kleyn’s rehabilitation for a neck injury saw the South African lock undergo surgery in Dublin last week, while the aforementioned Dave Foley will undergo surgery on his wrist tomorrow.

With both players not available for the remainder of the season, the province’s latest short-term signing, lock Jean Deysel, is expected to arrive in Limerick tomorrow.

Munster’s list of injured players currently includes Kleyn (neck), Foley (wrist), Francis Saili (knee), Ian Keatley (knee), Te Aihe Toma (wrist), Sean McCarthy (knee) and Mike Sherry (back).

A total of eight Munster players lined out in green at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday, while the previous night in Donnybrook, a further nine representatives took to the pitch for the Ireland Under-20s in their narrow defeat to England.

Munster Academy members Gavin Coombes, who notched Ireland’s try, and Bill Johnston scored all of the hosts’ points with Calvin Nash again leading the side as captain. Fineen Wycherley, debutant John Foley and sub-Academy talents Joey Conway, Conor Fitzgerald, Colm Hogan and debutant Jack Stafford completed the Munster representation.