HEINEKEN CUP/AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP:JOHN HAYES and Tony Buckley are expected to resume full training with Munster in Cork tomorrow, thereby easing fears of a propping crisis for the two-time Heineken Cup winners as they face into Sunday's do-or-die mission at Stade Felix-Mayol against Toulon.
Buckley, along with Sam Tuitupou, was ruled out of Saturday’s 22-20 win over Glasgow which maintained Munster’s nine-point lead at the top of the Magners League, but in both instances their absence was precautionary. Similarly, Doug Howlett was rested with a slight calf strain.
Hayes did not require a scan on the bang to the back he received against Glasgow which forced his departure early in the second half.
Likewise David Wallace is expected to recover from the dead leg which saw him replaced after 63 minutes.
The news concerning Buckley and Hayes eases the pressure on Munster to supplement their squad with Kiwi recruit Peter Borlase. Instead, given Jerry Flannery has again joined Denis Fogarty on the injured list, Tony McGahan is likelier now to nominate the Sligo-born academy prospect Seán Henry as third hooker along with Damien Varley and Mike Sherry today, the deadline for clubs to nominate additional replacements.
Elsewhere, Connacht coach Eric Elwood has maintained Saturday evening’s difficult-looking Amlin Challenge Cup match away to Bayonne is not a dead rubber, even though the westerners are mathematically out of contention for a place in the quarter-finals.
“We certainly won’t experiment because our game with Bayonne has a little bit of history,” said Elwood. “They were going well when we beat them at our place (in round two) and now they’ve got a bit of form back. It’s not a place you want to go and try and experiment.
“We are conscious some of our big players are carrying knocks and have a lot of minutes on the clock, so we’ll have a look at those so that we don’t jeopardise them for later. There might be a couple of changes.”
Elwood is also acutely mindful of ending their losing run, which was extended to nine with last Thursday’s one-point defeat away to the Dragons.
“They’re not dead rubbers in that we said to the boys this morning we’ve still got to believe in what we’re doing, that we’re on the right path, so it’s important we persevere, believe in what we’re doing. There’s no doubt the corner will turn; if it’s this week that’s great, if it’s Prato, so be it, and if not we’ll just keep going,” said Elwood, in reference to their final Italian opponents Cavalieri Prato, at home on Saturday week.
