Billy Burns, Shane Daly and Rory Scannell have all returned to full training and are part of the 32-man Munster squad which arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s BKT URC game against the Stormers at the DHL Stadium (6pm local time/5pm Irish).
Burns suffered a shoulder injury on his debut in Munster’s first-round win over Connacht while Daly (elbow) has missed their last two games and Scannell (ankle) has yet to feature this season.
Munster have also been boosted by the Emerging Ireland quartet of Alex Kendellen, Ethan Coughlan, Evan O’Connell and Ben O’Connor, all of whom stayed in South Africa on completion of that tour and met the squad upon their arrival in Cape Town. O’Connell and O’Connor are among five academy players in the squad, the others being props Ronan Foxe and Kieran Ryan, and flanker Ruadhán Quinn.
Munster have also included hooker Diarmuid Barron, who failed a HIA and is following the return to play protocols. He is unavailable for Saturday’s clash against Stormers but should be fit to face the Sharks in Durban on Saturday week
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Paddy Patterson (knee), Diarmuid Kilgallen (leg), Brian Gleeson (shoulder), Thaakir Abrahams (thigh) and Liam Coombes (leg) have remained at home but are on track to be available for selection next month.
Mark Donnelly has undergone ankle surgery following an injury sustained on the Emerging Ireland tour and will be unavailable for six to eight weeks. Josh Wycherley had neck surgery last week and will be out for four months.
Continuing to rehab are Dave Kilcoyne (ankle), Oli Jager (neck), Peter O’Mahony (hamstring), Patrick Campbell (shoulder), Cian Hurley (knee), Edwin Edogbo (Achilles) and Roman Salanoa (knee).
Munster squad for South Africa tour
Backs: Craig Casey, Ethan Coughlan, Conor Murray, Billy Burns, Jack Crowley, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Seán O’Brien, Rory Scannell, Shane Daly, Mike Haley, Calvin Nash, Ben O’Connor.
Forwards: Diarmuid Barron, Scott Buckley, Eoghan Clarke, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer, Ronan Foxe, Jeremy Loughman, John Ryan, Kieran Ryan, Tom Ahern, Tadhg Beirne, Jean Kleyn, Evan O’Connell, Fineen Wycherley, Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett, Alex Kendellen, Jack O’Donoghue, Ruadhán Quinn.
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