Declan Kidney has made five of his Ireland squad available to Munster ahead of their Magners League clash with Edinburgh at the weekend. Peter Stringer, Keith Earls, Denis Leamy, Alan Quinlan and Mick O'Driscoll are all at Tony McGahan’s disposal for Saturday’s match at Musgrave Park and will join up with the squad tomorrow when it returns from warm weather training in Lanzarote.
Centre Rua Tipoki is also set to return for the first time since injuring his knee in the defeat to Ulster in early January.
The Ireland quintet will be in the vicinity anyhow, when the international squad assembles in Cork this evening to begin preparations for the Six Nations match against England in Croke Park on Saturday week.
A little game time for their province should do them no harm. Just two of the five - Stringer and Leamy - have featured in the Six Nations thus far.
Competitive action for the other three would be a welcome boost for Kidney and co in the run up to the meeting with Martin Johnson’s side and, of course, for McGahan, whose side need a win to ensure they stay ahead of the Ospreys at the top of the league.
Munster hold a two-point advantage over the Welsh side, who face Connacht at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Munster Squad: D Hurley, D Howlett, R Tipoki, K Earls, K Lewis, L Mafi, C O'Boyle, J Manning, P Warwick, P Stringer, M Prendergast, D Williams, F Pucciarielllo, T Ryan, T Buckley, Daragh Hurley, D Fogarty, M Essex, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, B Holland, A Quinlan, D Leamy, N Ronan, N Williams, J O'Sullivan.
