Team News: The Munster trio of John Hayes, Jerry Flannery and John Kelly are all in line to make the province's starting line-up for Friday's Heineken Cup clash against Castres after receiving positive news from their medical examinations today.
All three were forced out of the game against Edinburgh Gunners last Saturday. Flannery left the field in the 48th minute with a back inury to be replaced by Denis Fogarty. Hayes hobbled off in the 70th minute after twisting an ankle, Eugene McGovern took over, and Kelly was forced to retire nine minutes later with a hand injury, with Tomas O'Leary coming onto the wing.
All three are expected at squad training in Cork tomorrow as are Marcus Horan and Anthony Foley who both were late withdrawals from the Edinburgh game.
Coach Declan Kidney will assess the fitness of Hayes, Flannery and Kelly again before naming his team when they arrive in France on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Anthon Pitout remains on the injured list but Christian Cullen and Mike Mullins continue to make good progress with a marker of late February being suggested as a likely date for both to make a re-appearances.
News of more long term injuries show Alan Quinlan and Frank Sheahan making satisfactory progress with their rehabilitation from injury but it is too early at this stage to look at a date for their return.
Ulster Coach Mark McCall has named a 24-man squad ahead of their Friday night Heineken Cup tie against Biarritz at Ravenhill.
The squad includes the 22 players involved in last week's win against Glasgow as well as Matt McCullough and Paul Steinmetz who return from injury. McCall will name his side before Thursday’s noon deadline.
Michael Bradley has added five players to the western province’s squad that took on the Dragons last Friday ahead of Saturday’s European Challenge Cup Pool five clash with Montpellier at the Sportsground.
Andrew Mailei, who is ineligible for Europe, makea way while Ray Hogan, John Muldoon, Ted Robinson, Darren Yapp and Andrew Farley have been added to the extended squad.
Stephen Knoop (ankle) joins Andrew Farley (neck), John Hearty (Hamstring) and Darren Yapp (Calf) as Connacht¹s main injury worries.
Connacht will be looking for two wins and a bonus point from their remaining two games against Montpellier and Amatori Catania away to secure a place in the quarter finals. Kick of in Galway is at 2pm.
Ulster squad:
Backs: Jonny Bell; Isaac Boss; Tommy Bowe; Kieran Campbell; Bryn Cunningham; David Humphreys; Adam Larkin; Kevin Maggs; Paul Steinmetz, James Topping; Andrew Trimble
Forwards: Neil Best; Rory Best; Simon Best; Nigel Brady; Ryan Caldwell; Stephen Ferris; Justin Fitzpatrick; Rowan Frost; Justin Harrison; Matt McCullough; Neil McMillan; Roger Wilson; Bryan Young
Connacht squad:
Forwards: Ray Hogan, Adrian Clarke, Dan McFarland, Stephen
Knoop, John Fogarty, Joe Merrigan, Andrew Farley, David Gannon, Andrew Gallagher, Christian Short, Michael Swift, John Muldoon, Brendan O¹Connor, Matt Lacey, Colm Rigney.
Backs: Chris Keane, Tom Tierney, Paul Warwick, David Slemen, Keith
Matthews, John Hearty, Darren Yapp, Conor McPhillips, Ted Robinson, Mark McHugh, Matt Mostyn
Munster squad:
S Payne, J Kelly, A Horgan, B Murphy, T Halstead, G Connolly, I Dowling, M Lawler, R O’Gara, J Manning, P Stringer, T O’Leary, M Horgan, F Pucciariello, J Hayes, F Roche, J Flannery, D Fogarty, D O’Callaghan, P O'Connell, T Hogan, M O’Driscoll, D Leamy, S Keogh, D Wallace, A Foley.
