Appeal & team news: Munster and Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan has failed in his appeal to the ERC to have a six-week ban for stamping reduced and remains unavailable to the province until January 31st.

Consequently, he misses the next two rounds of Heineken Cup action and has also severely hampered his chances of featuring in the national squad ahead of the Six Nations.

Quinlan has already served three weeks of his suspension arising from the stamping incident during the Heineken Cup victory over Cardiff at Thomond Park last month, missing recent Magners League games against Leinster, Connacht and Newport Gwent Dragons as a result.

The suspension is exactly double that dished out to Leinster's Owen Finegan following a stamping incident against Edinburgh at the end of October, a fact not lost on Munster officials who based their appeal around this.

In admitting the offence, Quinlan had hoped for a shorter suspension, but the three-man appeal  committee - after lengthy deliberation - decided the initial penalty handed out by the disciplinary committee on December 20th would stand.

The 32-year-old now misses Munster's Heineken Cup games away to Bourgoin this Sunday and the home clash with Leicester on Saturday week.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan is due to name an extended national training squad on Monday ahead of the Six Nations opener to Wales on February 4th but it is difficult to see how Quinlan can now feature.

Even though his suspension ends on the last day of the month, Munster's next game after that is not until February 16th, by which stage Ireland will have already played both Wales and France.

Quinlan has battled back to form admirably having missed most of last season through injury but now, with little game-time of late under his belt, his prospects of featuring in a green jersey any time soon appear doomed.

Quinlan's appeal against the severity of the suspension was first heard in Dublin last Wednesday but that hearing was adjourned until yesterday, with the committee retiring last night to consider their verdict.

That appeal committee, chaired by Rod McKenzie (Scotland) and also comprising Robert Horner (England), found that Munster "did not establish any error on the part of the original committee's decision and refused the appeal".

Matthew Lohn (England), who was part of the original appeal committee, was unavailable for this week's reconvened hearing in Dublin.

Meanwhile, Kidney has included Jerry Flannery in his squad to face Bourgoin for the first time this season. The Ireland hooker has finally overcome the shoulder and hamstring problems that have blighted his campaign but it remains to be seen if he will be among the match day squad that will travel to Geneva on Saturday morning.

Kidney, who also welcomes back  Denis Leamy and Barry Murphy following illness, will trim his squad from 28 to 22 on Friday afternoon.

Kieran Campbell starts at scrumhalf for Ulster in their must-win Heineken Cup clash with Llanelli at Ravenhill on Saturday (1.35pm). He replaces Isacc Boss who is out for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury after shipping a heavy challenge against Glasgow last weekend. Campbell replaced Boss four minutes into that game.

Paul Steinmetz starts at inside centre with Kevin Maggs returning to the bench. Paddy Wallace continues to deputise for the injured David Humphreys at 10.

Girvan Dempsey and Luke Fitzgerald are both included in the Leinster squad for Saturday's Heineken Cup game against Edinburgh at Donnybrook (5.35pm).  The Irish international duo trained yesterday following time out with respective ankle and shoulder injuries.

Coach Michael Cheika must decide whether to start fullback Dempsey or stick with youngster Rob Kearney who impressed in the convincing Magners League win over the Ospreys last weekend.

"Girvan ran a bit in yesterday's session but didn't partake in contact training. A decision on whether he'll be involved is up in the air at the moment and I'd rate his chances as 50/50," said the Australian.

"If he doesn't play this week then I'd expect him to be involved next weekend. I'm very hopeful that Luke (Fitzgerald) could be involved but Rob (Kearney) has had a few games under his belt and he's a player who is working very hard every week to improve his game."

Centre Gordon D'Arcy, also included in the squad, was today named Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Leinster Player of the Month for December after a series of outstanding performances.

"It's always great to be acknowledged for the part you play but even more so when it's the fans who've voted for you. This means a lot," he said.

David McGowan and Peter Durcan are named in the Connacht squad for the first time this season ahead of the European Challenge Cup game against Bath at the Sportsground on Friday (7pm). The duo replace David Gannon and Keith Matthews, who are injured, while Brendan O'Connor and Conor McPhillips are also selected in place of sidelined pair John Muldoon and Gavin Williams.

Ulster:  15 - Mark Bartholomeusz; 14 - Tommy Bowe; 13 - Andrew Trimble; 12 - Paul Steinmetz; 11 - Paul McKenzie; 10 - Paddy Wallace;  9 - Kieran Campbell; 1 - Bryan Young; 2 - Rory Best; 3 - Simon Best (Captain); 4 - Justin Harrison; 5 - Matt McCullough; 6 - Neil Best;  7 - Kieron Dawson; 8 - Roger Wilson.

Munster squad: C Cullen, S Payne, J Kelly, M Lawlor, I Dowling, L Mafi. B Murphy, P Stringer, T O'Leary, J Manning, R O'Gara, E Hickey. F Pucciariello, T Buckley, J Hayes, M Horan, D Hurley, A Kyriacou, F Sheahan, J Flannery, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, C Wyatt, J Coughlan, D Wallace, D Leamy, A Foley.
 
Leinster squad:  (forwards): Stanley Wright, Reggie Corrigan, Bernard Jackman, Harry Vermaas, Will Green, Trevor Hogan, Malcolm O'Kelly, Cameron Jowitt, Owen Finegan, Stephen Keogh, Keith Gleeson, Jamie Heaslip. (backs) Girvan Dempsey, Rob Kearney, Shane Horgan, Kieran Lewis, Brian O'Driscoll (capt), Gordon D'Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald, Denis Hickie, Andrew Dunne, Christian Warner, Felipe Contepomi, Guy Easterby, Chris Whitaker

Connacht squad:Peter Durcan, Andrew Farley, Adrian Flavin, John Fogarty, John Hearty, Chris Keane, Stephen Knoop, Matt Lacey, David McGowan, Mark McHugh, Conor McPhillips, Brendan O'Connor, Ray Ofisa, Conor O'Loughlin, Colm Rigney, Daniel Riordan, Ted Robinson, Brett Sturgess, Michael Swift, Paul Warwick, Brett Wilkinson, Darren Yapp.