Marcus Horan and John Hayes have been included in the Munster squad for their opening Magners League clash against Italian newcomers Aironi Rugby on Saturday.
Aironi will be competing in the Magners League for the first time this season, while Munster go into the game on the back of a victory over Gloucester last Friday evening.
Speaking ahead of the game, Munster coach Tony McGahan admitted that he didn’t know a lot about his opponents but was certain that “they’d be coming to Munster to make a really strong statement about their approach to the competition.
“They’ve recruited well, brought in a lot of experienced players. There’s probably not a lot of pressure on them to get a result, but Munster away first up, they’ve nothing to lose, they can make a really strong statement to the rest of the opposition where they’re going to be for this year.
“Our focus at this stage has to be on ourselves and what we’re going to bring.
“That’s the most important thing for us going into every game but more importantly at this stage of the season. We need to understand ourselves and how we’re progressing before we can worry what the opposition is going to throw at us.”
Kick off for the clash with Aironi is on Saturday at 7.30pm in Musgrave Park.
Munster squad to face Aironi Rugby: D Hurley, F Jones, D Barnes, D Howlett, S Tuitupou, J Murphy, I Dowling, P Warwick, S Deasy, D Williams, P Stringer, W du Preez, Dave Ryan, M Horan, J Hayes, T Buckley, D Fogarty, D Varley, M O’Driscoll, I Nagle, B Holland, D Ryan, N Ronan, A Quinlan, P O’Mahony, T O’Donnell, D Leamy
