Munster will open their season with two matches at Musgrave Park next month, with Sale Sharks providing the opposition on Friday, August 14 and London Irish will be the attraction on Friday, August 21.

These are two big games and Tony McGahan's men will be keen to hit the ground running when they start the Magners League over the first weekend of September.

The Clonakilty training session will be an important part of this preparation and it is sure to provide an interesting spectacle for fans young and not so young in The Vale.

Friday's squad session is expected to start at 1.30pm and all are welcome, but please observe the protocols as Munster are a professional outfit and need to run their sessions uninterrupted.

Meanwhile, Munster winger Doug Howlett's preparations for the coming season has been interrupted after he picked up a calf injury in training last week.

The All Black star sustained the injury in UL last Friday. He left the complex at the end of the session on crutches but is expected to be available for the province's pre-season matches.

The 13 Munster players who are based in Belfast this week with the Ireland squad include hooker Jerry Flannery who is well on his way to recovering from the elbow injury that forced him to miss the Lions tour to South Africa.

Flannery is expected to be available for selection for the earlier stages of Magners League. Scrum half Tomas O'Leary is continuing to rehab considerably well and is expected to return, as originally predicted, in November.