Heineken Cup – Munster Crank It Up.

Munster were lashed by driving rain yesterday in Thomond Park as they continued their preparations for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with French champions Stade Francais.

Their morning training session attracted a large media crowd that included four TV crews and a posse of pthotographers.

Those who braved the awful conditions saw all of the Munster squad take part in the session under the watchful gaze of coaches Alan Gaffney and Brian Hickey with outhalf Ronan O’Gara and prop John Hayes the cente of most people’s attention following recent injury scares.

Hayes confined himself to light work but O’Gara took a full part which was good news news having gone over on an aknle in training last week.

The Cork Con man confined himself to a “so far so good” when asked about his status but there was a brightness to his demeanour which had been missing in the wake of the injury.

The squad will finish their training this morning in Cork and the final outing before the game will be the Captains Run on Friday some hours after Gaffney announces his side for the game.