Thumb Injury Woe For O’Leary

Munster scrum half Tomas O’Leary, who injured his thumb in last weekend’s game against Leinster, has been ruled out of action for the immediate future.

Tomas O’Leary had an operation on Tuesday and is facing a lay-off of six to eight weeks, leaving him sidelined for most if not all of Ireland’s GUINNESS Series matches next month.

His place in the Munster team is now likely to go to Peter Stringer, with Duncan Williams likely to be on the replacements bench.

Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that Munster will not be lodging an appeal against the seven-week suspension imposed on centre Lifeimi Mafi.

He was hit with the ban after being cited for an incident involving Leinster’s Gordon D’Arcy in last weekend’s league clash with Leinster.

Munster’s team and replacements to take on London Irish in their Heineken Cup opener will be named on Friday afternoon, around the same time that Tony McGahan’s squad fly out for Heathrow Airport.

London Irish have agreed to Munster’s request to hold a minute’s silence before the game on Saturday in memory of Moss Keane. The Munster players will also wear black armbands for the minute’s silence.