Hayes And O’Leary In Contention For Munster’s PRO12 Opener

John Hayes and Tomas O’Leary were at UL this morning for Munster squad training ahead of their RaboDirect PRO12 opener against the Newport Gwent Dragons on Saturday.

It is likely that both John Hayes and Tomas O’Leary will be included in the Munster squad when it is announced on Tuesday evening.

So too may be Johne Murphy who is reported to be recovering well from the hamstring injury he picked up playing for Ireland Select side against Connacht recently.

Declan Cusack (dead leg) who limped off in the Munster ‘A’ game against Connacht last Friday and Ian Nagle, who was replaced with a shoulder injury in the senior clash with London Irish, are both fit and well.

Meanwhile, stand-in captain James Coughlan (eye) expects to receive the all clear when he sees a specialist on Tuesday.

The province’s new prop BJ Botha is looking at a PRO12 round two return, his front row colleague Darragh Hurley (Achillies) is optimistic of a similar timeframe and Ivan Dineen has recovered from the bout of sickness that forced him to miss the action last weekend.

Knee injury victim Troy Smith, however, is awaiting a date to have surgery that will rule him out until the New Year.

Tickets for Munster’s opening RaboDirect PRO12 game are available to buy online here, and from the Munster ticket offices in Cork and Limerick and the Munster Rugby Stores.