Howard Trains As Munster Prepare For Newport Trip

The Munster coaches and players gathered at the University of Limerick today for the first full session of the week, with their latest short-term signing, Pat Howard, in attendance after making the move from Western Province last week.

On the international front, Stephen Archer was released from the Irish camp to attend today’s session, while seven of his colleagues were involved at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday with Dave Foley and Robin Copeland both making their international debuts against Georgia.

Barry O’Mahony, who was a try scorer for Garryowen in the Ulster Bank League on Saturday, was unfortunate to pick up a foot injury while training today. He was taken to hospital this afternoon for further assessment.

Shane Buckley, who sustained a shoulder injury in the recent British & Irish Cup game against Nottingham, returns to full contact training this week.

Howard’s South African compatriot Gerhard van den Heever sustained a mid-foot sprain in the PRO12 clash with Cardiff Blues. He will make a return to limited contact this week.

Keith Earls (knee) is making good progress with his rehabilitation and is on target with his expected timeline for return in early 2015, while Damien Varley (foot) has successfully recovered from his post-op healing and is currently commencing his rehab process.

Donnacha Ryan (toe), Mike Sherry (shoulder), James Cronin (ankle) and Cian Bohane (knee) are all continuing with their rehabilitation. Bohane is now ten weeks post-op and is out of his knee brace.

Munster’s round 8 league encounter with the Newport Gwent Dragons will not be televised on Friday night but match updates will be tweeted here.