ANTHONY FOLEY EXPECTS to have his entire Irish contingent available for Friday’s clash with Zebre as Munster try to get their Champions Cup qualification hopes back on track.
Last weekend’s 37-28 loss away to Cardiff Blues in their game in hand has left Munster with little wriggle room in their quest to at least make Europe’s premier competition, if not qualification for the Pro12 semi-finals.
But the likely return of Simon Zebo, Conor Murray, Keith Earls, Donnacha Ryan, CJ Stander and Tommy O’Donnell shows how seriously Munster are taking Friday night’s clash with Zebre at Thomond Park.
Foley said that all six would return to training with Munster on Wednesday in Cork and a call would then be made on who will play on Friday night.
“All six who were involved at the weekend will be back in situ by Wednesday so we just need to assess where they are, mentally and physically after their exploits,” said Foley at training in University of Limerick today.
Munster take on Leinster on Saturday week in the Aviva Stadium and two weeks later travel to Connacht for their next game.
But Foley said that they were not looking beyond Friday’s clash with the Italians, who they defeated 16-12 in Parma in January.
They can be a sticky team to play against. It’s a massive game for us on Friday night and we are not looking beyond that. We will take it one game at a time from here.
“I have come across Gianluca Guidi a few times, he’s a good coach. He has put a good structure around the team. They have a good forward pack and they do work the ball around the field and they have a lot of quality so we will need a good performance against them,” added Foley.
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