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©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Provincial

No new injury concerns for Munster as O'Donnell and Dougall return

The scans have not brought such good news for Ulster.

MUNSTER COACH ROB Penney will have taken heart this morning when his medical team reported no new problems after a hard-hitting away trip to Saracens.

The southern province narrowly lost out 19-13 against their pool 1 rivals on Sunday, and sit third behind Racing Metro going into the final two group games in January.

Fullback Felix Jones limped off early against the Premiership side, and the immediate defensive reshuffle led to Sarries creating their only try of the game for David Strettle.

This morning, however, Munster report the problem was just a dead leg and Jones was able to train in Limerick alongside Tommy O’Donnell and Denis Hurley who are both likely to be involved against Connacht this weekend.

Sean Dougall will provide another back-row option for Penney after he successfully came through Munster A’s B&I Cup draw against his former club, Rotherham. Fellow openside Niall Ronan resumed non-contact training after sustaining a head injury against Scarlets in late November.

Keith Earls, who missed the trip to Vicarage Road with a groin injury, took no part in training while the province had nothing new to add regarding the fitness of Paul O’Connell.

Stretched

Meanwhile, Ireland’s northern province will once gain have their resources at second row stretched in the coming months as Dan Tuohy has been sidelined for four weeks with a torn calf muscle.

The province are already without captain Johann Muller who fractured his arm in the away win over Northampton. So Mark Anscombe is likely to call on Iain Henderson and Neil McComb to fill the void when they face Leinster at Ravenhill this Friday.

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