KEITH EARLS HAS been named in the 29-man Munster squad for the province’s Heineken Cup game this weekend.
The Ireland international has been out of action for the past month.
The return of the Moyross man is a major boost to the Thomond Park outfit in the wake of recent injuries to Doug Howlett and Felix Jones.
Earls injured his knee during the Pr012 defeat to Leinster in November – but he came through training at UL yesterday and Tony McGahan is hopeful he’ll do likewise in tomorrow’s captain’s run.
“We’ve to wait and see,” he said at a press conference this morning, “he’s been out of action for three to four weeks, so we’ll have to see how he gets on in training for the rest of the week.”
When asked about the future of veteran prop John Hayes, meanwhile, the coach said “he’ll be finishing up in a few weeks”.
Here’s the full squad: Marcus Horan, Wian du Preez, Stephen Archer, John Hayes, BJ Botha, Denis Fogarty, Damien Varley, Donncha O’Callaghan, Donnacha Ryan, Paul O’Connell, Mick O’Driscoll, Ian Nagle, Billy Holland, Denis Leamy, Niall Ronan, James Coughlan, Tommy O’Donnell, Tomas O’Leary, Conor Murray, Ian Keatley, Ronan O’Gara, Johne Murphy, Denis Hurley, Scott Deasy, Simon Zebo, Will Chambers, Lifeimi Mafi, Danny Barnes, Keith Earls.
More to follow
