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Following the selection of four scrum halves to the original 28 man squad, Munster have now cut that to just two and in doing so have rung a number of changes to the team that fell to a heavy defeat by Ulster.
Paul O’Connell will lead a Munster side that includes Denis Leamy and Tomas O’Leary for the top of the table clash with Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea tomorrow evening.
However missing from the squad announced are Kieran Lewis, Keith Earls, Niall Ronan and Marcus Horan who have failed to recover from a stomach bug (Tony Buckley also affected) while Ronan O’Gara’s hamstring injury has not cleared up in time to allow him participate although Munster management are hopeful he will be fit in time for the game against Sale.
The absence of O’Gara, Jeremy Manning, Rua Tipoki and Kieran Lewis means a place in the squad for Garryowen player Conan Doyle and Development Player Tom Gleeson.
Hurley is still selected at full back while O’Leary steps into the breach for Peter Stringer.
Recalled to the starting line up are Dowling and Murphy, replacing Lewis and Tipoki respectively.
O’Gara takes a timeout to recover from the knock picked up in the same game at Thomond Park that saw the home side go down by their biggest margin in recent times. The first loss to Ulster at the home ground since ‘92.
Meantime, Munster have announced their team to face the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium on Friday 9th January.
Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling; P Warwick, T O’Leary; F Pucciariello, J Flannery, J Hayes; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell capt; A Quinlan, D Wallace, D Leamy.
Replacements: D Fogarty, T Ryan, M O’Driscoll, J O’Sullivan, P Stringer, C Doyle, T Gleeson.
