Johne Murphy will make his debut for Munster at some stage of their pre-season clash with Gloucester in Musgrave Park on Friday night (7pm). Also included in the 27 strong squad for the first time this season are Doug Howlett, Peter Stringer, Mick O’Driscoll, Alan Quinlan, Niall Ronan, Tony Buckley and Damien Varley. It will be Munster’s final game before the competitive season begin.
In last Friday’s friendly against Leicester Tigers, Two tries, one in each half from Alesana Tuilagi, helped Leicester Tigers to a 17-13 win over Munster at a near full Musgrave Park.
A block down by Denis Leamy resulted in Munster taking the lead when the skipper won the race for the touch down and Paul Warwick added the extras. That score however led to a bout of sustained effort from the near full strength visitors and they went back into the lead when Tuilagi boshed his way over for his second try, Flood again landing the conversion.
Munster Coach Tony Mc Gahan rang the changes introducing his youngsters from the bench and that led to an exciting finish as Munster took the fight to Tigers who were forced to defend a late five metre lineout to secure their victory.
Munster Squad for this weekends game is: I Dineen, S Zebo, S Deasy, D Barnes, F Jones, D Howlett, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, I Dowling, P Warwick, P Stringer, D Williams, B Holland, R O’Mahony, N Ronan, M O’Driscoll, S Archer, Dave Ryan, D Fogarty, D Leamy, T O’Donnell, A Quinlan, Donncha Ryan, I Nagle, T Buckley, D Varley, W du Preez.
