Squad Update

The Munster squad this morning began preparations for the arrival of London Irish on Friday in the final game of the Kearys Renault Series, while Head Coach Anthony Foley and centre Denis Hurley attended the 2015/16 Guinness PRO12 Launch at DIAGEO Headquarters in Park Royal, London.

At the event attended by all 12 club coaches and playing captains, Denis Hurley, as he did many times last season, assumed the captain’s role in the absence of Peter O’Mahony who is currently in Ireland training camp. Speaking in London earlier today, Hurley referenced the importance of a good start to this year’s league.

“You have to get a good start, you don’t want to be lagging behind. European qualification made things a lot tougher in that top six and if you can take a few wins from that first six games it can stand you in good stead.”

Looking to go one step further with this year’s campaign, Anthony Foley added, “When you lose a final, you want to taste the other side of it. In Europe, we lost a few before we won a few so hopefully we can get back to the playoffs and knockouts and go from there.

“We, as a group, we know each other a bit better. It was my first year as a Head Coach and the other coaches know me a bit better now. We went through a lot, we’re a young coaching group and there are new challenges ahead.”

The Guinness PRO12 2015/16 season will kick off next week with Munster to host Benetton Treviso in Cork on Saturday September 5th at 7:45pm.

Selfie time for the league captains in London this morning.

In other news, last Friday night’s pre-season clash with Connacht at Thomond Park saw Francis Saili and Shane Monahan make their debuts for the province – Monahan started on the right wing while Saili made his introduction to the midfield less than ten minutes into the second half.

The game also saw the welcome return to action of Mike Sherry who made his first appearance since 2013. The hooker continued his reintegration into match intensity by playing the opening 40 minutes and scoring Munster’s first try off the back of a line-out maul.

Would like to say thanks to everyone 4 the kind messages over the last few days.Felt great to be back playing but disappointing result!

— Mike Sherry (@Mikesherry24) August 23, 2015

Preparations have now begun for London Irish in the final game of the Kearys Renault Series at Irish Independent Park on Friday – KO 7pm. Cork and Limerick based players trained in their respective centres this morning ahead of the first squad session of the week in Limerick tomorrow – the first of two back to back squad days in Limerick given the short turnaround before Friday night’s game on Leeside.

Tickets from €;15 for Adults, €;18 for Adult & Child and €;30 for Family (2 Adults & 2 Children) can be purchased online here, from the Munster Rugby Ticket Offices at Irish Independent Park and Thomond Park or by calling 0818 719 300.

Meanwhile, a total of seven Munster players remain in Ireland training camp with O’Mahony joined by his provincial teammates Dave Kilcoyne, Donnacha Ryan, Keith Earls, Felix Jones, Conor Murray and Simon Zebo. Ireland play their third World Cup warm-up game against Wales at the Aviva Stadium this Saturday at 2.30pm with Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt to name his side on Thursday at midday.