Munster have been handed a major boost ahead of Saturday night's BKT United Rugby Championship quarter-final away to the Glasgow Warriors (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), with Tadhg Beirne set to return from injury.
Beirne has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury in Ireland's 32-19 Six Nations win against France in February, but has joined hooker Niall Scannell and tighthead prop Roman Salanoa in returning to full training ahead of the trip to Scotstoun on Saturday.
"Tadhg trained fully today and is looking really good and is available for selection for the weekend," said defence coach Denis Leamy.
"We are very pleased to have him back a player of his quality. It's a great addition to the squad. He's been there, done that, he's a British & Irish Lion, won Grand Slams, he is a player with an awful lot of experience, the way he communicates with the young players and how he drives standards in the group, it is great to have Tadhg back."
Beirne's return presents head coach Graham Rowntree will an interesting selection choice for the quarter-final in Glasgow, the province having a warchest of second rows to pick from this week, with Jean Kleyn, RG Snyman, Fineen Wycherley, Tom Ahern and Edwin Edogbo all vying for places.
It raises the possibility of starting Beirne in the back row, where he has featured on occasion for the province, and it's something Leamy (below) says is a possibility.
"We will consider all options. It is a really good place to be now to have these players back, really strong players coming back into the mix.
"It is a little bit of a headache in one way but it is a great headache because we have loads of quality. You think of Alex Kendellen, John Hodnett, Jack O'Donoghue, Peter O’Mahony, Gavin Coombes, all these players contesting against each other and you go to the second row: RG [Snyman], Jean Kleyn, Edwin Edogbo, Tom Ahern; it makes for a really competitive squad and that is all we want."
Munster head into the playoffs with renewed confidence, following their recent tour of South Africa in which they secured a win and a draw from their games against the Stormers and Sharks.
However, their opponents Glasgow are the form team in the league, losing just one of their last 18 games in all competitions, a run which has seen them also reach the final of the Challenge Cup in Dublin later this month, where they will face Toulon.
The Warriors were 38-28 winners against Munster when the sides met at Thomond Park at the end in March, and Leamy says his side owe themselves a performance for that defeat.
"We were off all over the pitch. That culminates in a scoreline that we had to suffer or endure. We just didn't play well.
"We were under pressure at the scrum, we were under pressure up front. We lacked the calmness in attack that we would like to have, we were sloppy and turned over the ball. Then some of our stuff in defence, as a defence coach, they are not the sort of pictures that we want to see. We had some really poor bits around the contact, and we were outfought.
"Glasgow, on the night, just looked far hungrier than us unfortunately. It is not something that you want to say about Munster teams but on the night we just weren’t where we wanted to be.
"The boys are conscious of that, they know that, we don’t have to go into a dressing room or into a team meeting, they feel that, understand that they were off.
"The challenge is to go over to Glasgow now and put in a performance against a very good side. They have been consistent in what they have been doing. Let’s go there and put the best that we have together over in Glasgow."
The sloppiness of that defeat to Glasgow seeped into Munster's performance the following week where they shipped 50 points to the Sharks in Durban in the Champions Cup Round of 16.
But after returning to South Africa in determined fashion last month, Leamy believes the province are better prepared for what awaits them in Glasgow on Saturday.
"It's a great challenge, isn't it? These are the places you want to go in your career. You want to go into tough environments, you want to be challenged. We wouldn't want it any other way.
"We're trying to grow something here, we have a lot of young players, and are trying to grow our own brand, the way we play, the way we want to put ourselves out there, and going to places like Glasgow is a great test, you have to embrace it.
"Over the last few months, we've got better and better. Yes we've got poor performances, but we've responded quite well. This is another great challenge and it'll be a good indication of where we are going forward, and where we need to go and where we need to get better."
Elsewhere, Munster scrum-half Paddy Patterson looks set to be sidelines well into next season, after undergoing surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which he suffered on the tour of South Africa last month.
Keith Earls will miss this weekend's quarter-final, with the veteran wing having a scan on a groin injury he suffered in the Round 18 win versus the Sharks.
Watch the BKT URC quarter-finals, Leinster v Sharks (Saturday, 5pm) and Glasgow Warriors v Munster (Saturday, 7.35pm), on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport or listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Follow a live blog of Ulster v Connacht (Friday, 7.35pm) or listen to live commentary on Game On on RTÉ 2fm.
