Connacht name a strong side

News round-up: Connacht have named a strong side to face Heineken European Cup quarter-finalists Munster at Thomond Park on Friday evening. Hooker Marnus Uijs and openside Johnny O'Connor were not available for selection.

Nonetheless, Ireland A hero Mark McHugh will start at full back, Eric Elwood will direct operations from outhalf while Peter Bracken, Jerry Flannery, Ted Robinson and Darren Yapp provide the backbone to the side.

For Munster, David Wallace, though some way from full fitness, is back in training and Ireland under-21 player Richard Lane, the other man added to the Munster squad, is making an impression on the management.

Rob Henderson (ankle) and Jeremey Staunton (groin) may play some part on Friday. Alan Quinlan's knee will be fine, but the management will be keen to strike a balance between resting international players and giving fringe members game time.

Leinster captain Reggie Corrigan will have the cast removed from his wrist later in the week and Shane Horgan is improving day by day from a thigh injury.

The BBC, meanwhile, says over half of all television viewers in Britain on Sunday afternoon watched the Ireland-England game. The peak audience of 5.6 million, however, was over a million less than the peak of 6.7 million for the Wales versus England game, the highest audience of this season's championship, which benefited from a 5.30 p.m. Saturday kick-off.

Overall 12 of the 15 games attracted peak audiences of more than three million and Peter Salmon, director of BBC Sport, claimed the figures vindicated this season's experiments with Six Nations scheduling.

"When we won the contract back, we promised to try and stop the decline in audiences and help grow the tournament by attracting more people to the game," he said. "I'm delighted that we have made a strong start."

The England hooker Mark Regan (31), has agreed a new two-year contract with Leeds. He was originally brought in on a one-year contract from Bath.

Welsh Rugby Union struck a deal with the clubs yesterday in a move that national coach Steve Hansen has called vital if the country is to improve its disastrous Test record. WRU chief David Moffett met the clubs yesterday to thrash out a deal to change from a nine-club to five-club structure next season.

The deal allows Welsh clubs to play in next season's European Cup competitions. The clubs had been holding out for an extra £500,000 after being offered £7.5 million No financial details were announced. Swansea have already gone into temporary administration, and other clubs would have followed if there was no move towards regional rugby.

Moffett had said if the domestic top-flight remained at nine clubs next season there would only have been £4.62 million to share.

The clubs had threatened not to release their international players for the June tour to Australia and New Zealand if an agreement could not be found.

Hansen said after Wales suffered a Six Nations Championship whitewash at Paris on Saturday a weak club competition undermined efforts to improve on the Test level.

CONNACHT (v Munster): M McHugh; T Robinson, D Yapp, S Moore, M McPhail; E Elwood, E Reddan; R McCormack, J Flannery, P Bracken, D Browne, R Frost, M Swift, J Muldoon, C Rigney. Replacements: D McFarland, H Bourke, A Maher, J O'Sullivan, C Keane, W Munn, G Duffy.