Fears of a fractured jaw may rule Staunton out

Jeremy Staunton's hopes of regaining his place in the Munster squad for the remainder of the season, especially with the knock-out stages of the Heineken European Cup in mind, have been jeopardised by a suspected fractured jaw.

Staunton won't know the extent of his injury until he undergoes a scan today.

The Garryown and Munster full back cum utility back, who only returned to the game last Saturday week for his club after recovering from a groin operation, received the injury during Garryowen's 28-10 defeat to Shannon in the Munster Senior Cup final on Sunday.

Otherwise Munster have no significant injury concerns arising from their quarter-final win over Stade Francais last Saturday, although given the proximity of Sunday week's semi-final against Wasps and the demands placed on their test players this season, it seems likely that Alan Gaffney will rest the vast majority of his frontline players for Friday's Celtic League match against Edinburgh in Musgrave Park.

Although Connacht also emerged from their semi-final first-leg match against Harlequins relatively unscathed, Michael Bradley may be more inclined to keep his frontliners ticking over when they play Celtic League leaders Ulster next Friday night in Ravenhill.

Meanwhile, the Wasps coach Warren Gatland can scarcely conceal his excitement about returning to Lansdowne Road with his in-form English champions following their 34-3 rout of Gloucester at home on Sunday - the biggest winning margin at the quarter-final stage since Leicester beat Swansea 41-10 three years ago.

"I am loving it here at Wasps and I would love to see this side go to Lansdowne Road and perform to its full potential. To go to Dublin with a fully fit Wasps side to take on a Munster team backed by tens of thousands of their fans will make it a great occasion," commented Gatland.

"Last season and this season have been pretty exciting for the club and I think we have the players here to make the next couple of years pretty special too.

"There certainly won't be the same fear factor going to Lansdowne Road as there might have been going to Thomond Park because a lot of the Wasps players have had good experiences at Lansdowne Road.

"Munster are one of the most experienced teams left in the competition, but they showed a little bit of fragility against Stade Francais," said the former Irish coach. "We have gone further than ever before and for us now the motivation is to reach the final at Twickenham."