Paul O'Connell is hoping he will receive medical clearance to play in the A interprovincial between Munster and Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday afternoon (4pm).
The Ireland secondrow has not played a representative match since the World Cup after suffering a back injury.
He did manage half a game for Young Munster in an All-Ireland League match against Buccaneers on January 5th, but despite initially coming through the match will no ill effects, he suffered a slight recurrence during the following week.
He went back to his rehabilitation and subsequently did some training with the Ireland squad. He is likely to speak to Munster coach Declan Kidney and the medical team at the province this week, hoping to be allowed 40 or 50 minutes against Ulster A at Ravenhill.
Munster have a Magners Celtic League game the following weekend against Edinburgh and, in an ideal world, O'Connell would like to participate in that one too, a week prior to Ireland's third match in the Six Nations, against Scotland at Croke Park.
Meanwhile, the Munster and Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery will have his appeal against an eight-week ban for stamping heard today. Flannery received the ban for stamping on Julien Bonnaire during the Heineken European Cup round five tie against Clermont Auvergne.
An ERC-convened independent appeal committee chaired by Prof Lorne Crerar (Scotland) and also including Jeff Blackett (England) and Russell Howell (Wales) will hear the case.
It's likely Flannery's appeal will centre on a rebuttal of the assertion from the committee following the original hearing that the player's actions were "premeditated", something with which the player disagrees.
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