Henderson confirms his declaration for Munster

THE Munster selectors yesterday got confirmation that Ireland A centre Robert Henderson has declared for the province and will be available for the European Cup campaign.

Henderson, a member of the Ireland squad, has played at provincial level for the Exiles, now no longer in the interprovincial series. Born in England, Henderson has played all his club rugby there but has Munster connections through a grandparent. He has played for Ireland at both under 21 and A levels.

Henderson had also been linked with a declaration for Ulster, but he has now confirmed his allegiance to Munster to manager Colm Tucker. "I spoke to him on Monday and his declaration for us is now definite," said Tucker.

The Munster selectors have had to make three changes in their squad to travel to Manchester this afternoon for matches against Manchester tomorrow and Orrell on Saturday. International prop Paul McCarthy, international number eight Ben Cronin and under 21 international back Brian Begley are all ruled out. Begley, who was injured playing in the trial match during the Ireland squad session on Monday, will be replaced by John Lacey (Sunday's Well) Cronin's place goes to Declan Edwards, the Young Munster captain, and Noel Healy (Shannon) takes over from McCarthy.

In addition to the declaration of Henderson, Stephen McIvor's decision to stay with Garryowen and not join London Irish means he will be available to the province for the interprovincial series. "When we selected the squad for the tour to England, we were under the impression that Stephen had gone to London Irish and would not be available to us for the interprovincials. That was why he was not considered for the tour," said Tucker.

The Leinster team to meet Sale on Saturday will be announced tomorrow. Leinster will also name the side to tackle Sale II in a match that will take place before the main encounter. "This gives us an opportunity to give all our squad players a match and then we have the tour to Italy in preparation for the defence of the interprovincial title," said Leinster manager Jim Glennon yesterday.

Glennon also confirmed that Ireland prop Henry Hurley, who last week joined English club Moseley, will, nonetheless, be available to the province for both the interprovincial championship and European Cup. "The only match for which he will not be available is against Connacht", aid Glennon. Hurley will continue to be based in Ireland and will travel to England for the club matches.

Ulster will not select a team to meet London Irish at Ravenhill on Saturday. "We will be using this match as a practice session and we intend to change players during the course of the game, said Ulster manager Ken Reid. "This is not a competitive match and are not treating it as such. We intend to give a lot of our squad members a run out at some stage of the game and consequently will be changing the side around a lot. I gather London Irish will do the same.

The Ireland squad completed their five days of training in Limerick at lunchtime yesterday and did not, as originally planned, have a session in the afternoon. "We had quite a few injuries and the London Irish players in the squad were, in any case, travelling, to Dungannon before lunch to join their colleagues, " said Ireland manager Pat Whelan. London Irish play Dungannon in a practice match tonight before meeting Ulster on Saturday.

Whelan said he had not heard anything further from Simon Geoghegan, who returned to London at the weekend for specialist attention to his recurring toe injury. "He is to contact me when he has definite news as to whether or not he will require another operation. He may not have been able to see the specialist yet," said Whelan.