Earls in contention for Scarlets

Rugby:Ireland wing Keith Earls has been named in Munster's 29-man squad ahead of Sunday's Heineken Cup match against Llanelli Scarlets at the Thomond Park (12.45pm).

Earls has been out of action since he sustained a medial knee injury in the opening seconds of the 24-19 defeat to Leinster on November 4th, but he could yet be named in the matchday squad for the second game against Llanelli in a week.

He came through training yesterday and if he emerges unscathed from tomorrow’s session, Tony McGahan will be considering him for the game against the Welsh side.

"We've to wait and see, he's been out of action for three to four weeks, so we'll have to see how he gets on in training for the rest of the week,” said the coach today.

Having lost Doug Howlett for the season, the timing of the Limerick man’s return could not be better for Munster, who are also without Peter O’Mahony until January.

It was also reported today that the retirement of prop John Hayes was imminent.

McGahan dismissed any notions that the 38-year old will stay on until the end of the season having already postponed his retirement plans.

Hayes was due to retire at the end of the World Cup but was persuaded to stay on for a few months after injuries to Peter Borlase and Darragh Hurley left Munster thin in the prop department.

Borlase returned to action when he came off the bench for Munster A at the weekend and McGahan yesterday confirmed that the long-serving Hayes would soon be hanging up his boots.

“John will be finishing up in the next few weeks, there isn’t a definite date but there will be something forthcoming in the next period,” said McGahan.

Munster Squad:Marcus Horan, Wian du Preez, Stephen Archer, John Hayes, BJ Botha, Denis Fogarty, Damien Varley, Donncha O'Callaghan, Donnacha Ryan, Paul O'Connell, Mick O'Driscoll, Ian Nagle, Billy Holland, Denis Leamy, Niall Ronan, James Coughlan, Tommy O'Donnell, Tomas O'Leary, Conor Murray, Ian Keatley, Ronan O'Gara, Johne Murphy, Denis Hurley, Scott Deasy, Simon Zebo, Will Chambers, Lifeimi Mafi, Danny Barnes, Keith Earls.