O'Connell named in Munster squad

Rugby – Squad news:Munster coach Tony McGahan named a 27-man squad that includes Paul O'Connell ahead of Sunday's Heineken Cup clash against Toulon at Stade Félix Mayol (kick-off 3pm).

O’Connell makes his return after serving a four week ban for hitting out at Ospreys’ Jonathan Thomas during the Pool 3 match on December 12th. The big secondrow was only on the pitch a matter of minutes, after making his long-awaited return from injury, before receiving a red card.

Munster also chose not to register a third hooker in the absence of the injured Jerry Flannery ahead of the trip to Toulon. Flannery is expected to be out with a recurring calf injury for up to six weeks.

McGahan has the option of registering another player ahead of next week’s final pool match against London Irish. As it stands Munster will rely on Damien Varley and Mike Sherry in the hooker role.

The squad continued their preparations with a morning training session at the Cork Institute of Technology facilities where they were joined by the Munster A squad, who return to action this weekend in the British and Irish Cup.

Munster are second in the pool on 11 points, two behind leaders Toulon. McGahan will name his starting XV at midday on Friday.

Elsewhere Sean O'Brien was named Leinster’s Player of the Month for December ahead of their Pool 2 clash with Saracens at the RDS on Saturday (1.30pm).

O’Brien put in storming performances against Scarlets at the start of the month and again when Leinster put up a brave fight in the losing bonus point defeat away to Clermont. He also scored two tries against Ulster in the Magners League.

Leinster's Trevor Hogan has also been forced to call time on his career and retire with immediate effect due to a knee injury. The 31-year-old was capped four times by Ireland in a seven-year professional career.

He represented Munster on 57 occasions (scoring one try) before moving to Leinster in 2006 and played his part in the province’s Magners League (2007/08) and Heineken Cup (2008/09) successes.

The Tipperary native made 59 Leinster appearances (scoring three tries), though injury curtailed his involvement to just one game this season – last November’s match against the Dragons proving to be his last professional outing.

"It's been a tough battle over the last couple of seasons with my injury but after my last game the problem worsened to the point where I couldn't continue,” said Hogan .

“It is never an easy thing to accept but I'm thankful for all the support from my teammates and the medical, management and coaching staff at Leinster, as well as Dr. Ray Moran who has helped me greatly over the past few years.

Munster squad (v Toulon):W Du Preez, D Hurley, T Buckley, J Hayes, M Sherry, D Varley, B Holland, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, N Ronan, J Coughlan, T O'Donnell, D Wallace, D Leamy, T O'Leary, P Stringer, S Deasy, R O'Gara, P Warwick, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, K Earls, L Mafi, D Hurley, D Howlett.