European Cup: Former Britain rugby league star Gary Connolly and Springboks sevens international Anthon Pitout have been included in Munster's Heineken European Cup squad.
Connolly (34), who has plied his trade most recently with Widnes Vikings, has been capped 30 times at rugby league with Britain, three times with England and once with Ireland and assuredly comes with the imprimatur of defensive coach Graham Steadman.
Pitout, a 28-year-old winger-cum-centre, arrives on Monday on a season-long contract from the Cheetahs, with whom he's been playing in the Currie Cup after earlier playing in the Cats' Super 12 team. He's also played with the Blue Bulls and has been a member of the Springboks sevens squad for the past four seasons.
Also included in the Munster squad for the first time are two players - Ian Dowling and Tomás O'Leary - who made their Munster debuts a week ago.
Other newcomers to the European Cup squad are Tony Buckley, Denis Fogarty, John O'Sullivan, Frank Murphy, Jeremy Manning and Barry Murphy.
Munster European Cup Squad
Forwards - T Buckley, J Flannery, A Foley, D Fogarty, M Horan, J Hayes, T Hogan, S Keogh, D Leamy, E McGovern, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, M O'Driscoll, J O'Sullivan, F Pucciarello, A Quinlan, F Roche, F Sheahan, D Wallace.
Backs - P Burke, G Connolly, I Dowling, A Horgan, T Halstead, R Henderson, J Kelly, M Lawlor, F Murphy, B Murphy, J Manning, T O'Leary, R O'Gara, S Payne, A Pitout, M Prendergast, P Stringer.
