RUGBY NEWS:WITH LESS than two weeks to go before the fifth round of the Heineken Cup Ireland flanker Shane Jennings and international prop Marcus Horan could, this week, arrive back on the scene for Leinster and Munster respectively.

Match fitness will be the obvious consideration but if selected for Leinster’s Magners League game on Friday and Munster’s match on Sunday respectively it will represent their first competitive outings in three months.

Jennings has completed his 12-week suspension for coming into contact with the eye area of London Irish secondrow Nick Kennedy in their Heineken Cup match on October 9th, while Horan has recovered from a routine cardiac procedure that has kept him out of the game since Munster’s match against Benetton Treviso on October 17th.

Perhaps the first high-profile player to feel the brunt of the IRB’s crackdown on making contact with the eyes of opposing players, Jennings has had to watch from the sidelines as team-mate Seán O’Brien has made further strides with Leinster and Ireland at openside flanker.

Even though the independent disciplinary panel decided Jennings’ act was not intentional, he was handed down the 12-week ban after South Africa flanker Schalk Burger and Italian number eight Sergio Parissewere given eight-week suspensions for similar offences during the summer.

Jennings’ suspension officially ends tomorrow, which will allow him to be considered for Leinster’s match against Glasgow Warriors at the RDS and crucially, against Brive in Dublin on January 16th in the Heineken Cup.

But he returns having not been totally inactive. Jennings travelled to Australia to train with the ACT Brumbies as well as a rugby league franchise during their pre-season to ensure that he returned in reasonable physical condition.

Leinster contacts in Australia through head coach Michael Cheika and Alan Gaffney provided the opportunity. His involvement with the Australian teams were unofficial and did not contravene ERC rules.

Outhalf Jonathan Sexton may also be available to Cheika for Friday night’s meeting with the Warriors. Following Ireland’s game against South Africa at Croke Park in November when he broke a bone in his hand, the twice capped player has been making a steady recovery.

Aside from the longer-term injuries, Springbok prop CJ van der Linde remains touch and go after a recurrence of a calf injury he sustained with South Africa during the November Test series.

Horan’s possible return should please a number of people, not least Munster coach Tony McGahan, after the team fell to Ulster in Belfast at the weekend in the Magners League.

The return to competitive action for the Munster and Ireland prop failed to materialise last Saturday, when Horan was to have played some part in Shannon’s Munster Cup semi-final against UCC. However, because of the freezing weather, the pitch at Tom Clifford Park was unplayable.

Horan has not played since he retired during Munster’s Heineken Cup tie against Benetton after feeling unwell. He was subsequently found to be suffering from a minor heart ailment, which a routine procedure resolved.

Now back in full training, he is, like Jennings, lacking competitive game time.

McGahan will now have to decide whether Munster can afford to give him that game time when they meet Llanelli in Sunday’s late afternoon (5pm) kick-off at Musgrave Park.

Another alternative is for the prop to line out for Shannon, who travel to play AIL League leaders St Mary’s College in Dublin on Saturday.

One way or the other, it is vital for the 66-times capped Horan to have a game under his belt before Munster meet with Heineken Cup side Treviso the following week.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney will be watching both Horan and Jennings with interest as Ireland’s first match in defence of their Grand Slam championship begins on February 6th against Italy.

Elsewhere, Munster might face Llanelli with a growing backrow problem. With Denis Leamy out long term, Nick Williams and possibly Niall Ronan have also joined the injury list.

Williams hurt his knee, while Ronan suffered a dead leg against Ulster at the weekend.

In Ulster, coach Brian McLaughlin’s team came through the weekend with only one player uncertain of starting at the weekend.

Paddy Wallace limped out of the match at Ravenhill with an injury to his right ankle with fears that it is a recurrence of an old injury.

Unlikely to risk the international centre against Ospreys on Friday, it is more likely Wallace will try to be fit for the province’s important Heineken Cup match against Edinburgh the following week.