Munster boosted by international returns ahead of Zebre

Munster will have Craig Casey, Tom Ahern and Jeremy Loughman available to them for Friday's BKT United Rugby Championship meeting with Zebre in Cork.

The trio have been released back to the province for game time, with the Six Nations on a down-week ahead of the the final two games in March.

Peter O'Mahony, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash and Oli Jager will be given time off after featuring in Saturday's 31-7 win against Wales, before linking back up with the squad later this week for a mini-camp, which will include an open training session at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday.

Casey, Ahern and Loughman all look set to come into the Munster squad for Friday's meeting with Zebre, as the province aim to move back into the top half of the URC table.

The defending champions were 42-7 winners away to the Scarlets last time out, while they also saw off Harlequins 43-35 in an entertaining friendly in London last week.

Academy duo Shay McCarthy (ankle) and Daniel Okeke (elbow) picked up knocks in that game and are unavailable for the visit of Italian outfit.

However, back row Ruadhán Quinn has been cleared to return after passing the return to play protocols for concussion.

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