NEWPORT Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner faces an anxious wait to see what players will be available to him this week for Saturday's Celtic League game against leaders Munster in Cork.
The Heineken Cup is now over for all the Welsh teams, none of them having qualified for the quarter-finals after Cardiff Blues' abject surrender to Leeds yesterday and a hefty home defeat by Perpignan the week before.
The Dragons at least had the satisfaction of being the only Welsh team to win on the final weekend when they beat Castres 28-17 on Saturday, thus avoiding a whitewash, to jump off the bottom of their pool table.
But now the domestic focus switches back to the Celtic League a week before the start of the Six Nations Champion-ship, with all the management staffs unsure of the strength of sides they can field.
The Munster in Cork on Saturday night won't be the Munster which put the skids under Sale at Thomond Park last Friday night.
Both teams could be seriously below strength if national interests take away many of the first choice players. Wales face England at Twickenham a week next Saturday while Ireland are home to Italy on the same day.
There is an agreement between Wales and the regions which means the basic 15 coach Mike Ruddock wants plus essential cover will be withdrawn from matches the weekend before while it's not an issue in Ireland because central contracts ensure Irish national interests come first.
The Dragons have five players in the Wales squad which went into camp today to prepare for the Six Nations - Hal Luscombe, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Cooper, Ian Gough and Michael Owen, with two more - Kevin Morgan and Luke Charteris - injur-ed.
Cooper may be the only one available for the Dragons, though Lus-combe is unable to play at the moment anyway because of a groin injury which should not keep him out of the England game.
"It's out of my control," said Turner. "My job is to develop players who play for their country. Whether Ireland release players is also beyond my control, we could face a full Munster side and be without our players."
That, however, seems unlikely, especially after Munster's mighty effort against Sale, the Irish management probably wanting to rest their leading players.
Munster could be without forwards Paul O'Connell, Donncha O'Callaghan, Marcus Horan, John Hayes and Denis Leamy plus half backs Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara while other outside halves Paul Burke and Jeremy Mannion are injured.
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