MUNSTER FLANKER Niall Ronan will miss the province’s Heineken Cup pool match against the Northampton Saints at stadium:mk on Saturday after a scan confirmed that he had suffered knee ligament damage in Saturday’s victory over Castres Olympique at Thomond Park.
He suffered a bang on his right knee in a league win over Treviso but badly wrenched the left one when looking to change direction 14 minutes into Saturday’s victory. He was assisted from the pitch and later left Thomond Park on crutches.
Yesterday he underwent a scan and while ligament damage was diagnosed, the severity of the problem will not be fully apparent until the swelling goes down in the joint. He will now see a specialist. It is a cruel blow because the talented player has been in excellent form of late.
The number seven jersey in Munster could certainly be considered unlucky as he becomes the third player following David Wallace and Tommy O’Donnell to be struck down. It’s an untimely injury given the Ireland and Irish Wolfhound squad announcements are tomorrow.
Munster coach Tony McGahan must decide as to whether he would need to register – a different player must be deregistered to complete the process – another backrow ahead of Saturday’s trip to Milton Keynes.
When Ronan suffered the injury at the weekend, Donncha O’Callaghan was introduced to the secondrow from the bench, Donnacha Ryan moved to blindside flanker with Peter O’Mahony switching to openside. Mick O’Driscoll and David O’Callaghan are back-five options and ERC registered players who didn’t make last weekend’s match-day squad.
If McGahan wanted to look elsewhere then he has until lunchtime tomorrow to inform ERC and complete all the paperwork. Munster’s place in the knock-out stages in assured irrespective of what happens on Saturday but an inkling of Northampton’s attitude to the game on foot of what happened when the sides met at Thomond Park earlier in the tournament can be gleaned from the comments of their fullback Ben Foden.
He admitted: “There’s no bigger occasion than playing Munster in the Heineken Cup. We owe them one. We’re looking forward to it; we want to keep the winning ways going.”
There are other injury concerns for the Irish provinces as the fitness of Leinster outhalf Jonathan Sexton and Ulster centre Darren Cave will preoccupy their respective coaches ahead of next weekend’s final matches in the pool stages of the European tournament that will define the quarter-final line-up.
Sexton rolled an ankle during Leinster’s hard-fought victory over the Glasgow Warriors at Firhill but played the 80 minutes, although he did hand over the place-kicking duties after the incident to centre Fergus McFadden. The latter kicked four from as many attempts.
Leinster coach Joe Schmidt is awaiting a definitive medical report on his first choice outhalf ahead of Saturday’s clash with Montpellier at the RDS. The Irish outhalf underwent a scan and his condition will be updated at a press briefing this afternoon.
The defending champions have already qualified for the knock-out stage of the tournament – they need to beat Montpellier to copper fasten a home quarter-final – so Schmidt is unlikely to risk Sexton if there is a lingering issue with the ankle; especially as Ian Madigan has deputised very competently when called upon to do so.
Sexton, announced as the Bank of Ireland Leinster player of the month yesterday, paid the following tribute to his understudy: “Ian (Madigan) has come in and improved no end from last year. I suppose with the signing of Mat Berquist in the summer it would have been very easy for him to go into his shell, but he reacted totally the opposite to that and really upped his performance, his work-rate in training, everything.
“He’s been a great role model to the other younger lads with his attitude and work-rate. So we’ve got a lot of young lads coming through and it’s important that they just keep trying to improve. I think that’s key for them and you know if they can do that Leinster rugby will benefit in the long term.”
Luke Fitzgerald (neck) and Richardt Strauss (nose), who missed the victory over Glasgow, are expected to be available for selection as might Kevin McLaughlin, who has not been involved since retiring at half-time during a win away to the Cardiff Blues a fortnight ago.
Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin will be keeping his fingers crossed that Darren Cave recovers from the ankle injury that forced him off midway through the second half of their 41-7 thumping of the Leicester Tigers at Ravenhill.
Cave was excellent and Ulster will need him ahead of their final pool match against Clermont Auvergne in the Stade Marcel Michelin, a venue where their French hosts have not been beaten in 39 matches.
The 24-year-old centre was scheduled to have an MRI scan under the guidance of Ulster medical director Dr Michael Webb to determine the damage to his foot/ankle.
Next weekend promises a television extravaganza for armchair fans with the matches involving all four Irish provinces being shown live on Sky Sports. Connacht lead the way on Friday night when they welcome Harlequins to the Sportsground (8pm), followed by Leinster on Saturday (1.30pm) and Munster (6pm).
Ulster’s clash with Clermont (3.40, Irish time) was originally scheduled for Sky Sports interactive but that has now been given primacy on the main station ahead of Leicester’s game against Aironi.
SEMI-FINAL DRAWThe draw for the Heineken Cup semi-finals will be broadcast live on Sky Sports (5.25pm approximately) and also on the ERC website (ercrugby.com) on Sunday.
