THE TOGETHERNESS of the Munster dressingroom may be the envy of professional rugby clubs around the world. But even here, the universal truth applies that one player’s bad luck means an opportunity for another. So it was that an early season injury to Jerry Flannery has given Denis Fogarty, his promising understudy, a chance to shine. It is a delicate situation.

Wednesday’s news that Flannery would be back some five weeks ahead of schedule must have given Fogarty mixed feelings. Of course, he was delighted for his friend and team-mate and a fit-again Flannery is good for Munster. But he can’t pretend he hasn’t enjoyed life in the first team, where he has impressed at number two.

As it was, Fogarty walked into the conference room in the Limerick university campus with an ice pack bandaged around his leg. He had sat out the afternoon training session. These seem to be perilous times for number twos. Losing Fogarty would be unthinkable for Munster now. It seems odd to imagine there being a dearth of number twos in the Munster squad.

“Yeah – for a change,” Fogarty said brightly. “Usually, there’s loads. But Jerry has had a successful probe and he is on his way back. Yeah, there was an opening there for me.

“I don’t think this is a problem,” he says, referring to the bandage. “Not too bad. I got a knock there in training and put ice in it, it was just precautionary really. It should be perfect for Sunday.”

In one way, it could be argued that Fogarty’s elevation to sustained European Cup action has come at a unfortunate time.

Munster top the table and when all was said and done, they did beat an attacking and confident Perpignan side who are the reigning French champions on Friday night. It is hardly the stuff of catastrophe. But for long periods, Munster’s play varied between flat and over anxious: it is apparent to all the team is not in its groove. That increases the pressure on Fogarty but, as he anticipates Sunday’s potentially cracking match in the south of France, he could not sound more relaxed.

“It is a huge ask. Particularly going over there, where they are so hard to beat. We are well aware of the challenge but we are looking for another big performance. We were happy in parts of our game. But we have to get our basics right.

“Our passes sometimes didn’t go our way and they got lucky with two tries. We have to stick with what we know best and things will come right. We know that.”

The concerns about how the Munster scrum would fare against the French pack never really materialised in Thomond Park. There were other worrying lapses – several flawed lineouts and the blunted form of the three-quarters line among them – but the fundamental prerequisite of the home scrum held firm.

“Yeah, we were really happy with that because there was a lot of speculation beforehand that they were going to come here and demolish us,” Fogarty says. “But we worked really hard all through the week and it paid off.”

Nonetheless, there must have been times during the gripping eight minutes when Fogarty checked his surroundings to verify that he was actually playing in Limerick. It looked and sounded like Thomond but the scoreboard – particularly in the first half – did not reflect it. The French tries were achieved with ominous ease.

“You just have to say that that was like a freak try – the first one, the tap down and yer man went through,” Fogarty says of the Munster mindset during that turbulent period. “You just have to deal with it. You have to get on with it and remember what we do when we score and just start from scratch and get on with the next play. But we do have to eliminate our mistakes and not give the opportunity. We were happy with the scrum but I felt we were harshly treated for a couple of the penalties. We did extremely well with their ball – they didn’t get one feed with their scrum or a clean scrum with their ball so we were pleased with that return.”

Many variables have to fall into place if Munster are to produce one of the audacious raids that have made them such a feared force in European rugby.

Fogarty, operating in the vital and demanding role of hooker, can only concentrate on his own game.

This year’s consolidated run in the team follows on from last year’s string of 21 first-team appearances – including the vital matches against Clermont Auvergne last December. The experience of playing in that cauldron is bound to stand to him this weekend and it is clear his mind has already crossed the water to France.

“We have to do what we did against them. If we get the technical side of things right, keep the scrum low and keep the engagement strong because they rely on getting a good heel and getting the ball in well and settling on it. So we can’t let them settle,” he says determinedly.

Fogarty will be sincere in welcoming Flannery back to training in a few weeks’ time. But if he can present the management with a tough decision about the number two jersey, then he will know it has been a good winter.