RUGBY: AHEAD OF next Friday's latest instalment between the reigning Magners League and Heineken Cup champions, Munster appear to be in ruder health than Leinster. Whereas coach Michael Cheika is still without three of his heavy hitters in Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Kevin McLaughlin, Tony McGahan was able to welcome back his Test frontliners who had been rested for the win over Glasgow.
So a stellar list of John Hayes, Tony Buckley, Jerry Flannery, Paul O’Connell, David Wallace, Tomas O’Leary and Keith Earls were all restored to a 27-man squad yesterday.
In addition to the long-term absentees of Denis Leamy, Donnacha Ryan, Darragh Hurley and Felix Jones, winger Denis Hurley has been ruled out with the hamstring strain he sustained against Glasgow, while the unfortunate Barry Murphy rolled his ankle playing for UL Bohs at the weekend.
Flannery could be in line to make only his second competitive start of a frustratingly truncated season for Munster.
Although a stomach bug hit the squad during their two-day training camp in Tipperary, McGahan, speaking in the Ballykisteen Hotel, didn’t seem too concerned.
The Munster coach even appeared to be playing down the rivalry as secondary in importance to the four points on offer, with Munster just ahead of Edinburgh in second place on tries scored, and the posse close behind, but trailing Leinster by four points with a game more played.
“I think you always try to keep some perspective of where you are. Leinster being keen close neighbours and an excellent side, there was a great rivalry even before the sides became successful and it’s escalated in recent years. So even though we respect the match for what it is, four points in terms of the Magners League, we certainly understand the ramifications of getting one over Leinster, and likewise them over us.
“We have a healthy rivalry. Last year we were 2-0 up in the league and now we’re one down, as well as obviously the semi-final last year. There’s a lot to play for emotionally to be sure, but there’s still only four points on offer.”
Indeed, he also played down the notion that the memory of last season’s 25-6 Heineken Cup semi-final defeat at Croke Park and the 30-0 defeat at the RDS in early October would be a source of motivation for his team. Fully 26 weeks have passed since the last meeting, when McGahan recalls blooding eight of his players for the first time, and both sides have progressed significantly since then.
“It depends on where you are, whether it’s nice and close or far away. It depends on the mood of the group, how things are going and where you feel you need to be. The boys have trained very well and are fully motivated to come in, especially the five guys coming back into the 22 for what is a big two weeks for us.”
Two wins over the next two weekends in Thomond Park, against Leinster and Northampton, would set them up nicely for the end-of-season run-in. The priority though, remains the Heineken Cup.
The confusing picture regarding the IRB’s diktat at the breakdown, which Jerome Garces applied more liberally than other league referees in the Leinster-Connacht match, is something he and the other coaches could do without.
“We haven’t received any notification to say this is the way we’re going. So really we’re taking it week on week and talking to the referee before each game and asking him where he stands on that.
“But at this stage we have no official recommendations or direction to change the way we are approaching the breakdown, so we’re still a little bit in the darkness, as most people are at this stage.”
MUNSTER SQUAD: M Horan, D Ryan, J Hayes, T Buckley, D Fogarty, J Flannery, D Varley, D O’Callaghan, M O’Driscoll, P O’Connell, A Quinlan, D Wallace, N Ronan, N Williams, J Coughlan, B Holland, T O’Leary, P Stringer, R O’Gara, P Warwick, L Mafi, J de Villiers, T Gleeson, K Earls, I Dowling, D Howlett, S Deasy.
