Munster must plan without O'Connell

HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINALS:A 26-MAN Munster squad announced without Paul O'Connell in it finally extinguished the faint hopes he would be fit to play in this week's Heineken Cup clash. The Ireland secondrow and Munster captain has not lined out since the Six Nations Championship and this week gave up any hope of playing his part when Munster face Biarritz on Sunday in their European semi-final in Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastien.

O’Connell has been unable to train with the squad for the last six weeks and essentially ran out of time having tried everything to get his ongoing groin problem sorted out, including taking a trip to Liverpool to see a specialist.

Coach Tony McGahan pointed out it was not to Liverpool Football Club that O’Connell went to see about his condition, known as Osteitis pubis, but a specialist based in the city. The question now is whether the driving force of their pack will be fit in time to play any more part in Munster’s season after this weekend.

Facing a tough Biarritz side, McGahan and the players were able to put a brave face on losing such an important member of their team.

In truth Munster have become used to, if not entirely pleased about, playing without O’Connell and since long before Ireland lost to Scotland in their final Six Nations Championship match, Billy Holland and Mick O’Driscoll have been filling the role alongside Donncha O’Callaghan.

“Paul hasn’t played for us since January, so it’s a fair block of time since he’s trained with us or been anywhere near us on the training pitch. We’re well and truly comfortable with that,” said McGahan.

But there has also been a deep element of frustration that the talismanic captain has not been able to return to full fitness.

The condition is common in athletes, particularly Australian footballers, who refer to it simply as OP. As the 30-year-old has been unable to shift it, the problem could be more deep-rooted than originally thought.

“It’s been a long saga since the Six Nations,” admitted the coach.

“We tried a number of the remedies and recommendations but at this stage he was too far gone. I said after the Ospreys game to Paul that the priority was to train. But he could not participate yesterday afternoon .

“For this particular week he’s just not ready. To be out for that length of time he needs to have trained and next week’s game is on a Sunday so that means he won’t train again until next Wednesday.

“Yes, he did go to Liverpool to see a specialist. It wasn’t Rafa Benitez, no. It was just to try and get to the bottom of it, really. We think we have some clarity on what it is. We hopefully have a handle on it . . . . we have to wait and see.”

McGahan gave the rest of the squad the all clear with the proviso that he must first wait until they wake up today and report healthy for duty.

The panel trained at Musgrave Park and reported no reaction after some had taken knocks during their home defeat by Ospreys last week.

Keith Earls, who was also suffering from a groin problem, has been passed fit to play and is part of the 26-man squad, which will be pared back to the match-day starting team and replacements on Friday.

There is further positive news for Munster with Ian Dowling, Doug Howlett and Nick Williams all recovering from various physical ailments.

But O’Connell’s health was the main topic of yesterday’s discussion and McGahan then described how O’Connell’s condition was actually much less clearly defined than the Munster medics would like it to be and was evasive when asked if an injection given to O’Connell for the game against Northampton had contributed to the problem.

“It’s a number of things,” he said when a bad reaction to the injection was suggested. “It’s not clear at this stage,” he added.

“There are a number of different diagnoses. It’s a very mysterious symptom that he has that we really cannot get a real clarity on.”

Biarritz will be missing Damien Traille and in that sense there was a consensus there was something of a trade-off in players being injured, a transaction in which Munster has not done all that badly.

“He (O’Connell) is definitely a big loss but no one is irreplaceable,” said South African Jean de Villiers, who could be playing his last Heineken Cup match for Munster before returning home to claim a place on the Springbok World Cup squad.

“We’ll miss him without a doubt but my experience is that nobody is irreplaceable.”

Nor are Biarritz expected to change their game plan because one key Munster player and possibly two of their own are injured.

“I don’t think they will change the game plan because one guy is out,” quipped De Villiers. “I know they’re French but I don’t think they’ll do that.” The team will travel from Shannon to Biarritz on Saturday morning.

MUNSTER (squad 26 v Biarritz): M Horan, T Buckley, J Brugnaut, J Hayes, D Varley, J Flannery, M O’Driscoll, B Holland, D O’Callaghan, A Quinlan, D Wallace, N Williams, J Coughlan, N Ronan, T O’Leary, P Stringer, R O’Gara capt, P Warwick, L Mafi, J De Villiers, T Gleeson, D Howlett, D Hurley, I Dowling, K Earls, S Deasy.