RUGBY:MUNSTER'S MISERABLE season with injuries shows no sign of abating with captain Paul O'Connell ruled out for the remainder of the campaign and also likely to miss the Irish tour to New Zealand.
Munster confirmed yesterday while the knee injury he suffered at the weekend may not be as bad as initially feared, he will not play for them again this season and will be out of action for between four to six weeks.
Munster’s season will come to an end if they lose the RaboDirect Pro 12 semi-final away to Ospreys on Friday evening but O’Connell is now deemed unlikely to recover in time for the tour to New Zealand. Declan Kidney will anxiously await the outcome of a visit this week by O’Connell to a specialist to establish the extent of the latest injury setback to the talisman.
Munster coach Tony McGahan’s final season in charge of the province has been dogged by horrendous bad luck on the injury front.
Hooker Damian Varley will also miss Friday’s trip to Swansea but it is hoped he will recover from an ankle sprain for the final against either Leinster or Glasgow, should Munster advance.
Ronan O’Gara, who has not played for Munster since the Heineken Cup quarter-final loss to Ulster, has returned to training and is expected to start Friday’s clash when the winners of the past two seasons battle it out for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, Irish international Keith Earls yesterday confirmed he will be approaching new Munster coach Rob Penney and asking that he continue as a centre and not on the wing.
And the straight-talking Limerick man will not be wasting any time in letting the New Zealander know about his favoured position.
“Hopefully, the first day he comes, I’ll be going straight into him and say, ‘look, I want to play 13’.
“I don’t want to play on the wing any more. It’s not my position and I don’t enjoy it so, hopefully, I want to improve as a 13. I don’t want to keep mixing and matching. Hopefully I can start creating space for my wingers,” said the 24-year old.
Earls said he was worried when he saw Munster signing centres James Downey and Casey Laulala – who Penney coached in Canterbury – but he is confident he will be able to continue in the number 13 shirt.
“I’ve played in the centre all season and I’ve enjoyed it and I’m getting better, defensively especially, putting in more tackles in a game and getting a lot more confident. Whereas on the wing, I don’t have great confidence there,” added Earls.
He acknowledged he may end up on the wing for Ireland given the unavailability of the likes of Luke Fitzgerald and Tommy Bowe for the trip to New Zealand.
“Getting selected is the first thing and then I’ll deal with that when that comes, if Deccie needs me to play on the wing. But I’ll let my feelings be known that I don’t feel comfortable on the wing anymore and I want to be a centre,” he added.
Earls said there has been some needle between Munster and Ospreys because of the number of times they have met in recent years and he expects nothing to change on Friday evening at the Liberty Stadium.
“It’s massive. I’m sick of playing big games against the Ospreys, the amount we’ve had them the last couple of seasons. We know a lot about each other and that’s why it’s a hard game.”
Meanwhile, Connacht and Ireland lock Mike McCarthy has been cited for “making contact with the eye area” of a Glasgow Warriors player during last Saturday’s match in Firhill.
The date for a hearing is still to be confirmed but a suspension could jeopardise McCarthy’s inclusion in the squad for the three-Test tour of New Zealand.
