RUGBY NEWS:STEPHEN ARCHER and Dave O'Callaghan will make their first starts of the season as Munster bid to notch their second win of the campaign when they take on Treviso at Thomond Park tomorrow night.
The changes see BJ Botha and Paddy Butler drop to the bench as coach Rob Penney prepares for his first match in charge at Thomond Park following their impressive 23-18 win in Edinburgh.
However, there is growing concern about Paul O’Connell being available for the clash with Ulster next week as doubts have emerged over the comeback date for the former Lions skipper.
Last week team manager Niall O’Donovan said that the former skipper was “on schedule” for a return against Ulster in the third round of the RaboDirect PRO 12.
But the Irish lock, who has been out of action with a knee injury since May, didn’t take part in full training at the University of Limerick yesterday. He managed some light rehab work with the Munster physios, but Penney is putting no pressure on O’Connell to return for the clash against Mark Anscombe’s side.
“Don’t know, we don’t know. He’ll be ready when he is ready,” said Penney.
“He is under no pressure and we are under no pressure to get him right. He is just going to let us know when he is ready to go and we’ll react to that. There is a number of boys in that bracket but Paulie will let us know when he is ready.
“He is probably not doing all the rugby stuff yet, but at times he is close.”
There was better news for flanker Niall Ronan, who could be in line to feature for his club Shannon this weekend.
Ronan has missed almost nine months after he suffered a knee ligament injury against Castres in the Heineken Cup group stages in January, but Penney thinks he might be ready to end his injury nightmare.
“Niall was out there beavering away on bags, which is very exciting for him, he has had a wretched run and a couple of little set backs along the way. But he looks like he is in a really good space and it looks like he is ready to go, which is exciting for all of us.
“Possibly he’ll be available. I’m sure the Shannon boys would love to have him back. So it would be great if he was up for a run at the weekend.”
After picking up an ankle injury playing for Young Munster last weekend, Penney is still waiting for some positive feedback on Johne Murphy.
“Johne Murphy is still pretty sore from the weekend. I haven’t had a full download from the medics yet but we don’t expect him back tomorrow or next week, but he won’t be too, too far away.
“I understand that he is looking to get a bit more evidence done on his injury, so we’ll see what happens after that,” said Penney.
Meanwhile, hooker Damian Varley said he was not surprised by Treviso defeating champions Ospreys 12-6 in Italy at the weekend and expects a tough battle.
“I think Treviso have been very strong and we’ve struggled against them the last few seasons. They’ve been very dominant up front, they’ve a very strong and physical pack with a good set-piece and that’s an area we’ll to try and quench for them this weekend and try and match them up front.
“What we want to try and focus on is our home games, especially Thomond Park. It’s a special place for us to play in and we want to go unbeaten at home,” said Varley.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; D Howlett, C Laulala, J Downey, L O'Dea; I Keatley, D Williams; W du Preez, D Varley, S Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, B Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, S Dougall, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, D Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, D Foley, P Butler, P Stringer, S Deasy, I Dineen.
