Munster Get Clean Bill Of Health
Following their storming bonus point finish to Sunday’s Heineken Cup clash with Edinburgh, further good news filtered through for Munster today with confirmation of a clean bill of health for the players involved.
Second rows Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan both retired at a relatively early stage in the game, but there was nothing untoward in either case.
O’Callaghan is only just back from the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Racing Metro match last week, while the recently-returned O’Connell had done enough in just his second appearance of the season.
Felix Jones also came through unscathed after making his first appearance at this level since last May.
Although Casey Laulala received attention several times in the first half for a groin problem, he went on to last the full 80 minutes and is reportedly fit and well.
The injured Ronan O’Gara spent the game in front of a TV monitor in the Munster dug-out, mic’d up to give his input.
The veteran out-half is not expected to be involved against Zebre on Friday night but along with Keith Earls, he could see a return to action in early November.
Wian du Preez is looking at a similar time frame, while it is likely to be towards the end of November before fellow forward Niall Ronan is back in action.
Other than those players on the province’s injury list, Rob Penney will have a full deck to deal from when he sits down to select his side for the visit of the italians to Thomond Park next Friday.
Meanwhile, young scrum half Conor Murray received the man-of-the-match award against Edinburgh for a fine try-scoring display behind a dominant Munster pack.
Insisting that the result was all that mattered, Murray said afterwards: “It is satisfying (to win the man-of-the-match awatd), but the team comes first.
“It is all about the team getting out of this group. I just wanted to do my bit to help them do it and hopefully, I did that today.
“We are not in a bad position. Munster have lost the first group game of a Heineken Cup before and qualified. We are not getting down on ourselves at all.
“We are taking it one game at a time. We will switch back into PRO12 mode for the next few weeks and other things like that before taking a look at Saracens.”
Penney’s men will collide with Saracens in potential Pool 1 back-to-back deciders in December with the province defending a 3-0 tournament record against the Watford-based club.