MUNSTER COACH ANTHONY Foley remains hopeful that flanker Tommy O’Donnell will be back in contention for selection by the New Year after the Irish international made a return to light training.
O’Donnell was ruled out of the Rugby World Cup when he dislocated his hip in the warm-up match against Wales in August but Foley says the Tipperary native has started running and could be in line to return for his province in as little as seven weeks’ time.
“Tommy is back running. We are thinking and hoping it will be January. He is back running so hopefully we can progress him on,” said Foley. “He had no surgery, that was a massive plus.”
Speaking ahead of his side’s Champions Cup opener against Treviso on Saturday at Thomond Park, Foley confirmed he had no major injury concerns, however a few players will have to be assessed as the week progresses.
Top of the list is New Zealander Tyler Bleyendaal, who has missed the last three games because of a quad injury picked up in the warm-up against Scarlets and Foley admitted this weekend could come a week too soon for the out-half.
“Tyler pulled out of the Scarlets game with a tightness in his quad. He has been working hard to re-strengthen it and get it back up and running again.
“But he trained today, he trained for about a quarter of the session, and just to see where he is at. So I need to talk to the physios tomorrow in terms of seeing where he is at. It might be a game too early for him.”
Keith Earls suffered a concussion in the final minutes of their win against Edinburgh and is continuing with his return-to-play protocols, while Francis Saili (calf), Donnacha Ryan (knee) and Jack O’Donoghue (arm) are likely to be fit for Saturday.
“Earls picked up a concussion in the last run of play. Francis and Donnacha Ryan, they just have dead legs to be honest. So it’s not prudent to run them at the moment even though they were keen to train today.”
Gerhard van den Heever is a major doubt for inclusion after he was cited for a dangerous tackle during last weekend’s win at Murrayfield. The South African was shown a yellow card for the tackle and Foley said he presumed the incident was done and dusted.
“The only doubt we have for this weekend is Gerhard with a citing, so we don’t know what’s going on there. It didn’t look malicious at the time, it was dealt with at the time. I thought it warranted a penalty, that was about it.
“I thought a yellow was harsh. It was dealt with, we dealt with it and suffered the consequence at the time and we moved on. And then to find out he has been cited, I don’t know what is going on.”
