MUNSTER HEAD COACH Johann van Graan has summoned 21-year-old back-rower Jack O’Sullivan to South Africa ahead of Friday’s Guinness Pro14 meeting with the Cheetahs.
O’Sullivan, who got his first taste of senior competitive action in the season opener against the Dragons, has flown out to replace Chris Cloete.
Shortly after being introduced as a second-half substitute during Saturday’s win against Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, Cloete was forced off with an ankle injury.
In an injury bulletin issued this afternoon, Van Graan said that Cloete “won’t be available for the immediate future”, and he has therefore been released from the touring party.
A stand-out performer for the Ireland U20s during the 2018 Six Nations, O’Sullivan made a try-scoring Munster debut in the recent pre-season friendly against London Irish.
He has joined up with the squad in Johannesburg, where they will base themselves until Thursday before moving on to Bloemfontein to face a Cheetahs side who were 63-26 winners against Ulster on Saturday.
“This week is going to be even more difficult with the conditions and temperatures, playing at altitude against the Cheetahs,” added Van Graan, who saw his team make it two bonus-point wins on the trot over the weekend.
“They are a team on form, and have been excellent in the Currie Cup. In the Pro14 so far they have dispatched Glasgow and Ulster comfortably at home, and hopefully we can learn from those games.
“From our point of view we have to focus on ourselves, and we’ve enough to work on following Saturday’s game. It’s only week three in the competition and there’s such a long way to go so we’ll take our points from the Kings game and move on.”
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