PAUL O’CONNELL WILL face Clermont in a much-anticipated Heineken Cup semi-final this weekend.
But he’ll do so having controversially escaped a citing for a kick to the head of Leinster back Dave Kearney.
But the Thomond Park favourite says the incident was not intentional and he hopes his Ireland colleague is back in action soon.
“What happened with Dave was 100 per cent accidental,” O’Connell told reporters today. “I never thought I’d collide with his head. I probably didn’t help myself during the week. I didn’t mean to show a lack of concern for Dave. I just hope he’s back playing soon. I was dissappointed it happened and I regret it happened,” he told RTÉ’s Joe Stack at the province’s media day at Musgrave Park in Cork.
The lack of action from European rugby bosses drew criticism from Leinster boss Joe Schmidt — the man expected to be appointed Ireland chief – last week but Munster’s own Kiwi head coach, Rob Penney, insisted O’Connell’s reputation isn’t tarnished by the incident.
“I think Joe had every right to come out and protect his players and say what he did,” Penney said. “But the only thing is one incident does not ever cloud all the great work that Paulie’s done behind the scenes in Irish rugby.
Munster will be without Donncha O’Callaghan and Doug Howlett while Peter O’Mahony remains touch-and-go, it was confirmed today.
“[Doug] won’t be part of this event. Donncha unfortunately has not recovered from the knee injury he picked up against Leinster. It’s really sad for him as well.
“Peter O’Mahony has some ongoing foot complaints,” said Penney. “We’ll find out later in the week how that is going to pan out. James Downey is still recovering from a hand issue, which we’ll find out all about later in the week. Keith Earls is making progress but, once again, we won’t know about his [selection] chances until later in the week.”
