MUNSTER HOPE TO have Peter O’Mahony available for Saturday’s Champions Cup meeting with Saracens at Thomond Park, with the flanker continuing his recovery from a calf issue.
The province have been juggling a lengthy injury list but have welcomed Diarmuid Barron (shoulder), Diarmuid Kilgallen (wrist), Jack O’Donoghue (shoulder) and Conor Murray (elbow) back to full training this week.
And attack coach Mike Prendergast was positive on O’Mahony’s situation, which will become more clear tomorrow.
“A welcome return for a couple of players, good experienced players on top of that, and that will strengthen us up for the weekend,” Prendergast said.
“We obviously have a few bits and pieces to get through before Saturday, but all tracking in the right direction.
“He’s (O’Mahony) in the mix at the moment. We’ll know more come Thursday, but as of now he’s tracking along. We’ll make that call on Thursday to see if he’ll be able to tog out or not.”
Prendergast added that longer-term absentees Edwin Edogbo and Roman Salanoa remain a few weeks away from returning to action.
Munster head into Saturday’s game sitting third in Pool 3, having beaten Stade Francais before defeat in Castres before Christmas. Saracens are second in the pool on nine points, with Northampton Saints (who host Munster in round four) one point clear at the top.
“It’s a huge game. You’re playing a team full of quality, they showed that last week against a good Bristol team. They’re third in the Premiership which is an incredibly competitive competition this year. You need to be on your game in that competition and they look like they are.
“It’s a big challenge, it’s one we’re thoroughly looking forward to. Having the week off after Leinster, you reflect a bit. The best place you can play is Thomond Park on a Saturday afternoon at half five, against a team like Saracens – Munster and Saracens go back a few years. If that can’t whet your appetite, I don’t know what can.
“We’re massively looking forward to it, but we know how big of a challenge it will be.”
Munster last played on December 27, losing 28-7 at home to Leinster in the URC.
“We came back into training last Thursday, we spoke about our performance against Leinster, the good parts and the parts that need to be improved. Then we came in Monday and straight into thinking about Saracens and what we need to do there.
“Straight away the energy was there on Monday, we know how big this week is, it’s a massive week. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s where you want to be.
“We know the challenge that’s ahead of us, and we have a couple of players back as well which is always good to have. You need that experience in these types of games. They have plenty of it on their side, so it’s a hugely exciting week for us.”
These two games against top English sides are great opportunities for Tom Ahern to propel himself into the Irish squad
@Kevin Ryan: izzy, baird, conan, pendergast and timoney all ahead at this stage.
@chris mcdonnell: stopped reading at conan….
@chris mcdonnell: I don’t want to knock anyone. They’re all good players of course; but I think we know by now that Prendergast and Timoney are pretty unlikely to ever establish themselves in the Ireland side. Ahern has the potential to do so.
@Niall English: The 42 is an interesting selection to have your mid life crises on
@Niall English: conan ahead of the lot of them. Not sure about the rest though.
@chris mcdonnell: I think Baird has moved down the Irish pecking order. Not sure the reason why but it seems he has. I think Ahern will be more used in 2nd row by IRL going forward but also cover 6 ahead of Baird. I think Izzy will eventually take a starting hold on that 6 jersey. Conan is an 8 who can do a job at 6. lineout skilks wouldn’t be his strength though and that works against starting him. My feeling is POM will start v England at 6 or at least be on the bench. No doubt he’s behind many others in general play but our LO is critical to starting the 6n’s well and he’s still our best LO jumper.
@Michael Corkery: He’s only started 9 times at 6. Munster have won a grand total of 1 of those games. Putting that to one side, it’s still manifestly obvious that he should be concentrating on second row, given both his height and the number of options at blindside.
If Munster were talking about the good things they did against Leinster, it was a short talk. We need the injury list to clear up, it would be great to pick a 23 match day squad that isn’t influenced by injured players.
Don’t know why Munster are always going on about O’Mahony these days. The guy is busted flush, worn out and too old. Not his fault now. Munster have to pick Ahern ahead of him and bench him. We lost to England last year because he wasn’t at the races with the young English back row so we lost another grand slam because he wasn’t up to it.
@Jimmy Bean: i do recall doris getting grossly outplayed by ben earl in that game also, not the first time hes gone AWOL when the chips are down.
@Niall English: Mr Bean only sees what he wants to see.
@Niall English: He left VanDFl and Doris on their own to play by themselves against the English. He was benched for the South Africa tour so it’s just not me who thinks he’s past it.
@Leonard Barry: Lotta beans on here
@Jimmy Bean: you know the French saying « No scrum, no win ». I got a similar one for the upcoming England game, « No lineout, no win ». Certainly PO’M is not as good as others around the field, but if our lineout calling and throwing is going to continue to be as bad as it has recently, the 2nd best defensive LO in the world is going to have an absolute field day. We’ll need PO’M on the bench at the very least. He can win it at the front if all else fails.