RUGBY:KEITH EARLS is expected to be in the Munster squad for their opening Heineken Cup assignment against Premiership pacesetters London Irish at the Madejski Stadium next Saturday. The gamebreaking utility back could provide some much-needed cutting edge to a Munster team kept tryless for the fifth time in five meetings by Leinster last Saturday.
“He did a little bit (of training) last week and he is back again this week,” said coach Tony McGahan yesterday. “He was very nearly right before he did his ankle a few weeks ago. He was absolutely flying it, the physios and medical staff had done a fantastic job with him and then he got an unlucky injury or occurrence in training. That disrupted him and set him back a bit but he should be right to go hopefully.”
Tony Buckley will also return to provide some ballast up front after he contracted a virus last Thursday which left him with no energy but “Tony should be fine for selection this week”.
However, Jerry Flannery is still sidelined with his calf and hamstring problems; the Munster coach forecasting that their Irish hooker might be back in another week or two.
Leinster emerged unscathed from Saturday’s bruiser, with Shane Horgan’s facial wound the biggest concern.
“He looks like a Cyclops,” remarked coach Joe Schmidt. “Big stitches across his forehead.”
As expected, Shane Jennings will return to the Leinster squad this week although Leo Cullen has effectively ruled himself out of a seasonal return for another week or two, while a decision as to whether Jonathan Sexton re-assumes goalkicking duties at home to the Top 14 leaders Racing Metro on Saturday will be made after Thursday’s training session.
Schmidt confirmed Sexton “wasn’t going to kick because the style of goal kicking and drop-outs seemed to be the action that was aggravating the injury so we decided to stay right away from it. It was more important to have Jonny on the field so we took that risk. We have much reduced his goal kicking since the injury.”
The Leinster coach was also confident Brian O’Driscoll would recover fully from the array of knocks he sustained in Leinster’s win.
“He is good to go. It was contact just above his knee. He got a whack so he was limping for a good part of the game and he also put in a fantastic tackle with a few minutes to go that left him with a shoulder stinger.
“He will have a light start to the week but I am hoping that you will see a younger, faster and stronger than ever Brian O’Driscoll on Saturday.”
Ulster are resigned to being without Stephen Ferris for their opening match at home to Aironi on Friday night although coach Brian McLaughlin was more hopeful of tighthead BJ Botha being back in harness.
