COME THE first shoots of the season and the ripple effects of the Lions tour were always liable to be most keenly felt by Munster and Leinster. The reigning Magners League and Heineken Cup champions respectively duly embark upon this weekend’s opening round of matches without 12 players who were on duty in South Africa along with three others who had been selected to do so.
Munster begin their defence away to Glasgow in Firhill without the half-dozen players who took part in the tour – Paul O’Connell, David Wallace, Ronan O’Gara, Keith Earls, Donncha O’Callaghan and John Hayes.
They are likely to be absent for Munster’s first three league games, and likewise the injured Tomás O’Leary and Jerry Flannery, though Alan Quinlan’s suspension will be completed on September 9th.
Ian Dowling should be back in a week or two but their injury-bedevilled Kiwi backrower Nick Williams is likely to be sidelined for another two or three games due to the slightly torn knee cartilage he sustained in the opening pre-season friendly against Sale.
South African centre Jean de Villiers will arrive after playing for the Springboks in their final Tri Nations games away to New Zealand on Saturday week.
Against that, their 25-man squad does include four other summer recruits, Felix Jones (whose pre-season form has Munster believing they’ve stolen a gem from under the noses of his native Leinster), their former hooker Damien Varley (re-signed from Wasps), ex-Dax prop Julien Brugnaut and Toby Marland, the Waikato Chiefs scrumhalf signed until December initially.
A clutch of indigenous young talents have been named, including 22-year-old backrower Tommy O’Donnell, promoted to a development contract this season, and the Academy trio of lock Ian Nagle (20), outhalf/centre Scott Deasy (20) and centre Danny Barnes (19).
Similarly, Leinster are without their Lions contingent of Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D’Arcy and Nathan Hines; with the latter two liable to return in the next week or two.
Of their casualties, Eoin Reddan and Trevor Hogan should be back next week, to be followed by CJ van der Linde in another two or three weeks. Cheetahs hooker Richard Strauss is still on Currie Cup duty and Eoin O’Malley has another couple of months’ rehabilitation from knee surgery.
The European champions do include their other two close-season recruits, ex-Munster and Harlequins tighthead Mike Ross and the Australian, ex-Bath centre Shaun Berne, in a 24-strong squad for their opener away to the Scarlets on Saturday evening.
Michael Cheika has also delved into the province’s conveyor belt of exceptional young backs, by naming centre Brendan Macken and fullback Niall Morris, both of whom impressed hugely in pre-season.
Leinster have won only one of their past six seasonal openers in the league, and consultant coach Alan Gaffney commented: “Whenever you face a Llanelli side you know you will be up against an expansive side with fast backs and a strong group of forwards and this weekend will be no different.”
Leinster’s preparations concluded with a defeat to London Irish last Friday when they still looked very much in pre-season mode, but they ought to have come on a ton for the outing.
“Though the result last weekend was a disappointment, you use pre-season games as opportunities to try new systems,” maintained Gaffney, “and we got a lot out of the games against Nice and London Irish. We have a few areas that need to be addressed, but there were positives, not least the impact of the younger players like Niall Morris, Paul O’Donohoe and Brendan Macken.
“It was good for the returning Churchill Cup players to get a run out, while the likes of Girvan (Dempsey) also got some much needed game time after missing the first game after the birth of his son.”
“There’s great competition for places all over the park and it will be some contest for players to try and get into the starting line-up each week. It all augurs well for this season, but the hard work starts this week.”
Ulster are also without their sole Lion, the unlucky Stephen Ferris, while fellow backrower David Pollock will be in rehabilitation for another six weeks. But, while also allowing for Rory Best’s absence for the season, Brian McLaughlin has otherwise been able to name a full-strength squad for his first competitive outing as the province’s new head coach, against the Dragons on Sunday.
Connacht are the only Irish side at home this weekend, hosting the star-studded Ospreys in a reprise of the opening fixture they lost 16-3 last season. But the Welshmen, under new head coach Scott Johnson, include their Lions, Mike Phillips and James Hook, as well as re-appointed captain Ryan Jones along with an eye-catching trio of other backrowers – new signing Jerry Collins, fellow All Black Marty Holah, and Filo Tiatia.
The westerners yesterday announced that Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish whiskey has become the official spirit to Connacht Rugby. The whiskey is a brand of Cooley Distillery, founded by John Teeley, who said at the launch: “As a rugby fanatic I applaud the David versus Goliath struggles of Connacht rugby.” That seems particularly apt this week.
MUNSTER(Squad v Glasgow, away, Friday): M Horan, T Buckley, J Brugnaut, D Fogarty, D Varley, M O'Driscoll, D Ryan, INagle, B Holland, T O'Donnell, N Ronan, D Leamy, J Coughlan, P Stringer, T Morland, J Manning, P Warwick, L Mafi, T Gleeson, B Murphy, D Howlett, D Hurley, S Deasy, F Jones, D Barnes.
LEINSTER(Squad v Scarlets, away, Saturday): Forwards – L Cullen, J Fogarty, C Healy, B Jackman, S Jennings, S Keogh, R McCormack, K McLaughlin, S O'Brien, M O'Kelly, M Ross, D Toner, S Wright. Backs – S Berne, G Dempsey, S Horgan, C Keane, S Keogh, B Macken, F McFadden, N Morris, I Nacewa, P O'Donohoe, J Sexton.
ULSTER(Squad v Dragons, away, Sunday): Forwards – N Brady, T Court, B Botha, B Young, E O'Donoghue, M McCullough, A Kyriacou, D Tuohy, R Diack, R Caldwell, C Henry, W Faloon, D Fitzpatrick. Backs – T Nagusa, D Cave, N O'Connor, S Danielli, I Whitten, A Trimble, P Marshall, B Cunningham, I Whitten, I Boss, I Humphreys, P Wallace, N Spence.
OSPREYS(Squad v Connacht, Friday): Forwards – D Jones, P James, C Griffiths, C Mitchell, R Hibbard, H Bennett, A Lloyd, I Gough, T Smith, J Collins, M Holah, F Tiatia, R Jones. Backs – B Davies, G Owen, J Vaughton, N Walker, S Parker, J Spratt, A Bishop, D Biggar, J Hook, T Isaacs, M Phillips.
