Rugby:Munster coach Rob Penney has declined to name an initial squad for Sunday's Heineken Cup match with Edinburgh, preferring instead to wait until the ERC deadline for team's being submitted on Friday. Defeat against Racing Metro on the opening weekend has left Munster with no wriggle room in Pool 1 and Penney will take his time to consider the options available to him.

Ronan O’Gara, who limped off the pitch in Paris with a strained hamstring, is definitely out of Sunday’s game at Thomond Park but his loss will be offset by the return of Johne Murphy, Felix Jones and Ian Nagle who are all back in the fold after injury.

Donncha O’Callaghan is also a doubt with a hamstring injury for the visit of Michael Bradley’s Edinburgh side but the second row revealed he was ‘”happy enough” after training in Limerick this morning. O’Callaghan, who resumed his second row partnership with Paul O’Connell at the Stade de France , will undergo a fitness test at training on Friday morning before Penney finalises his selection.

Penney was pleased that O’Connell has shown no ill-effects from his first match since May last weekend, but warned that the former Lions captain, who will be 33 on Saturday, will need to be carefully managed.

“I think there will still be a rollercoaster about his availability and unavailability due to the fact that his body is still getting to a state where, hopefully, we can get some longevity and consistency,” said Penney, who revealed that O’Connell’s availability was in doubt right up to a few hours before the match.

“He came to us in the middle of last week and felt he was making the progress needed to be considered for the group and right up until the morning of the game there was the potential for Paulie to decide that something had occurred and he wasn’t quite right but he got through that phase and was really motivated to play which was exciting for everyone and he got through 63 minutes.

“He was robust, should have scored a try, that would have been exciting. He did a lot of good things in the game, got knocked around a bit which is good conditioning for him, hitting into the programme he has got, without any repercussions.”

While the match will come too soon for O’Gara, Penney hopes to have his outhalf back in harness in weeks rather than months with Keith Earls and Wian du Preez also recovering from injuries of their own.