Munster’s bid to halt their four game losing streak has been handed a timely boost with Tommy O’Donnell back in contention for selection in Sunday’s inter-pro derby with Leinster at Thomond Park.
The Irish international suffered a dislocated hip during Ireland’s opening World Cup warm up games with Wales in August, which has kept him sidelined since.
O’Donnell (28) was initially expected to be out until February at the earliest, but the flanker came through training at CIT today and could make his first start of the season for the province.
A hamstring injury for Dave O’Callaghan could rule him out of the Thomond Park clash, but BJ Botha also returned to training after a concussion.
“Tommy is in contention we just have to see how he pulls up after training. He has been going really well at the moment and we need to see what happens,” said Foley.
“The only fresh injury at the moment is Dave O’Callaghan. He came off with a hamstring strain at the weekend so we have that monitored at the moment.
“BJ trained fully today and Tommy O’Donnell trained fully today so we will see where they are post-Christmas.”
Consecutive defeats to Leicester Tigers in the Champions Cup and earlier Pro12 losses to Connacht and Dragons have Munster on the verge of their worst run of results in the professional era and with arch rivals Leinster up next there is a huge appetite for victory in the province.
But despite the poor run of form, Munster still retain third place in the competition standings just six points behind leaders Scarlets, and also lead Sunday’s opposition by a point in the table.
But Foley is keen to see the poor run end and he had been pushing hard all week in search of a first win in six weeks.
“It’s something that’s in my head the whole time. It’s not something that we want to have. It’s not something that we are trying to do. We are doing everything in our power to turn it around,” said Foley.
“Unfortunately it has slipped that way at the moment. But it wasn’t long ago that we had seven wins out of eight games so it wasn’t that far off having a good run of form, and sometimes you have got to take the good with the bad.
“This is a big game, it’s a home game against one of our biggest rivals. We obviously know each other quite well. We are both going through a similar patch of form at the moment in terms of results.
“I don’t think both sides are necessarily playing that poorly but we’re not getting the results. We do know we are in a results business and it’s important from a Munster point of view that we get a win on Sunday.”
