THE coming weeks are busy ones for Munster rugby. With a home game this Friday night against Edinburgh, an ‘A’ game next week against Bristol Rugby, followed by games against Aironi away and the Dragons in Cork and you can see that the red army’s divisions are in danger of being depleted.
When you factor in that all of those ties of course are being played without Munster’s starting Irish internationals, Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Tomas O’Leary, David Wallace and Keith Earls, the task at hand seems ominous.
Throw into the mix that Jerry Flannery, Peter O’Mahoney, Barry Murphy, Ian Dowling, Felix Jones, Alan Quinlan, John Hayes and Conor Murray are all out injured and you see that results in the coming weeks may not be up to the standards that Munster fans might be expecting at this end of the season.
There is good news however in the shape of Marcus Horan, Denis Fogarty and Tony Buckley (who leaves for Sale Sharks at the end of this season), all look to be returning to action in the coming weeks. Add in Mick O’Driscoll, Donnacha Ryan, Johne Murphy, Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara who have all been released from Ireland camp to play some games and you can see why Munster will be looking to sustain their lead atop the Magners League.
Speaking to PostSport this week, Munster Manager Shaun Payne was fully aware of the pressures of the coming weeks.
“We know that the next few fixutres are season definers for us. The players will be asked to play in AIL, ‘A’ games and Magners League. With the current injuries in the squad, we know that we will be hard pressed to get the mix right. We want to make sure we are in the hunt for a home semi final in the Magners and wins in the next couple of games will hopefully aid us in that”.
With the likes of Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara returning, the positives out weigh the negatives at present. Munster, by virtue of their big squad should be able to field a strong team in the coming weeks. The issue for many grass root rugby fans is their club players.
As Shaun Payne mentioned above, the small matter of the rearranged British and Irish Cup game against Bristol means that some AIL teams in Division 1A and 1B will be depleted. In fact, as this paper went to print there were calls from some Limerick clubs to have this weekend’s AIL fixtures called off. The AIL teams are currently in a run of five weeks on and some sides are chasing vital promotion/relegation points. A resolution will have to be made, but it might not happen this weekend.
