Lima latest worry for Munster

MUNSTER’s hexed Heineken Cup preparations suffered another blow yesterday when new signing Brian Lima pulled up in training with a slight leg muscle strain.

With Christian Cullen and Ronan O’Gara already out of the quarter-final with Biarritz in San Sebastian on Sunday, coach Alan Gaffney cannot afford another withdrawal behind the scrum, and said last night he was confident that Lima’s problems were associated only with jet lag.

The 33-year-old Samoan with 60 international test games behind him was late arriving in Ireland after his travel plans were thrown into disarray. Given the limited time he has been with his new colleagues, he could do with every available minute in training.

“Brian trained in the gym on Sunday, did the session yesterday (Monday) and today (Tuesday). He slightly strained a muscle today and finished the session marginally early but we’re not particularly worried about it. We didn’t want to take any risks with him so he went for an examination.

Obviously, the travel time he has endured meant he was pretty fatigued and we’re trying to give him as much rest as possible between now and the weekend,” he said.

Which all begged the question - will he play on Sunday? Gaffney certainly thinks so and there is no doubt that, having signed him, he will be in the starting team rather than in the reserves. He will be considered for a position on the right wing or outside centre.

“He is very much an impact player, and I don’t mean that to say he will be coming off the bench. He is a very direct type of player and you have to be that against any French side.

“We don’t intend to try and run around them all the time because they have an enormous amount of pace.

“We have to work out what our best option is and we do have options in that Brian is capable of playing in a couple of key positions.”

Gaffney said it wasn’t the perfect scenario to have a player join the squad at such short notice, but he stressed: “Brian has been around a long time and is a very astute player. In the two days he has been there he has fitted in well, and has picked up all the patterns we run very quickly.”

Lima should have a fair handle on how Munster play the game. He was in the Stade Francais side beaten in Thomond Park in the 2000 quarter -final and watched injured as Stade controversially ousted Munster in the Lille semi-final the following year.

He was delighted at being offered this short-term Munster contract following his two-try contribution in the tsunami match at Twickenham recently.

“The only reservation I had was I have been away from my family for a long period and that I would be leaving again. But Munster are a great side. I was aware of that and it was a real challenge for me, one that I felt I should not turn down. I’m very happy to be here,” he said.

There was a suggestion that, all things going well, Lima might stay with Munster for another season.

“It’s something I would have to discuss with my wife but something I would consider,” he said.

One of Munster’s more established personalities - Paul Burke - is another on whom there could be a huge burden this weekend. The out-half takes over from the injured Ronan O’Gara again and will be a key figure.

“I realise I have a huge amount of responsibility. I feel sorry for Rog (O’Gara) who was playing well against Gwent and was just involved in a fairly straightforward but awkward challenge.

“It was just a stroke of bad luck for Ronan and some good luck for me but you never really want to get into a team on the back of an injury. Now that it has happened, it’s a question of getting on with things.”

But it could be a hard couple of days for Burke, who sported a black eye at yesterday’s press conference in Limerick, the result of a punishing tackle in the Celtic League game against Gwent. His main concern, though, is that he won’t have any access to the pitch in San Sebastian for goal kicking practice.

“The fact that there is a football match to be played on Saturday night means that we won’t have a chance to have pots at goal on the ground, but it will be the same for both teams.

“We will go there, have a little look around and try to assess exactly which way the wind is likely to blow. We should have a chance on Sunday morning to get a few shots in.”

MUNSTER (from): Backs: S. Payne, J. Holland, M. Mullins, P. Devlin, J. Kelly, B. Lima, R. Henderson, A. Horgan, P. Burke, P. Stringer, F. Murphy.

Forwards: M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, G. McIllwham, J. Flannery, F. Roche, P. O’Connell, D. O’Callaghan, T. Hogan, T. Bowman, A. Quinlan, J. Williams, S. Keogh, A. Foley, D. Wallace.