Worry for Kidney as five in fitness race for showdown

IN CONTRAST to Leinster, for whom everything has gone very smoothly, Munster have several injury worries ahead of next Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final at Lansdowne Road.

Loose head prop Marcus Horan and flanker Denis Leamy are troubled by calf and ankle injuries respectively, Ronan O’Gara continues his recuperation from the hamstring strain he carried into the quarter-final against Perpignan and the gashed knee he sustained in the same game. Utility back Tomas O’Leary is also bothered by a hamstring while hooker Jerry Flannery retired early in Saturday night’s Celtic League victory over Edinburgh Gunners after getting a knock on the achilles tendon.

The official line is that Horan remains a serious doubt although he watched Saturday’s game alongside Leamy from the Thomond Park stand. There was no sign of O’Gara, who was recently hospitalised for five days when the deep cut on his knee became infected.

On the latter, coach Declan Kidney replied: “He’s making a good recovery. He’s training and he’s coming back on track with most things. It’s just general health now, we have to give him time for the knee to settle. When you’re lying in a hospital bed for four or five days, it can tighten up the body and it takes a small while to get over that. We believe he has a good chance of being available for Leinster.”

As for Horan and Leamy, Kidney said: “It’s a different situation for each one. Denis is probably doing a little more than Marcus. Again, Marcus has made progress over the last 48 hours so you wouldn’t be making any of these decisions until you had to. Tomas O’Leary was also a little tight in his leg but did a bit of running today. With an injury like that, it’s all about building it up gradually so that you don’t put the muscle under undue pressure.

“Jerry Flannery has gone a little bit tight in his lower leg and we’ll assess it over the next 48 hours and see how things are on Monday.”

With Horan so doubtful, the Munster management will have been pleased with the performance of Federico Pucciariello, who scored the first of Munster’s six tries against Edinburgh and made one spectacular burst in the second half. Furthermore, he was a key figure in a pack that outplayed the Gunners in the set pieces. A 36-15 scoreline probably flattered Munster but they took their chances well in a very fast and highly entertaining game.

“In terms of qualification for Europe next year, it was very important to stay at the heels of Leinster and Ulster and remain in the competition“, said Kidney.

“We’re into the home straight now with five series of games to go and we’re still in the hunt. These players have done an awful lot of things. If you look at some of the players, their fitness levels are extraordinary. Tonight’s game was a good test of our defence. Edinburgh certainly go from side to side and try to stretch you.”

Anthony Horgan is very much back in the equation for a place against Leinster with Kidney stressing that “you don’t go from being good enough to play for Ireland against New Zealand and become a bad player overnight. I think he’s a very good player and nothing he did tonight surprised me. He was probably a bit ring rusty but the more games he gets the better he will be.

“John Kelly also had a good game. He has a number of Irish caps under his belt in the centre. We’ll just mix and match and look at the best combinations for next weekend.”