Munster not risking stars in Warriors tie

THE sense of relief in the Munster camp last night was palpable after it was confirmed Ronan O’Gara’s ankle injury was not as serious as first feared and that he would definitely be fit to line out against Stade Français in the Heineken Cup quarter-final at Thomond Park on Saturday week.

“I was a lot more relaxed when I heard the favourable result of the MRI scan but then everyone was in the same boat,” admitted coach Alan Gaffney.

“We’ve got a good squad but O’Gara is a special player, not least in the goal-kicking stakes. We’ve got Ronan and Jeremy Staunton, both excellent kickers, but it’s been proven in the Celtic League that there’s not a lot of depth in this regard.”

O’Gara, his half-back partner Peter Stringer and the entire front-row of Marcus Horan, Frankie Sheahan and John Hayes are carrying injuries and won’t be risked for tomorrow night’s Celtic League tie against the Celtic Warriors in Pontypridd.

However, Christian Cullen returns at full-back and Irish Triple Crown heroes Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, David Wallace and Anthony Foley all start.

Munster’s Celtic League campaign has suffered drastically in the absence of the Irish players, so tomorrow’s game is about getting some cohesion back into the squad.

“It’s frustrating because we haven’t had them since January and we’re going out against Stade Français next week largely without having trained or played together,” said Gaffney.

“It’s good to have a few back but it’s frustrating because we know we’re not going to get it totally right against Stade, not having trained together until the week before. The same applies to them except they don’t have five guys out with injury and they’ve got a lot of strength.”

Stade Français are also in action tomorrow night, against Pau in the French Championship at Stade Jean Bouin. Gaffney’s assistant Brian Hickey will be there.

Gaffney explained: “We’ll leave no stone unturned in that regard.

“We’ve done a lot of video work on them. I saw them play about a month ago against Brive. Brive won in Paris. Stade had a strong side that day. DeVilliers, Auradou and Tabacco started and Marconnet came off the bench while Pichot, Dominguez, Liebenberg, Dominici and Corletto all started.”

Stade lost that game - as they also have done recently against Beziers.

Clearly, they’re not having the best of seasons and outside of a slim mathematical possibility (they’re seventh of eight in their French Championship pool), they need an outright victory in the Heineken Cup to qualify for next year’s tournament.

“If they want to be in Europe again next season, I suppose it’s bad news that they have got to give it their best shot against us,” Gaffney accepted.

“They’ve got a very good side as is evidenced by the fact that they have so many internationals. Obviously, they haven’t got it together so far this year but against that, they went to Leicester and won.

“I didn’t see that game but I’m told they played a different brand of rugby that night, put a lot of ball in the air and put them under a lot of pressure. They’ve got some big hitters and they’re a side that cannot be underestimated. They’ve got too much class for that.”

In the meantime, Gaffney and Munster can expect a big match tomorrow night from the Lynn Howells- coached Celtic Warriors, who include six of the Welsh Six Nations panel and have left the free scoring Neil Jenkins on the bench. Gareth Thomas, arguably the full-back of the recently-concluded championship, captains the home side from the centre and has sent out a rallying cry to supporters.

“We want a full house of 7,800 people for this mini-international,” he said.

“Sardis Road is known as the ‘House of Pain’ and we must keep it that way.

“Munster might have won a lot of games in France but they won’t like it here if a big crowd turns up and gets behind us.”

CELTIC WARRIORS: K. Morgan; D. James, G. Thomas capt, J. Bryant, R. Mustoe; C. Sweeney, G. Cooper; G. Jenkins, M. Rees, C. Horsman, B. Cockbain, R. Sidoli, R. Parks, R. Bryan, C. Harris. Replacements, M. Davies, M. Jones, D. Jones, R. Jones, S. Martens, N. Jenkins, G. Wyatt.

MUNSTER: C. Cullen; J. Kelly, M. Mullins, R. Henderson, A. Horgan; J. Holland, E. Reddan; F. Roche, J. Flannery, G. McIlwham, D. O’Callaghan, P. O’Connell, J. Williams capt, D. Wallace, A. Foley. Replacements, M. Cahill, R. Callaghan, D. Pusey, S. Keogh, F. Murphy, M. Lawler, S. Payne.